{"651938":{"#nid":"651938","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Using Rocks to Hammer Out a Connection Between Visual Gaze and Motor Skills Learning ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor his latest research on motor skills, visual learning, and their effects on human physiology, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E associate professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/Lewis-Wheaton\u0022\u003ELewis Wheaton\u003C\/a\u003E and his team went all the way back to the Paleolithic Era to study a very retro skill: stone toolmaking.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the cool things about this particular study,\u201d Wheaton says, \u201cis this opportunity to look at a completely novel motor task, something most people have no idea how to do, and that\u2019s making a stone tool.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new research, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s42003-021-02768-w\u0022\u003Epublished today\u003C\/a\u003E in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/commsbio\/\u0022\u003ECommunications Biology\u003C\/a\u003E, attempts to fill in the gaps when it comes to the science of how we learn complex motor skills \u2014 and what may be required to relearn them.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWheaton says there are studies researching the behavioral changes that are involved with learning complex skills. But research is still thin on how people adapt their visuomotor skills (how vision and movements combine) to carry out a complex task. Wheaton\u2019s current study sought to quantify and evaluate the changes and relationship in action perception processes \u2013 how we understand actions, then select, organize, and interpret what needs to be done for a particular task.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe overall motivation was to determine if we could see any kind of emerging relationship between the perceptual system and the motor system, as somebody is really trying to learn to do this skill,\u201d Wheaton says. Those are important processes to understand, he adds, not just for how people attain complex motor skills learning, but what would be needed for motor relearning, as in a rehabilitation setting.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWheaton conducted the research with graduate students Kristel Yu Tiamco Bayani and Nikhilesh Natraj, plus three researchers from Emory University\u2019s Department of Anthropology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETracking the eyes to learn about learning\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe test subjects in the study watched videos of paleolithic stone toolmaking for more than 90 hours of training. The subjects\u2019 visual gaze patterns and motor performance were checked at three different training time points: the first time they watched the video, at 50 hours of training, and at approximately 90 hours. Everybody was able to make a stone tool (with varying degrees of success) at 90 hours, but some picked up the skills at 50 hours.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWheaton says there was a lot of information to pay attention to in the videos. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of physics in (making stone tools). You\u2019re hitting a rock which is made up of all different kinds of material. There could be a fissure or fault lines, and if you hit it the wrong way it could crumble. When you\u2019re doing it at first, you don\u2019t know that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the video training went on, the participants started to pick up cues about how to strike the rock, along with other aspects of toolmaking. \u201cAt first you\u2019re watching from curiosity, then you\u2019re watching with intent.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat was the exciting part for Wheaton and his team: Being able to see the different phases of learning during the training \u2014 which they actually could see by monitoring gaze tracking, or where the subjects\u2019 eyes landed on the video screen as they watched (see photo.)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPart of the study was to understand the variability where they are visually focused as they get better at the task,\u201d he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s how Wheaton\u2019s team found there are certain parts of the skills learning that connect better to gaze, but others that connect better to the physical act of making a stone tool. \u201cAs you\u2019re going through time, your motor abilities are changing, and at some point that allows you to watch somebody else perform the same task differently, suggesting you\u2019re able to follow the action better, and pull more information from the video in a much clearer way.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study not only found a connection between gaze and motor skills learning, but that the connection evolved as the learning went on. The next step in this research, Wheaton says, should include brain imaging \u201cheat maps\u201d to determine where learning takes place with this process.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat could also help Wheaton\u2019s team apply these lessons for rehabilitation purposes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s the link between that and some of the other work we\u2019ve done in a rehab context,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you\u2019re watching somebody perform a task, if you\u2019re undergoing rehab, there are different ways you\u2019re watching the task. You\u2019re not always watching it the same way. Maybe it depends on how good you are, or how you\u2019re impaired, but all those variables play a role into what you\u2019re visually pulling out\u201d of the rehab training.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDOI: \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s42003-021-02768-w\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Edoi.org\/10.1038\/s42003-021-02768-w\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New study led by School of Biological Sciences\u2019 Lewis Wheaton uses prehistoric stone toolmaking to fill in the gaps on how vision and movement evolve to help people learn complicated tasks "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt was a necessary skill for early humans: how to make tools out of rocks. It\u0026#39;s a demanding skill to learn, yet it\u0026#39;s helping\u0026nbsp;Georgia Tech researchers\u0026nbsp;fill in the gaps when it comes to the science of how we learn complex motor skills \u0026mdash; and what may be required to relearn them.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New study led by School of Biological Sciences\u2019 Lewis Wheaton uses prehistoric stone toolmaking to fill in the gaps on how vision and movement evolve to help people learn complicated tasks "}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2021-10-21 19:55:22","changed_gmt":"2025-01-23 18:19:46","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2021-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"651982":{"id":"651982","type":"image","title":"An example of gaze tracking. Subjects are watching stone toolmaking; the red, blue, green dots are where visual focus is during this segment of action. (Photo Lewis Wheaton)","body":null,"created":"1634927508","gmt_created":"2021-10-22 18:31:48","changed":"1634927508","gmt_changed":"2021-10-22 18:31:48","alt":"","file":{"fid":"247362","name":"eye gaze photo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/eye%20gaze%20photo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/eye%20gaze%20photo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":18008,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/eye%20gaze%20photo.jpg?itok=pzW5n_Ld"}},"650818":{"id":"650818","type":"image","title":"Lewis Wheaton","body":null,"created":"1631809894","gmt_created":"2021-09-16 16:31:34","changed":"1631809894","gmt_changed":"2021-09-16 16:31:34","alt":"","file":{"fid":"246953","name":"Lewis Wheaton.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lewis%20Wheaton.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lewis%20Wheaton.png","mime":"image\/png","size":298984,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lewis%20Wheaton.png?itok=kMtbqixM"}}},"media_ids":["651982","650818"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/science-matters\/sciencematters-season-3-episode-6-unlocking-mind-body-connection","title":"ScienceMatters, Season 3, Episode 6: Unlocking the Mind-Body Connection "},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/dehydration-alters-human-brain-shape-and-activity-slackens-task-performance","title":"Dehydration Alters Human Brain Shape and Activity, Slackens Task Performance"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/lewis-wheaton-scientist-citizen-councilman","title":"Lewis Wheaton: Scientist, Citizen, Councilman"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"68441","name":"Lewis Wheaton"},{"id":"12926","name":"motor skills"},{"id":"189126","name":"visual learning"},{"id":"189127","name":"eye gaze"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003Cbr\u003E404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}