A novel robotic reaching task to advance the assessment of approach-avoidance tendencies through kinematic analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51224/SRXIV.446Keywords:
approach-avoidance, robotics, reaction time, speed, automatic processes, PsychologyAbstract
The investigation of automatic approach-avoidance tendencies has traditionally relied on computer-based technologies that primarily characterise human behaviour through reaction times. However, these technologies are unable to accurately quantify other kinematic variables such as hand speed and movement direction. To address these limitations, novel robotic devices have been developed, providing more diverse and accurate quantitative assessment of human behaviour. This technical report presents an adaptation of the approach-avoidance task on the Kinarm, a robotic platform designed to track upper limb movements as participants interact with a virtual environment. This variant of the approach-avoidance task assesses the movement of both arms in twelve directions of reach. In addition, resistive loads can be applied to investigate the role of physical effort in approach-avoidance tendencies or to support rehabilitation protocols. Data and analyses from a pilot sample (n = 5) highlights the capabilities of the Kinarm Approach-Avoidance Task.
Metrics
References
Allen, L., O’Connell, A., & Kiermer, V. (2019). How can we ensure visibility and diversity in research contributions? How the Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) is helping the shift from authorship to contributorship. Learned Publishing, 32(1), 71–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1210
Barton, T., Constable, M. D., Sparks, S., & Kritikos, A. (2021). Self-bias effect: Movement initiation to self-owned property is speeded for both approach and avoidance actions. Psychological Research, 85(4), 1391–1406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01325-0
Ben-Pazi, H., Jaworowski, S., & Shalev, R. S. (2011). Cognitive and psychiatric phenotypes of movement disorders in children: A systematic review. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 53(12), 1077–1084. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.04134.x
Boisgontier, M. P. (2022). Research integrity requires to be aware of good and questionable research practices. European Rehabilitation Journal, 2(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.52057/erj.v2i1.24
Burke, D., Linder, S., Hirsch, J., Dey, T., Kana, D., Ringenbach, S., Schindler, D., & Alberts, J. (2017). Characterizing information processing with a mobile device: Measurement of simple and choice reaction time. Assessment, 24(7), 885–895. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191116633752
Cacioppo, J. T., Priester, J. R., & Berntson, G. G. (1993). Rudimentary determinants of attitudes: II. Arm flexion and extension have differential effects on attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.1.5
Chen, M., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). Consequences of automatic evaluation: Immediate behavioral predispositions to approach or avoid the stimulus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(2), 215–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167299025002007
Cheval, B., Daou, M., Cabral, D. A. R., Bacelar, M. F. B., Parma, J. O., Forestier, C., Orsholits, D., Sander, D., Boisgontier, M. P., & Miller, M. W. (2020). Higher inhibitory control is required to escape the innate attraction to effort minimization. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 51, 101781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101781
Cheval, B., Sarrazin, P., & Pelletier, L. (2014). Impulsive approach tendencies towards physical activity and sedentary behaviors, but not reflective intentions, prospectively predict non-exercise activity thermogenesis. PLoS One, 9(12), e115238. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115238
Cheval, B., Tipura, E., Burra, N., Frossard, J., Chanal, J., Orsholits, D., Radel, R., & Boisgontier, M. P. (2018). Avoiding sedentary behaviors requires more cortical resources than avoiding physical activity: An EEG study. Neuropsychologia, 119, 68–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.029
Djamshidian, A., O’Sullivan, S. S., Sanotsky, Y., Sharman, S., Matviyenko, Y., Foltynie, T., Michalczuk, R., Aviles-Olmos, I., Fedoryshyn, L., Doherty, K. M., Filts, Y., Selikhova, M., Bowden-Jones, H., Joyce, E., Lees, A. J., & Averbeck, B. B. (2012). Decision making, impulsivity, and addictions: Do Parkinson’s disease patients jump to conclusions? Movement Disorders, 27(9), 1137–1145. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.25105
