Effects of self-controlled feedback paradigm on motor learning of a "relaxed phonation" task

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of self-controlled feedback paradigm on motor learning of a relaxed phonation task. Twenty-four vocally healthy individuals were randomly assigned into two groups: self-controlled feedback group (SELF) and clinician-controlled feedback group (YOKED). The participants were instructed to read aloud sentence stimuli. Surface electromyographic values (sEMG) measured at thyrohyoid site were provided as biofeedback. The SELF group received sEMG biofeedback whenever they requested, and the YOKED group received the same feedback schedule as chosen by their self-controlled counterparts. Results revealed significant reduction of muscle tension across training sessions. Generalization was shown to reading of untrained passage in both groups. However, the results failed to demonstrate differences between the SELF and YOKED groups. It provided no clear evidence to conclude the self-controlled feedback paradigm was beneficial to learning of relaxed phonation. The guidance hypothesis might have accounted for the absence of self-controlled learning effect in the study.