Behavioral learning and skill acquisition during a natural yet novel biting task

Objective: To investigate the effect of short-term training on behavioral learning and skill acquisition during a natural yet novel biting task. Methods: Thirty (18 women) healthy volunteers in the age range of 18–32 years were divided into a naive (n = 17) and expert (n = 13) groups based on the self-reported familiarity to perform a complex behavioral biting task. The volunteers participated in a single experimental session divided into three sets with three series, each with ten trials of a standardized biting task. The task was to position, split and retrieve a sunflower seed from its shell without crushing the seed. The two consecutive sets were separated by fifteen minutes of short-term training. During the short-term training, the participants repeatedly performed the biting task for about fifteen minutes. A five-point grading system was devised to determine the performance and video registrations were made to determine the duration of the task. Results: There was a significant main effect of training on the task performance scores (P <.001). The performance scores of the naive group before training was significantly lower than all the sets of the expert group (P <.010). The performance scores of the naive group were also significantly better after training than before (P =.001). However, the expert group took significantly shorter time to complete the task than the naive group. Conclusion: The results of the present study show a significant effect of training on the performance of a complex behavioral biting task. Training resulted in improved performance scores and a subtle decrease in the duration of the task.