Emck, C., Bosscher, R. J., Van Wieringen, P. C., Doreleijers, T., & Beek, P. J. (2011). Gross motor performance and physical fitness in children with psychiatric disorders. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 53(2), 150–155. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2010.03806.x
Farajzadeh, A., Goubran, M., Beehler, A., Cherkaoui, N., Morrison, P., de Chanaleilles, M., Maltagliati, S., Cheval, B., Miller, M. W., Sheehy, L., Bilodeau, M., Orsholits, D., & Boisgontier, M. P. (2023). Automatic approach-avoidance tendency toward physical activity, sedentary, and neutral stimuli as a function of age, explicit affective attitude, and intention to be active. Peer Community Journal, 3, 246. https://doi.org/10.24072/pcjournal.246
Farajzadeh, A., Goubran, M., Fessler, L., Cheval, B., Allen, Z. V., & Boisgontier, M. P. (2023). Training older adults to inhibit the automatic attraction to sedentary stimuli: A cognitive-bias-modification protocol. European Rehabilitation Journal, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.52057/erj.v3i1.32
Farajzadeh, A., Jabouille, F., Benoit, N., Bezeau, O., Bourgie, T., Gerro, B., Ouimet, J., & Boisgontier, M. P. (2024). Apathy, intentions, explicit attitudes, and approach-avoidance tendencies in physical activity behavior. Communications in Kinesiology, 1(6). https://doi.org/10.51224/cik.2024.68
Gaprielian, P., Scott, S. H., & Levy, R. (2022). Reverse visually guided reaching in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s Disease, 2022(1), 8132923. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8132923
Heuer, K., Rinck, M., & Becker, E. S. (2007). Avoidance of emotional facial expressions in social anxiety: The Approach–Avoidance Task. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45(12), 2990–3001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2007.08.010
Howard, I. S., Ingram, J. N., & Wolpert, D. M. (2009). A modular planar robotic manipulandum with end-point torque control. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 181(2), 199–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2009.05.005
Kaufman, H., Lamb, J. C., & Walter, J. R. (1970). Prediction of choice reaction time from information of individual stimuli. Perception & Psychophysics, 7(5), 263–266. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210161
Kemps, E., Tiggemann, M., Martin, R., & Elliott, M. (2013). Implicit approach–avoidance associations for craved food cues. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 19(1), 30–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031626
Krieglmeyer, R., & Deutsch, R. (2010). Comparing measures of approach–avoidance behaviour: The manikin task vs. two versions of the joystick task. Cognition and Emotion, 24(5), 810–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930903047298
Kucinski, A., Lustig, C., & Sarter, M. (2018). Addiction vulnerability trait impacts complex movement control: Evidence from sign-trackers. Behavioural Brain Research, 350, 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.04.045
Lender, A., Meule, A., Rinck, M., Brockmeyer, T., & Blechert, J. (2018). Measurement of food-related approach-avoidance biases: Larger biases when food stimuli are task relevant. Appetite, 125, 42–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.01.032
Lowrey, C. R., Dukelow, S. P., Bagg, S. D., Ritsma, B., & Scott, S. H. (2022). Impairments in cognitive control using a reverse visually guided reaching task following stroke. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 36(7), 449–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/15459683221100510
Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). The effects of fear and anger facial expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors. Emotion, 5(1), 119–124. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.5.1.119
Marteau, T. M., Hollands, G. J., & Fletcher, P. C. (2012). Changing human behavior to prevent disease: The importance of targeting automatic processes. Science, 337(6101), 1492–1495. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1226918
Mestre, T. A., Strafella, A. P., Thomsen, T., Voon, V., & Miyasaki, J. (2013). Diagnosis and treatment of impulse control disorders in patients with movement disorders. Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, 6(3), 175–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756285613476127
Northoff, G. (2024). Beyond mood — depression as a speed disorder: Biomarkers for abnormal slowness. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 49(5), E357–E366. https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.240099
Phaf, R. H., Mohr, S. E., Rotteveel, M., & Wicherts, J. M. (2014). Approach, avoidance, and affect: A meta-analysis of approach-avoidance tendencies in manual reaction time tasks. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00378
