Human motor behavior

Precision skill classification

Gross motor skill: Large muscle groups to produce larger movements.

Fine motor skills: small muscle groups to produce small movements.

Environment skill classification

Open: Environment is dynamic and unpredictable.

Closed: Environment is stable and predictable.

Time constraint skill classification

Self paced (internally paced)

Reactive (externally paced)

Organization skill classification

Discrete skills: Defined beginning and end.

Serial skills: several discrete skills connected in a sequence.

Continuous skills: Repetitive, rhythmic; no recognizable beginning or end

Elements skill classification

Motor skills: quality of skill execution

Cognitive: What you do, not how you do it. Decision making and processing. Most skills are a combination of motor and cognitive elements.

Fitts and Posners 3 stages of learning

Cognitive

Associative

Autonomous stage

Cognitive stage

Trying to get a hang of the skill, rough draft. Classified by rigid movements, gross inconsistent errors.

Practitioners role: Assist performer in understanding movement. Create opportunities for lots of repetition, recognize errors and provide feedback, motivate and reinforce.

Associative stage

Motor stage, focus on skill refinery and consistency. Classified by progress getting better, fewer and more consistent errors, able to adapt and modify movements.

Practitioners role: Design appropriate and effective practice sessions.

Practice design: Design purposeful practice sessions that force the mover to control the movement. Integrate variety into practice experiences.

Autonomous stage

Movements are well coordinated and appear effortless. Longer motor programs. Classified by high skill proficiency, few errors, able to adapt and modify movements.

Practitioners role: refine performance, motivate

Practice design: integrate even more variety, align RT demands in practice.

Information processing model

1) Stimulus ID (Perception)

2) Response selection (Decision)

3) Response programming (Action)

Stimulus ID

AKA perception, Use our senses to detect whats happening.

2 substages: Stimulus detection, Pattern recognition

Speed influenced by: intensity (more intense processed quicker), Number (RT is faster with less stimuli)

Response selection

AKA decision.

Speed influenced by: number of choices (faster with less choices), Probability that choice is correct; RT slower with unexpected choices.

Response programing

AKA action, organizes motor system to produce desired movement.

Speed influenced by: Complexity of movement (RT slower if more complex), Actual physical movement/response

Reaction time

Amount of time that passes from presentation of a stimulus to the end of a stimulus.

Factors that influence RT:

• Number of possible stimuli in choice reaction time

• Practice

• Stimulus-response compatibility

Simple RT

One stimulus and one response

-Shortest reaction time.

Choice reaction time

Time between the presentation of one or more stimuli and initiation of one or more responses.

• Must identify stimulus and determine appropriate response

• More choices = slower RT

Theories of attention

Bottleneck theory - We can attend to one thing at a time

Attentional resources theory - attention is a limited resource and it can attend to multiple stimulus at once as long as demands don’t exceed attentional resources.

Stroop effect

Parallel processing of multiple stimuli occurs during stimulus-identification (perception) stage.

The Stroop effect happens because attentional control is required to suppress an automatic response (reading) in favor of a less automatic one (color naming).

Memory systems

Sensory memory

Short term memory

Long term memory

Sources of sensory information

Exteroreception - Used to detect stimuli outside the body

Proprioception - info about body such as position of limbs/trunk/head

Interoreception - Information from inside the body

Closed loop control system

Comparator- error detection

Executive- brain; determines actions to take to reach goal

Effector- Carries out decisions

Feedback- Provides information on current state

Closed loop characteristics

Slow, very accurate, adjustments can be made.

Ex. Walking, writing

Open loop control system

Executive - initiate and plan action

Effector - send out action

Open loop characteristics

Cant modify, Fast, Low accuracy

EX. Kicking, throwing, batting

Motor programs

Memory based construct to control coordinated movements

-Stored in long term memory

-Movements executed without conscious control

Support for motor programs

Reaction time (faster), Deafferentation (loss of sensory input), electromyography (brain activity scan)

arguments against motor programs

Storage space (would need infinite), Novel responses (doesn’t explain how a person can perform a novel movement)

Generalized motor programs

Not specific for a single action like motor programs. Generalized for a specific type movement.

Invariant features:

-Sequencing: order of events

-Relative timing: ratios of temporal pattern

-Relative force: ratios of force by muscle groups

Surface features (easily changeable):

-Speed of a rapid movement

• Size of the action

• Forces used to produce the

action

• Trajectory of the movement

Fitts law

• Speed-accuracy trade off

• Mathematical formula that says movement time increases linearly with movement difficulty

Indicators of motor learning

• Performance improvement

• Consistency or stability

• Persistence

• Effort

• Attention

• Adaptability

types of goals

Performance goals - comparison with self (improvement) ex. improving 5k time

Outcome goals - comparison with others. ex. winning state.

Process goals - Focus on process/movements required to correctly perform the skill ex. flick wrist at tope of shot

pre-instructional considerations

• consider the learners characteristics

• Define the learning experience (tell whats going to happen)

• Asses progress

• make it motivating

Skill presentation techniques

 Verbal instructions

 Demonstrations

 Guidance

Verbal instructions

Amount of info:

-short but complete

-capture and maintain focus

Precision of info:

-specific and concise

-consider use of vocabulary

Demonstrations

Who should demonstrate: both expert and like skilled models.

How to demonstrate: Offer multiple angles, direct attention to critical elements, demonstrate in same spatial orientation as movement

When to demonstrate - introduction of a movement skill, throughout practice, conclusion of movement practice

How often to demonstrate - Determined by complexity of skill, extent of learners understanding.

Guidance

Active guidance - Manipulate environment so that learner assumes control of environment. (learner is active)

Passive guidance - manipulate the leaner through the environment (limbs or body parts)

Blocked practice vs Distributed practice

Massed: Long active practice of skill with short breaks between trials

Distributed practice: Short active practice of a skill with longer breaks

Distributed is better: less fatigue, better cognitive effort, more time for memory consolidation.

Random vs blocked practice

Random: Multiple tasks of tasks are performed in random order throughout one practice session

Blocked: Uninterrupted time to concentrate on the performance of one task at a time

Random is better: Better true learning. Blocked better for initial skill acquisition

Constant vs variable practice

Constant: Practicing or rehearsing only one variation of a skill during a practice session; only one context or environmental variation Variable: Practicing or rehearsing a number of variations of the task during a practice session; altering the context

Variable is better: Better retention and transfer of learning

Intrinsic feedback

Sensory of proprioceptive information

External feedback

enhanced or augmented feedback supplied by external source.

Functions of feedback

Motivating Feedback

Reinforcing Feedback

Informing Feedback

Contextual interference

the beneficial effect of interleaving different skills or task variations during practice

Elaboration hypothesis

suggests that random practice (high contextual interference) leads to more distinct and meaningful learning due to the learner actively comparing and contrasting different versions of a task

Relative timing

the determination of the order or sequence of events in time, without necessarily knowing the exact absolute time at which they occurred.