ERIC Number: EJ742710
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Dec
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Electromyographic Study of Motor Learning for a Voice Production Task
Yiu, Edwin M.-L.; Verdolini, Katherine; Chow, Linda P. Y.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v48 n6 p1254-1268 Dec 2005
Purpose: This study's broad objective was to examine the effectiveness of surface electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback for motor learning in the voice production domain. The specific objective was to examine whether concurrent or terminal biofeedback would facilitate learning for a relaxed laryngeal musculature task during spoken reading. Method: Twenty-two healthy adult speakers were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups. One group received real-time EMG wave form displays of muscle activation from bilateral thyrohyoid sites during reading trials (concurrent feedback group). The other group received static terminal EMG waveform displays about activation levels for the same sites on completion of successive trials (terminal feedback group). All participants were instructed to minimize EMG amplitudes from the thyrohyoid sites during phonation in an oral reading task. Signals were also collected from control, orofacial sites, but participants received neither instructions nor feedback for those sites. Results: The pooled data (2 feedback groups x 2 electrode sites) showed that, overall, muscle activation levels did decrease across baseline, training, and no-feedback test phases. However, no clear evidence was seen of reliable changes in the targeted laryngeal muscle activation levels across the phases, for either the concurrent or the terminal feedback groups. Paradoxically, and entirely unanticipated, reliable decreases were seen in muscle activation for the orofacial, no-feedback control sites. Those decreases were equivalent across concurrent and terminal feedback groups. Conclusions: The unanticipated findings indicate that the provision of biofeedback for a target muscle group facilitated incidental learning in another, untargeted muscle group. Discussion focuses on the possible role of locus of attention in motor learning. Building on literature from other domains, the hypothesis is advanced that attention to muscular contractile force during training trials may suppress intentional learning for attended target sites but may benefit incidental learning for nearby, unattended sites. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)
Descriptors: Perceptual Motor Learning, Measures (Individuals), Biofeedback, Oral Reading, Adults, Research Design, Task Analysis, Human Body, Incidental Learning, Attention, Intentional Learning, Speech Evaluation, Case Studies, Kinesthetic Perception, Foreign Countries
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 800-638-8255; Fax: 301-571-0457; e-mail: subscribe@asha.org; Web site: http://www.asha.org/about/publications/journal-abstracts/jslhr/.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hong Kong
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A