The Complexity of Human Movement

What is one of the nervous system’s key functions?

Enables us to interact usefully with our environment.

The neuroscience of _________ is fundamental to the practice of physical therapy

motor control

What are the 2 divisions of the PNS?

autonomic and somatic nervous systems

What are the 2 divisions of the autonomic nervous system and their functions?

sympathetic (arousing), parasympathetic (calming)

What are the 2 divisions of the somatic nervous system?

sensory and motor

What does reflex theory state?

there is a stereotypical reflex response to a specific stimulus, reflexes can be chained to create complexity

what are some limitations of reflex theory?

doesn’t explain movement without stimuli, fast movements, multiple responses to the same stimulus, or production of new movements

What does hierarchal theory state?

Control is from the top down and each level controls level below it

what are some limitations of reflex theory?

responses are the same regardless of goal; doesn’t explain movement without stimuli, bottom up behaviors, or novel movements

What was the first theory to suggest that motor control is not reactive?

motor program theory

what does motor program theory state?

movements may be elicited by a stimulus or intrinsically by a central process (without afferent stimuli)

what are some limitations of motor program theory?

too many distinct actions for the nervous system to store, does not explain variation

What does the dynamical systems theory consider?

how the individual moves within their environment

what are the components of dynamical systems theory?

degrees of freedom, distributed control, muscle synergies, self-organization, nonlinear behavior, variability

what complicates degrees of freedom?

internal and external forces working on the body

multiple different strategies that can be used to perform the same goal refers to….

degrees of freedom

systems work together and produce movement through self-orginization

distributed control

is distributed control hierarical?

no

muscles working together with proper timing and aplitude to produce movement

muscle synergy

synergies ___________ the computational load of the nervous system

reduce

when the system of parts comes together, its elements behave in an ordered way w/o specific commands

self-orginization

what does non-linear behavior mean?

when a specific criterion is reached the behavior changes (ex: walk, jog, run)

name for preffered patterns in well-learned tasks

attractor state

what is the focus of ecological thory?

how actions enable us to interact w/ the environment, emphasis on active exploration

which motor control theory is correct?

no single theory is perfect, remember individual, task, environment

light is an example of a _________ factor in the environment

non-regulatory

an uneven floor is an example of a __________ factor in the environment

regulatory

what tasks on the perception-action continuum are considered perception?

sensing and perceiving

what tasks on the perception-action continuum are considered cognition?

interpreting, conceptulizing, planning

what tasks on the perception-action continuum are considered action?

Activating, executing

what does a feedforward mechanism do?

create a plan before execution of a task

what does a feedback mechanism do?

compare the plan to the result and enable correction

what steps on the perception Action continuum are feedback?

sensing, perceiving, interpreting

what steps on the perception Action continuum are feedforward?

conceptualizing, planning, activating, executing

what does knowledge of performance feedback do?

describes how a task was performed

what does knowledge of results feedback do?

describes whether the task was successfully completed