BPK 207 - Section 8a

What is sensorimotor adaptation

Sensorimotor system responds to altered environmental conditions by reducing errors to regain previous level of performance

What is skill learning

Involves acquiring new muscle activation patterns to achieve a greater level of performance

How is motor learning possible?

Brain/neuro plasticity

What is brain plasticity

Ability of the brain to modify its connections and re-wire itself to adapt based on experience

What is motor memory

Ability to recall previously learned motor coordination to interact with environment

Wha is use-dependent learning

Repeating a movement that leads to learning

What are the five characteristics of successful skill learning

Improvement

Consistency

Stability

Persistence

Adaptability

What do performance curves assess, and what are the 4 types,, and what does it depend on

Improvement and consistency of performance (performance scores on y-axis)

Linear, proportion increase over time

Negatively accelerated, large amount of improvement occurs early

Positively accelerated, substantial increase of improvement occurs later

S-shaped, combination of other three

Depends on individual and task

What is a retention test, and what does it assess

An assessment of learned performance after a period fo time following practice

Asses the persistence of improved performance

What is a transfer test, what does it assess

Involves a novel situation so that the individual; must adapt the skill/movement to the characteristics of the new situation

Assesses adaptability of learned skill/movement and the stability

When may practice performance be misleading?

If it involves performance plateaus

Occurs because a new strategy may have developed to perform the skill

Or the period is due to alck fo attention, fatigue, or motivation

Performance measure can reach what two types of effect?

Ceiling, scale or measure doesn’t go any higher

Floor, scale or measure doesn’t go any lower

Sensorimotor Adaptation processes are divided how?

A fast and a slow process

The the adaptation processes numerical model, what is the overall explanation for how the model works?

function takes in set of parameters

Higher numbers represent more adaptation (i.e reduced error)

When a perturbation is introduces, the fast process compensates quickly and then decreases its contribution/ As learning progresses a slow process begins to compensate, which accounts for most adaptation.

In the adaptation processes numerical model, what does an adaptation coefficient of 1 represent?

Complete adaptation

What a re 2 components of adaptation

Explicit, resembling a fast process

Implicit, resembling a slow process

What is explicit learning

relates to a person strategically planning to move in a particular way to counter perturbation

What is implicit learning

relates to updating of internal models, driven by sensory prediction error

What is a powerful driving force for adaptation?

Sensory prediction error

What is a main cognitive factor that can affect rate of adaptation

Attention

When people experience split belt walking, what is typically seen?

People make longer steps on the fast belt, however, as time moves on step length asymmetry is reduced

What is “savings” in sensorimotor adaptation

reducing error toward zero or some performance measure back toward an original value occurs faster with re-exposure to the perturbation

What is consolidation

The motor memory being resistant to interference. I.e interference being the learning of a 2nd skill

What are the two types of consolidation

Anterograde, learning of one behaviour interfering with the learning of another behaviour in the future

Retrograde, learning of a second behaviour interfering with the consolidation of something previously learned

During consolidation trials, what can be used to reduced anterograde interference?

Washout trials, i.e having a trial be like the baseline

Error is much smaller when relearning, which demonstrates what?

Retention, but does not confirm consolidation

What are the three models of skill learning?

Forts and Posner three-stage, Gentiles two-stage, Schmidts schema

What are the 3 stages of the Fitts and Posner Model

Cognitive: what is the objective? How far should i move?, performance in this stage is highly variable, large # of errors, novice is unsure of what they can do to improve

Associative: No specified amount of time or practice before transition, cognitive activity changes since novice has learned to associate specific environmental cues, stage is marked by fewer and smaller errors

Autonomous: occurs after large amount of practice, skills has become almost automatic, multitasking becomes easier, quality and amount of instruction and practice are important features

What is Gentiles Two Stage Model?

Initial stage: two important goals, acquire a movement coordination pattern, learn to discriminate between relevant and non-relevant conditions, through trial-and-error learner performs movements that may or may not match requirements

Later stage: closed skills require fixation of basic movement pattern (practice so pattern is constant), open skills require diversification of basic movement pattern (quickly adapt to different situations, must be aware of relevant features)

=> may have to modify movement in later stage, closed skills involve changes in movement parameters, open skills involve changes of invariant features or parameters

What are the 4 types of information available to the learner in Schmidt’s schema theory?

Initial body conditions, parameters assigned, augmented feedback about outcome of movement, sensory consequences

What is recall schema

Stores relationship between parameters of motor program and movement outcomes based on initial conditions

What is recognition schema

Stores the relationship between the initial conditions, the movement outcomes, and sensory consequences

Related to movement outcome with learned, you can use predicted consequences as an error tracker

How to use both schemas

A learner forms a recall schema, which they can use to determine how best to move to achieve a desired outcomes, they can then sue a recognition schema to confirm they moved as intended to identify what went wrong if they failed

What is a lab-based paradigm to study skill learning?

Learning arbitrary visuomotor associations

involves learning a relationship between a discrete set of stimuli and actions

Performance is based on speed-accuracy trade-off

Learning phases:

1. Learn associations between stimuli and actions

2. Practice so that RT decreases and less susceptible to interference by concurrent secondary task

What are off-line gains

Refers to improvement seen between testing sessions despite no additional practice

Across learning stages there are many changes that can take place, what are they? (6)

Rate of improvement

Movement coordination (D-O-F)

Muscles used to perform skills, can become more efficient

Changes in attention

Error detection (credit assignment)

Activity across different brain areas

What is the power law of practice

When a learner usually experiences a large amount of improvement early in practice and then rate of improvement decreases

How does the CNS solve the DOF problem to produce coordinated movements?

Nervous system determines appropriate muscle activation pattern, limb configurations, trajectories, and how to control joints

A strategy includes freezing joints

How are muscles used inappropriately when learning a new skill?

Greater 3 of muscles used than needed

Inefficient activation timing

May co-contract muscles

How are visual attention and learning related?

When learning a new skill people visually fixate on things that are not needed to perform the skill

Learning leads to an increased ability to direct vision to relevant features of environment

What parts of the brain are involved in prism adaptation

Cerebellum, adaptation and retention

PPC, adaptation and error

PFC, cognitive aspects

Hippocampus, consolidation

Basal ganglia, long-term memory

M1, new motor skills

Pre-SMA & SMA, sequence learning

What is some evidence for the potential role of cerebellum in force field learning

Cathedral tDCS over cerebellum edicts rate of adaptation in task compared to sham/control

A nodal tDCS increases rate of adaptation compared to sham/control

Evidence that SMA has a role in motor learning

rTMS over SMA interferes with accuracy of complex sequences