Motor Learning Test 1 (Chapters 1-4)

Motor Learning

Acquisition of new skills, Practice to improve on well learned skills or following an injury

Motor Control

How neuromuscular systems function to coordinate movement

Motor Development

Human development from infancy to old age

Both ___ and ___ influence Motor Skill Performance

Performance Environment and Skill

What is movement?

Behavioral characteristics of the head, body, and limbs

What is an action/Motor skill

The goal/intention and achievement of movement required from the body, head, or limb

Are moevments and actions one in the same?

No movement can be volunatary or involuntary (parkinsons)

Actions have a goal that is achieved

Why distinguish movements from skills and actions?

Action is a specific goal directed movement

Skills are learned motor actions

Fine motor skills

Require control of small muscles to achieve the goal of the skill

• Playing a violin

Gross motor skills

Require the use of large musculature to acheive the goal of the skills

• Running, Walking

Why does grandma text differently than a 16 year old?

A loss of motor skills due to old age

What causes “noise”, trembling, or uncoordination?

Muscles that aren’t needed are being activated

Continuous action

No definite beginning or end

• Riding a bike after years of not riding one

Discrete action

Definite start and end

• light switch, pressing a button

Serial (sequential) action

a pattern of definite points

• manual gear shift

• running/walking

Closed motor skills

Involves a stationary supporting surface, object, or people

• picking up a cup while sitting

• walking to the door with your eyes closed

• shooting a free throw with eyes closed

Open motor skills

Involves a moving supporting surface, object, or people

The environment features determines when to begin the action

• Catching a thrown ball, need to see the trajectory of the ball in order to catch it

Environmental context (taxonomy)

1. Regulatory conditions

2. Intertrial variability

Regulatory conditions

Characteristics of the environment that controls the movement characteristics of an action

Intertrial variability

Depends on if the regulatory condtions are the same or difference from on attempt to another

Function of the action (taxonomy)

1. Body orientation

2. Object manipulation

Body orientation

If the skill requires the person to move from the location or stay still

Body stability

Maintain the same location

Body transport

Change location either actively or passively

Object manipulation

Results in change of the objects position

Practical uses of Gentile’s Taxonomy

Guide for evaluating motor performance capabilities, limitations, and deficiencies and help to increase of overcome

What is performance measurement essential for

• Performance assesment / evaluation

• Motor learning and control research

Independent variable

Affects the dependent variables

• Dieting, drinking water

Dependent variable

Depends on the independent variable

• losing weight

Precision

The exactness of a number

• 4.682 vs 4.6

Accuracy

The correctness of a number, measure of systemic error

Reliability

Tendency of a repeated test or experiment to produce the same results

• same thing every time

Applicability

Approriateness of a measurement

• Does it measure what its supposed to

  • Ruler measureing distance

Linear position

Cartesian or orthogonal coordinates

• Feet, meters, etc

Angular position

Rotary or angular coordinates

• Radians, a pitching arm

Time

Measured period of an action from moment to moment

• movement/motion occurs in space and time

• English and Metric use Seconds

Mass

Quantity of matter composing a body

• English = slugs

• Metric = Kg

  • 1 slug = 14.59 kg

Performance outcome measures

To determine how a movement was performed

• indicates the outcome or result of perfoming a motor skil

- doesn’t provide info on muscles involved or behavior of limbs/body that led to the outcome

Performance production measures

Indicates the performance of specific aspects of the motor control system during the performance

Kinematics

Descriptive analysis of mechanical component without forces that cause motion

• Displacement, velocity, acceleration

Velocity

Displacement / Time

Acceleraction

Velocity / Time

Kinetics

Analysis of motion considering interactive forces that cause motion

• Force, momentum, torque

Force

Mass * Acceleration

• Stress on the knee joint during a squat jump

Reaction time (RT)

How long it takes a person to prepare and intitate a movement

• how long it takes to raise your hand

• How long for proception and response to take

Response Time

Reaction time + Movement time

Simple RT

One signal = One response

• Flicking a light switch, and the light turns on

Choice RT

More than one signal = Each signal has a specific response

• “Multiple choice”

Discrimination RT

More than one signal = Only one response

Movement Time (MT)

Intiation of a movement and the completion of the movement

Use of reaction time (RT) in research

ID the environmental context info a person uses to prepare and perform an action

Electromyography (EMG) measures?

