Feedback distortion to overcome learned nonuse: a system overview

We constructed a virtual environment that is designed to use visual feedback distortion to address Learned Nonuse in stroke patients. The system is intended to rehabilitate finger movements, and it includes haptic and visual displays. The virtual environment includes custom-made hardware and software that allow the force feedback to adapt to different individuals and to movement changes over time for a single individual. Using this environment, we conducted a preliminary experiment with unimpaired subjects to show that it is possible to extend the range and strength of movements without subjects recognizing the visual feedback distortion.