The saying goes that ”your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing,’ but actually, your left hand is paying more attention than you’d think. Researchers found that when people practiced finger movements with their right hand while watching their left hand on 3-D virtual reality headsets, they could use their left hand more efficiently after the exercise.
Your left hand is paying more attention than you’d think. Researchers at Tel-Aviv University found that when people practiced finger movements with their right hand while watching their left hand on 3D virtual reality headsets, they could use their left hand more efficiently after the exercise. The work, appearing December 13 in Cell reports, provides a new strategy to improve physical therapy for people with limited strength in their hands.
“We are tricking the brain,” says lead author Roy Mukamel, a professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University in Israel. “This entire experiment ended up being a nice demonstration about how to combine software engineering and neuroscience.”
After assessing initial motor skills of each hand through baseline tests, 53participants were recruited and strapped on virtual reality headsets, which showed simulated versions of their hands. During the 1st experiment, the participants completed a series of finger movements with their right hand while the screen showed their virtual left hand moving instead. Next, the participants put a motorized glove on their left hand which moved their fingers to match the motions of right hand. While this occurred, the headsets again showed their virtual left hand moving instead of their right.
After analyzing the results, the researchers discovered that the left hand’s performance significantly improved, when the screen showed the left hand. But most notable improvements occurred when the virtual reality screen showed the left hand moving while the motorized glove moved the right hand in reality.
Researchers used fMRI to track the brain structures involved and activated during the study in 18participants. It is noted that Superior parietal lobe was activated in each person and the level of activity correlated with improved performance.
“Technologically these experiments were a big challenge,” says Mukamel. “We manipulated what people see and combined it with the passive movement of the hand to show that our hands can learn when they’re not moving under voluntary control.”
Researchers are optimistic that this could be applied to patients In physical therapy who have lost strength or control of their hands. “If we can train one hand without voluntarily moving it and still show significant improvements in the motor skills of that hand, then that’s the ideal” says Mukamel.