Computer assisted psychomotor training is recognized as an appropriate tool in motor skill acquisition in adults with and without physical limitations. In specialized populations of individuals with physical deficits such as Parkinson's disease, previous researchers have examined the application of computer assisted training during upper extremity psychomotor skill acquisition. Presently, there is a lack of controlled studies regarding computerized functional psychomotor task training in persons with Parkinson's disease. The specific purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a computerized functional balance training protocol in a specialized population of individuals with Parkinson's disease. Experimental group subjects practiced functional balance activities with computer generated visual cues and feedback utilizing the Balance Master SystemTM (BMS). This computerized system integrates visual cues and visual feedback into graded psychomotor training protocols. The BMS has been used to evaluate persons with PD, but as yet, has not been tested in controlled training studies. The performance of the experimental group was compared to a control group receiving training under non-visually cued, non-computerized conditions. All subjects' functional status was assessed pre and post training utilizing the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and Functional Reach Test (FRT). Both of these measures quantify an individual's ability to adapt their movement patterns and perform functional activities. Post-testing occurred following the completion of ten training sessions and at four weeks. The experimental group showed improvements in their TUG scores over the three testing intervals as compared to the control group (F(1,18) = 32.86, p = .000). The experimental group subjects demonstrated a trend towards improvement in TUG scores while the control group demonstrated a trend towards baseline levels by post test two. The experimental group did display improvements in FR scores compared to the control group, but these trends were found to be insignificant (F(1,18) = 3.46, p = .079). Subjects that practiced under computerized, externally cued conditions displayed persistent improvements in functional activity (TUG measurement) over time as compared to control group subjects.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of web-based instruction (WBI) on cognitive and psychomotor learning. The subjects of the study received two types of instructional methods, WBI (experimental group) and traditional classroom instruction (control group). Each group received 30 minutes of instruction on "Soldering a Circuit Board." The researcher chose this content subject because it involved both cognitive and psychomotor objectives, which suited the purpose of this study. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant difference between the two methods of instruction, and also that there would be no significant interaction effects between methods of instruction and gender. Forty-six subjects from a population of students enrolled in summer classes offered by the Applied Technology, Training and Development (ATTD) program at the University of North Texas voluntarily participated in this study. Random assignment of subjects was applied in this study. A subject matter expert delivered the content for both the experimental and control groups. To measure cognitive variable, a 10 item, multiple-choice test was administered immediately after instruction. To measure the psychomotor variable, a 15-item checklist was utilized by trained judges to evaluate learners’ performances while soldering. The 2 x 2 factorial model with interaction was used in this study. The analysis was run for each of the dependent variables, cognitive and psychomotor learning. Although there was not a statistically significant difference in the main effects of method of instruction or interaction effects between method and gender, the results imply that students in the traditional-classroom instruction group performed better than those in the WBI group in psychomotor learning. Perhaps, this trend would be statistically significant if the sample size were larger. This study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of WBI in delivering cognitive and psychomotor objectives. The outcome of this study supports the need for more research on the effects of WBI on learning domains.