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Table 1 Summary of the five KINARM robot tasks, including behavioral attributes and definitions of task parameters

From: Do children and adolescent ice hockey players with and without a history of concussion differ in robotic testing of sensory, motor and cognitive function?

Task

Parameter

Behavioral attribute

Definition

Visually guided reaching

Posture speed (m/s)

Upper Extremity Posture Control

Mean hand speed (when hand should be at rest).

Reaction time (s)

Response to a Visual Stimulus

Difference in time between target illumination and movement onset.

Initial direction error (rad)

Initial phase of the movement (Feed-forward control)

Angular deviation between a straight line (1) from the hand position at movement onset to the destination target and (2) from the hand position at movement onset to the hand position after the initial phase of movement.

Initial distance ratio

Initial phase of the movement (Feed-forward control)

Ratio of the distance the hand travelled (1) during the subject’s initial phase of movement to (2) between movement onset and movement offset (or the end of the trial if the destination target is not reached).

Initial speed ratio

Initial phase of the movement (Feed-forward control)

The maximum hand speed during the subject’s initial phase of movement/ the global hand speed maximum of the trial (Ratio).

Speed maxima count

Corrective Movement following the initial motor response

Hand speed maxima between movement onset and offset (Total).

Minimum maximum speed difference (m/s)

Corrective Movement following the initial motor response

Hand speed maxima minus minima.

Movement time (s)

Entire Movement

Time elapsed from movement onset to end (Total).

Path length ratio

Entire Movement

The distance travelled by the hand between the movement onset and movement offset/ the straight line distance between the starting and destination targets (Ratio).

Max speed (m/s)

Entire Movement

Maximum hand speed (Global).

Arm position matching

Variability X (m)

Position sense

Mean value of the variability of the subject’s hand position (X direction).

Variability Y (m)

Position sense

Mean value of the variability of the subject’s hand position (Y direction).

Variability XY (m)

Position sense

RMS of X and Y variables.

Contraction/expansion ratio X

Position sense

Ratio of the movement range in the x-direction (arm moved by the subject compared to the arm moved by the robot).

Contraction/expansion ratio Y

Position sense

Ratio of the movement range in the y-direction.

Contraction/expansion ratio XY

Position sense

Ratio of the range of area moved over.

Shift X (m)

Position sense

Mean difference between the mirrored x-position of the arm moved by the subject and the x-position of the arm moved by the robot (+ lateral shift, − medial shift).

Shift Y (m)

Position sense

Mean difference, as above, but in the y-direction.

Shift XY (m)

Position sense

RMS of the X and Y shifts.

Absolute Error X

Position sense

The mean absolute distance error in the X direction (All trials).

Absolute Error Y

Position sense

The mean absolute distance error in the Y direction (All trials).

Absolute Error XY

Position sense

The mean absolute distance error across all trials.

Object hit

Total hits

Performance (Global)

Balls hit off the screen in the opposite direction from it original path (Total).

Hits with left

Performance (Global)

Balls hit with the left (L) hand (Total).

Hit with right

Performance (Global)

Balls hit with the right (R) hand (Total).

Hand bias hits

Performance (Motor)

Quantifies the hand that is used more often for hitting the balls (hand dominance).

Miss bias

Performance (Spatial & Temporal)

Quantifies any bias of misses toward one side of the workspace or the other (x direction only).

Hand transition

Performance (Spatial & Temporal)

Identifies where the subject’s preference for using one hand over the other switches in the workspace.

Hand selection overlap

Performance (Motor)

Identifies how effective subjects are at using both hands and how often they overlap hands (i.e. hit balls with both the R and L hands in the same are of the work space).

Median error

Performance (Spatial & Temporal)

Percentage of task completion when the subject made half their errors.

Hand speed L (m/s)

Performance (Motor)

Mean L hand speed maintained throughout the task.

Hand speed R (m/s)

Performance (Motor)

Mean R hand speed maintained throughout the task.

Hand speed bias

 

The bias in hand speed between the hands (−1 to 1).

Movement area L & R (m^2)

Performance (Motor)

Surface area the subject used with each hand during the task.

Movement area bias

Performance (Motor)

The bias in movement area between hands (1 to 1).

Object hit & avoid

Parameters are the same as those identified for Object Hit, with three additions – see below. Note – Hand bias hits, Hand speed bias, and Movement area bias were removed from the primary analysis.

Distractor hits L

Performance (Global)

Distractor objects hit with L hand (Total).

Distractor hits R

Performance (Global)

Distractor objects hit with the R hand (Total).

Distractor hits total

Performance (Global)

Distractor objects the subject hit; reported as the % of total distracters dropped (Total).

Trail Making B

Total time (s)

Executive Function

Time from the targets being illuminated to touching the last target (Total).

Dwell time (s)

Executive Function

Time spent with the hand feedback dot at the targets (Total).

Time ratio

 

Time for targets 13–25/time for targets 1–12 (Ratio).

Error count

 

Times an incorrect target was touched (Total).

  1. Behavioral attributes and definitions of task parameters are outlined. The table has been modified from a previous paper [56]