Bilateral transfer in active and passive guidance-reproduction based bimanual tasks: Effect of proprioception and handedness

Recently, bilateral movement training based on robot-assisted rehabilitation systems has been attracting a lot of attention as a post-stroke motor rehabilitation protocol. Since humans generate coordinated motions based on their motor and sensory systems, investigation of the innate properties of human motor or sensory systems may provide insight into planning of effective bilateral movement training. In this study, we investigate the effects of proprioception and handedness on the movement of the contra-lateral upper limb, under both active and passive guidance conditions of the robot manipulators. Active and passive guidance-reproduction based bimanual tasks were used in this study; in these the subject is asked to hold both the right and left knobs installed at the end-effectors of two robot manipulators. The results indicate that better reproducing performance was obtained when the proprioceptive input was acquired from the active guidance condition.