Motor and Control Learning: Chapter 1 , 2, and 3

Motor development

refers to the study of products and underlying processes of motor behavior changes across the lifespan.

motor learning

refers to the study of processes involved in the acquisition of a motor skill and the factors that enhance or inhibit an individual’s capability to perform a motor skill

motor control

refers to the study of the neural, physical, and behavioral aspects of human movement

motor development

is a sub discipline of motor behavior that examines the age-related successive changes that occur over the lifespan and the processes and factors that affect these changes.

motor competence

a persons ability to execute a wide range of motor acts in a proficient manner, including coordination of fine gross motor skills that are necessary to manage everyday tasks, such as walking, running, jumping, catching, throwing, kicking and rolling.

gross motor skills

use large muscles for big movements (walking, running, jumping)

fine motor skills

use small muscles for precise actions (grasping, writing, buttoning)

coarticulation

simultaneous motions that occur in sequential tasks

preplanning movements

grasping an objects depends on where you will be putting it

motor Control is often concerned with three key issues

degrees of freedom problem

serial order problem

perceptual -motor integration problem

degrees of freedom

refers to the number of independent elements that must be constrained to produce coordinated motion

coordination

involves containing the number of degrees of freedom decrease the complexity of the movement task to produce a movement pattern and achieve a task goal

in addition to coordinating the body parts the person must also complete the task

control

control

involves manipulation the movements in a way that meets the demands of the task

proficiency barrier

a minimal threshold of motor competence is deemed necessary to develop more complex skills

longitudinal studies

adequate levels of motor competence is associated with higher levels of physical activity participation, improved health and cognitive function

physical growth

refers to an increase in body size or in individual parts that occurs through maturation

aging

refers to a process or group of processes occuring in living organisms that, with the passage of time, leads to a loss of adaptability, functional impairment, and eventually death

serial order problem

sequencing and order of movement behaviors. TIming and order of an activity are critical for nearly every movement we produce

spoonerisms

refers to making errors in speech sounds by exchanging letters in adjacent words

(Constants switch with consonants; vowels switch with vowels)

action slips

refers to making an error in action by exchanging specifics of a task due to mindlessly thinking about the action rather than the specifics of the task

(silverware in trash, missed exit, text the wrong person)

perceptual motor Control problem

how perception and motor control are integrated

motor learning four characteristics

1.process of acquiring a capability for producing skilled actions

2.Occurs as a direct result of practice and is not due to maturation or physiological changes

3.Cannot be observed directly

4.Relatively permenent changes in capability for skilled behavior

learning

a relatively permanent changes in a persons capability to execute a motor skill as a result of practice or experience

performance

act of executing an act or skill

process

set of events or occurrences that, when taken together, lead to some particular product, state, or change

(drills in sports, heat for melting ice)

capability

Skilled behavior may occur if the conditions are favorable.

Implies that if the capability is strong then skilled behavior may occur

(NOT DUE TO: external forces, motivation, wellness, rest)

permenant

change in the learner

(learning should have a lasting effect)

learning

a relatively permeant change in a persons capability to execute a motor skill as a result of a practice or experience

performance

the act of executing an act or skill

motor learning

a relatively permeant change in a persons capability to execute a motor skill as a result of practice experience

practice

deliberate attempts to improve performance of a particular skill or action

(Improves performance does NOT by itself define learning)

motor learning: 4 important aspects to this definition

1.learning affects capability

2.learning results from practice or experience

3.Learning is not directly observable

4.Learning requires relatively permanent changes

learning affects capability

-any single performance may not accuratley reflect the underlying skill level

-any performance may exceed or fall short of its theoretical true capability

-we are interested in measuring the underlying capability

learning results from practice or experience

-many factors can improve the capability for skilled performance

-learning is concerned with only those related to practice or experince

NOT FACTORS:

-maturation/growth

-cardiovasuclar endurance

-strength

Learning is not direclty observable

-alterations to the central nervous system (neuroplasticity) result from practice.

