Paralysis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Paralysis, including details on treatment, diagnosis, facial paralysis, sleep paralysis.

A novel method for testing learning and preferences in people with minimal motor movement.

Saunders MD, Saunders RR, Mulugeta A, Henderson K, Kedziorski T, Hekker B, Wilson S

University of Kansas, USA. msaundrs@ku.edu

Ten individuals with profound multiple impairments were given novel tests for learning and preference with adaptive switches and leisure-oriented devices, such as audio tape players. Typically, tests for learning include a baseline or extinction component in which the adaptive switch and device are not connected as a control for incidental or involuntary switch use. As an alternative, conditions were compared in sets of six sessions each in which switch closure caused (a) Activation of a device, (b) Deactivation of an already operating device, and (c) Deactivation of one of two devices and Activation of the other (Two-Choice). Changes in behavior indicative of learning were observed in eight participants in Activation-Deactivation conditions. The Two-Choice Condition produced indices of learning that also showed a preference for one device over the other with five participants. The preferences observed in the Two-Choice Condition had not been seen in the Activation or Deactivation Condition data. People with profound multiple impairments evinced leisure-device preferences, but such preferences may not lead to differential responding across opportunities with only one device at a time.

Published 25 January 2005 in Res Dev Disabil, 26(3): 255-66.
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