Records muscle electrical activity

• when a muscle begins and ends activation

• How legs are used and activated before having to raise your arm

Pre-motor time

Quiet interval of time between the onset of stimulus and beginning of activity

Motor time

Interval of time from the intial increase in muscle activity until the actual limb movement

Constant Error (CE)

Bias

How much error was produced in the trial

• (Performance - Criterion) / # of trials

• 3 under, 3 over = 0

Absolute error (AE)

Magnitude

• Difference between the actual performance on each trial and the criterion for each trial

• 3 under, 3 over = 6

Variable error (VE)

Variability

Standard deviation of the CE scores; index of performance consistency

• 3 under, 3 over = 3

Radial error

General accuracy measure for two dimension

Assessing Error for Two-Dimension Accuracy Goals

When the outcome of perfoming a skill requires accuracy in the vertical and horizontal directions

Root-Mean Squared Error (RMSE)

Common accuracy measure for continuous skills

• Writing and noise error

EEG- Electroencephalography

Measures electrical activitry in brain

• Only picks up outer layer of activity

fMRI - Functional magnetic Resonance Imaging

Neuroimaging that measures blood flow changes in the brain by detecting oxygen

BOLD

Blood, Oxygen, Level, Dependent

PET - Position Emission Topography

Neuroimaging that measures blood flow in the brain

• Active brain regions involved increased amounts of blood flow

• Isotopes are injected in you

Ability

• Trait/capacity of a person

• Achievement potential for the performance of specific skills

Motor ability

An ability that’s specific to the performance of a motor skill

• different motor skill for each person

• Estabilish achievement potentials for specific motor skills

General motor ability hypothesis

Many different motor abilities that exist are highly related within a person and can be grouped

• Research schools ability to bring in grants should correlate to how well the professors teach (they dont always tho)

• Good at football, baseball, etc

Specificity of Motor Ability hypothesis

Many motor abilities are relatively independent in an individual

• Really good at one specific thing

  • basketball but not baseball

General Motor Ability Hypothesis

All motor abilites are highly related to each other

• general good motor ability

Specificity of Motor Abilities Hypothesis

All motor abilities are relatively independent

• variation in person to person of each ability

Balance as a motor ability is

Static or Dynamic

• Posture control

Are Static and Dynamic balance independent abilites

Static and Dynamic balance are independent abilites

Specific not general

External timing

Movement timing based on external source

• metronome

Internal timing

Timing of movement based on a persons internal representation of time

• Self-paced timing

Central Nervous System

Spinal cord and brain

Peripheral Nervous System

All nerve fibers branching off

Neuron Cell Body (soma)

Contains nucleus

Dendrites

Recieve info

Axon

Sends info down nerve fiber

Afferent

In coming information

Efferent

Motor output

Myelin

Helps the signal get to the correct area without signal may be lost in spinal fluid and trigger other areas

• Shaking while lifting a finger

Three types of functional neurons

1. Sensory

2. Interneuron

3. Motor neuron

Sensory neurons

“Afferent neurons”

Send info to CNS from sensory receptors

Motor neurons

“Efferent neurons”

Has Alpha motor neurons and Gamma motor neurons to influence voluntary movement

Alpha motor neurons

Predominantly in spinal cord - axons synapse on skeletal muscles

Gamma motor neurons

In intrafusal fibers of skeletal muscles

Interneurons

Specialized neurons that originate and terminate in the brain or spinal cord

• Connects axons from brain and synapse on motor neurons

• Connects axons from sensory nerves and spinal nerves ascending to the brain

4 structures in control of voluntary movement

• Cerebrum

• Dicencephalon

• Cerebellum

• Brainstem

Cerebrum

• Right and left hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum

Gyrus

Ridges on the brain

Sulcus

Grooves on the brain

Cortrx motor neurons consist of

Pyramidal cells and Nonpyramidal cells

What part of the brains are in charge of involuntary control?

• Brain stem

• Cerebrum

• Cerebellum

• Spinal cord

Somatotopic maps

What part of the brain is in charge of sensations and their level of sensation

Cerebral cortex

Associates information from several different sensory cortex areas

Crossing over of control signals

Motor input and control is top down where higher areas control lower areas

Pre-Motor Area (PMv)

Activated before movement occurs (pre-movement)

Primary Motor Area (M1)

Motor response

Location of the Primary motor Cortex

Frontal lobe anterior to central sulcus