-The existence of these changes must be inferred from the changes in performance they support.

-We can usually observe and measure the products of the learning processes by measuring changes in skill

process

a set of events or occurrences that, when taken together, lead to some particular product, state, or change.

product

the outcome of the performance

changes to decision-making and movement control processes

-improved analysis of environment and movement feedback information.

-improvements in the ways actions are selected

-creating more effective generalized programs

-generating more accurate and precise anticipated feedback

-establishing more accurate references of correctness

learning requires relatively permanent changes

-many factor affect a momentary level of skilled performance'

-some are temporary and transient (drugs, sleep loss, mood, stress, motivation)

-When people learn, relatively permanent changes occur that service the shift to other conditions or the passage of time

Paul Fitts

suggested that motor learning was a problem that went through three stages of progress (cognitive, associative, autonomous)

The stages mainly reflect changes in the allocation of BLANK resources to the BLANK

attentional , task

cognitive

Understand requirements and parameters of the movement.

Instruction, guidance, and augmented feedback

Large in performance but inconsistent performance gains

Associative

How to perform well and adapt

Transform what to do into how to do

May be last stage depending on time spent

Autonomous

Final stage of acquisition

Almost automatic, requires minimal thought

Produce the movement alongside demanding tasks

Autonomous

Negative about automatic performance

Reinforces maintenance of movement even if it is incorrect

Just because a motor movement can be performed automatically doesn’t mean the movement is correct

Movement is constrained by boundaries that limit movement possibilities; these boundaries are termed

Constraints (Newell Theories)

Newels Theories

that showed a persons structure and function, a task and the environment can cause constraints of a humans motor behavior

People choose movement patterns based on the interaction of the

Task

Individual/organism

Environment

Individual Constraint

Structural: related to the body’s structure (height, weight, or muscle mass)

Functional:related to the ones behavioral function(attention and motivation)

Environmental Constraint

a constraint from outside the body. Something from the world around us. (gravity, surfaces, weather, turf, ice, grass, gravel)

Task Constraints

External, goal oriented, rules, equipment or boundaries that shape how a person performs a movement. Examples(equipment, rules, objective)

Input

Information to be processed by the human comes in all sensory forms

The human information processing system requires BLANK to process BLANK amounts of information than smaller amounts

MORE TIME, LARGER

Performers who knows what to expect in certain situations can BLANK the amount of information to process and BLANK up decision making

reduce, speed

Three stages which information must pass on the way from input to output

1)Stimulus Identification

2)Response selection

3)Movement programming

Stages do NOT overlap

Stimulus Identification stage

The systems problem is to decide whether a stimulus has been presented , and if so, what is it

Primarily a sensory stage

System analyzes environmental information from a variety of sources

Components of stimuli are assembled

Patterns of movement are detected

Response selection stage

The systems problem in deciding what response to make, given the nature of the situation and current intentions

Process of determining what to do and how it should be done

Movement programming stage

The systems task is preparing the motor system to make the desired movement

Ready the mechanisms in brainstem/spinal cord for action

Retrieve and organize a motor program

Speed: Reaction time(RT)

Time between the presentation of a stimulus and the invitation of a motor response

Speed:Movement Time

Time from the invitation of the movement until it has been completed

Speed:Response time

reaction time + movement time

RT interval measures the accumulated durations of the three stages of processing

1)Stimulus identification

2)Response Selection

3)Movement programming

*Any factor that increases the duration of one or more stages will lengthen RT

Simple reaction time

stop sign

Choice reaction time

Stop light

Hicks law

as the number of possible Stimulus Response alternatives increase the time requires to respond to any one of them increases

Errors can occur at

any stage of information processing

BLANK errors signify that the wrong action was chosen

Decision

BLANK BLANK errors suggest that the correct decision had been made but the movement itself was flawed

Movement execution