Browsing by Author "Logan, Lindsey Marie"

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    Developing a robotic assessment tool for sense of effort
    (2017) Logan, Lindsey Marie; Dukelow, Sean Peter; Ferber, Reed; Debert, Chantel
    Proprioception comprises the senses of position, movement, and effort of our body and limbs. These senses are generally difficult to quantify, but previous studies have done so using robotic assessments of position and movement sense. In the present study, to characterize sense of effort, we asked subjects to match torques applied to one elbow (“reference”) with their contralateral elbow (“matching”). Elbow angles were varied. We hypothesized that healthy subjects’ matching torques would reflect different reference torque levels, and that subjects would perform best with both elbows at the same angles. In general, our hypotheses were confirmed. Subjects exerted more torque to move toward the reference arm position, and less to move away. However, subjects also tended to overestimate the reference torques. The enclosed thesis describes results of four experiments examining sense of effort in healthy subjects. These experiments provide foundation for quantifying sense of effort in neurologically impaired individuals.