Study of a physiotherapy evaluation that applies the motor retraction phenomenon to auditory stimuli

Abstract

Abstract The accuracy and precision of synchronization and phase coherence values have been used as evaluation measures of retraction. However, it has been pointed out that accuracy and precision of synchronization may show a discrepancy between neural entrainment and performance accuracy. Therefore, this study determined whether the phenomenon of motor retraction to auditory stimuli can be evaluated by using phase synchronization with tapping. For this purpose, we examined phase coherence values, surrogate data methods, and effect sizes from a mathematical perspective. The auditory stimulus interval at which retraction is most likely to occur was also identified. Specifically, tapping tasks at six tempi (400, 500, 600, 750, 1,000, and 2,000 ms) were performed on 20 young adults. A comparison of the data for each auditory stimulus condition revealed significant differences at 400, 500, 600, 750, and 1,000 ms. Moreover, the effect size was greatest at 400 ms. The results suggest that, among the five conditions in which retraction occurred, the 400 ms auditory stimulus interval had the lowest probability of being an error in retraction determination and was therefore deemed suitable for evaluation.