Exam 2 Study Guide

Motor skill

A skill for which the primary determinant of success is the quality of the movement that the performer produces

discrete skill

classified as having a definite beginning and end, usually starts and ends quickly

serial skill

classified as having several discrete skills connected together in a sequence to perform critical movement patterns

continuous skill

skill classified as unfolding without a recognizable beginning and end in an ongoing fashion (often repetitive)

open skill

performed in an environment that is variable and unpredictable; performer must use perception and decision making to adjust movement

closed skill

performed in an environment that is stable and predictable

Context varability

action is the same or different from one trial to the next

regulatory variability

degree to which the environment is stable or moving

maximum certainty

able to meet performance goals or results with certainty, high degree of certainty on demand

minimum energy expenditure

reduction of unwanted or unnecessary energy

minimum movement time

able to perform in the shortest amount of time possible

Motor learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from reinforced practice. An internal process, not directly observable

motor performance

action of producing skill, measured in terms of its fundamental features: time, space, magnitude

constant error

the measure of a person’s deviation from a target with respect to the amount and direction

variable error

is the inconsistency of results of several movements with respect to the average constant error of the movement

reaction time

performance measure indicating the speed and effectiveness of decision making

RT interval

a measure of accumulated durations of the 3 stages of processing

simple reaction time

shortest RT, one stimuli and one response/ not realistic for most motor control situations

choice reaction time

The interval time between the presentation of one of several stimuli and the beginning of 1 of 7 responses

Hick’s Law

stable relationship between the number of stimulus-response options and choice RT

short-term sensory store(STS)

very short duration (< 1s), info passes through it/little processing

Short-term memory(STM)

also known as working memory; temp workspace where relevant info is processed; info can be retrieved, rehearsed, processed, and transferred.

long-term memory

the storage space for experiences over a lifetime; unlimited capacity

Attention

a resource that is available and that can be used for various purposes (limit mental resource)

CSRT

Choice, Step, Response, Time

controlled processing

thought to be slow, attention demanding, serially organized, and volitional as as a large part of conscious info processing activities

automatic processing

fast, not attention demanding, organized in parallel, and involuntary

automaticity

developed through lots of practice especially under a consistent mapping condition

arousal

the level of excitement produced under stress/CNS

perceptual narrowing

the tendency for the perceptual field to shrink under stress with high arousal; fewer stimuli detected, RT slow

anxiety

a person’s interpretation of a particular situation; perception of threat (viewed as a (-)

trait anxiety

person’s general disposition to percieve situations as threatening or not

high trait

person feels some level of threat in most situations

low trait

person rarely finds situations threatening

psychological refractory period

delay in RT to the second of two closely spaced stimuli

exteroception

sensory info from outside the body

proprioception

sensory info from inside the body

closed-loop control system

use of feedback and error detection and correction processes to maintain the desired goal

comparator

error detection

executive

determines action to take to reach goal

effector

carries out decision

monosynaptic stretch reflex (M1)

most rapid, unconscious, one synapse, little environmental impact, inflexible

polysynaptic stretch reflex(M2)

longer, adjusts more than M1, higher-level function, can’t modify once begun

voluntary RT (M3)

voluntary; affected by instruction, anticipation, and stimulus responses; supported by Hick’s law

ventral stream/focal

identifies objects in center of visual field; is conscious and affected by light (cones help this sys)

dorsal stream/ambient

detects orientation of body in environment; is nonconscious and peripheral (rods help this sys)

optical flow

detects chagne in the movement of patterns of light rays from the environment

visual dominance

visal info dominates info coming from other senses

visual capture

visual info attracts a person’s attention more easily than other forms of info

degree of freedom

the components of a control sys that can vary independently and that are controlled to produce effective action

motor program

a set of motor commands that is prestructured at the executive level and that defines the essential details of a skilled action

open-loop control

type of control that involves the use of centrally determined, pre-structured commands sent to the effector and executed without feedback; quick

differentiation

severing the nerves so CNS no longer receives sensory info

Fitt’s Law

Movement time increases linearly with movement difficulty

index of difficulty(ID)

movement amplitude and width

effective target width

amount of spread, or varability, of a person’s end points about mean spatial position

spatial accuracy

type of accuracy required of aiming movements in which spatial position of the movement’s end point is most important; forceful and accurate

timing accuracy

type of accuracy required of rapid movements in which accuracy of the movement time is most important

experimental method

general differences across people

differential method

individual differences within and across groups

abilities

stable characteristics derived through genetics and maturation and are NOT affected greatly by practice; stable; limit ability to perform

Skills

developed overtime with practice and experience

general motor ability

a single global ability is the basis for all motor behavior (1 controls all)

specificity hypothesis

many specific, independent motor abilities are the basis for every motor performance (multiple control all)

correlation

the ability to measure the strength of a relationship between performance scores on two tasks