The effect of biofeedback frequency on acquisition and retention of swallowing maneuver in healthy adults

Abstract

Biofeedback has been used to facilitate learning of swallowing maneuvers in patients with dysphagia but there is no study on how frequent feedback should be provided. The effect of bandwidth feedback (individualized feedback frequency schedule) and consistent feedback on acquisition and retention of swallowing maneuver was examined in the current study. Thirty healthy adults were assigned to bandwidth feedback (n=15) or consistent feedback group (n=15) when learning the Mendelsohn swallowing maneuver. All participants attended two sessions. The first session consisted of baseline, acquisition and immediate retention phases. The second session consisted of delayed retention phase conducted a week later. During training, the consistent feedback group received consistent game-based sEMG feedback but the bandwidth feedback group only received feedback when the performance deviated from the acceptable bandwidth of error. Both groups demonstrated significant improvement in performance accuracy across phases. However, significant group difference was observed in the last acquisition block (medium effect size, r = .40) and delayed retention phase (strong effect size, r = .56), supporting the use of bandwidth feedback over consistent feedback in swallowing maneuver training for better motor skills acquisition and retention.