Reichenbach, A., Costello, A., Zatka-Haas, P., & Diedrichsen, J. (2013). Mechanisms of responsibility assignment during redundant reaching movements. Journal of Neurophysiology, 109(8), 2021–2028. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.01052.2012
Roy, N., Karnick, H., & Verma, A. (2023). Towards the self and away from the others: Evidence for self-prioritization observed in an approach avoidance task. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1041157. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1041157
Scott, S. H. (1999). Apparatus for measuring and perturbing shoulder and elbow joint positions and torques during reaching. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 89(2), 119–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0270(99)00053-9
Shirota, C., van Asseldonk, E., Matjačić, Z., Vallery, H., Barralon, P., Maggioni, S., Buurke, J. H., & Veneman, J. F. (2017). Robot-supported assessment of balance in standing and walking. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 14(1), 80. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-017-0273-7
Simmatis, L. E., Jin, A. Y., Taylor, S. W., Bisson, E. J., Scott, S. H., & Baharnoori, M. (2020). The feasibility of assessing cognitive and motor function in multiple sclerosis patients using robotics. Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental, Translational and Clinical, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2055217320964940
Solarz, A. K. (1960). Latency of instrumental responses as a function of compatibility with the meaning of eliciting verbal signs. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59(4), 239–245. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0047274
Spruyt, A., De Houwer, J., Tibboel, H., Verschuere, B., Crombez, G., Verbanck, P., Hanak, C., Brevers, D., & Noël, X. (2013). On the predictive validity of automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies in abstaining alcohol-dependent patients. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 127(1), 81–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.06.019
Struijs, S. Y., Lamers, F., Vroling, M. S., Roelofs, K., Spinhoven, P., & Penninx, B. W. J. H. (2017). Approach and avoidance tendencies in depression and anxiety disorders. Psychiatry Research, 256, 475–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.07.010
Van Damme, T., Fransen, E., Simons, J., van West, D., & Sabbe, B. (2015a). Motor impairment among different psychiatric disorders: Can patterns be identified? Human Movement Science, 44, 317–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2015.10.006
Van Damme, T., Simons, J., Sabbe, B., & van West, D. (2015b). Motor abilities of children and adolescents with a psychiatric condition: A systematic literature review. World Journal of Psychiatry, 5(3), 315–329. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v5.i3.315
Vanderlinden, J. A., Semrau, J. S., Silver, S. A., Holden, R. M., Scott, S. H., & Boyd, J. G. (2022). Acute kidney injury is associated with subtle but quantifiable neurocognitive impairments. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 37(2), 285–297. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfab161
Wiers, R. W., Rinck, M., Kordts, R., Houben, K., & Strack, F. (2010). Retraining automatic action-tendencies to approach alcohol in hazardous drinkers. Addiction, 105(2), 279–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02775.x
Wittekind, C. E., Blechert, J., Schiebel, T., Lender, A., Kahveci, S., & Kühn, S. (2021). Comparison of different response devices to assess behavioral tendencies towards chocolate in the approach-avoidance task. Appetite, 165, 105294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105294
Wittekind, C. E., Feist, A., Schneider, B. C., Moritz, S., & Fritzsche, A. (2015). The approach-avoidance task as an online intervention in cigarette smoking: A pilot study. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 46, 115–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.08.006
Xu, Y., Terekhov, A., Latash, M., & Zatsiorsky, V. (2012). Forces and moments generated by the human arm: Variability and control. Experimental Brain Research, 223(2), 159–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3235-0
Zbytniewska, M., Rinderknecht, M. D., Lambercy, O., Barnobi, M., Raats, J., Lamers, I., Feys, P., Liepert, J., & Gassert, R. (2019). Design and characterization of a robotic device for the assessment of hand proprioceptive, motor, and sensorimotor impairments. IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2019, 441–446. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICORR.2019.8779507
Downloads
Posted
Versions
- 2025-02-26 (3)
- 2025-01-22 (2)
- 2024-09-07 (1)
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Kayne Park, Matthieu P. Boisgontier (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
