Motor Learning and Control Midterm Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering motor control, motor learning, information processing, sensory systems, and biomechanical analysis.

Proactive Interference

A phenomenon where older memories disrupt the ability to learn, store, or retrieve new information, influenced by similarity, familiarity/repetition, and age.

Discrete Movement

A movement that is distinct with a recognizable, specific start and end.

Serial Movement

A motor skill composed of a series of distinct, discrete movements performed in sequence.

Continuous Movement

A motor skill that unfolds without an identifiable, distinct beginning and end.

Open Motor Skills

Motor skills performed in an unpredictable and constantly changing environment.

Closed Motor Skills

Motor skills performed in a predictable and stable environment.

Objectivity

The degree of agreement among two or more independent evaluators watching the same performance.

Reliability

The extent to which a measurement tool is consistent, repeatable, or stable across repeated trials.

Validity

The degree to which a measurement tool actually measures what it claims to measure.

Level 1 Analysis of Movement

The level of movement analysis examining the effect of the movement on the environment.

Level 2 Analysis of Movement

The level of movement analysis examining how the movement is performed through joint kinematics and body actions.

Level 3 Analysis of Movement

The level of movement analysis examining how the movement is originated and executed through motor control and joint torques.

Constant Error

A measurement of error that evaluates directional bias relative to a target.

Variable Error

A measurement of error that evaluates the consistency, precision, and reliability of performance across trials.

Total Variability

An error score that combines both constant error and variable error to provide a more accurate overall measure of performance error.

Response Time

The total time elapsed from the arrival of a stimulus to the completion of the motor response.

Movement Time

The duration of time from the initial onset of movement to the completion of the movement.

Reaction Time

The interval of time from the sudden presentation of a stimulus to the initial onset of a movement or muscle contraction.

Parallel Processing

A processing mode in which multiple pieces of information are handled concurrently and automatically without demanding conscious attention.

Serial Processing

A sequential, step-by-step information processing mode that is non-automatic and requires conscious control.

Stimulus Identification

The initial stage of information processing responsible for perception and analyzing environmental inputs.

Response Selection

The intermediate stage of information processing responsible for decision-making and selecting what action to take.

Response Programming

The final central stage of information processing responsible for execution planning and organizing the motor system for action.

Hick's Law

The principle stating that choice reaction time increases as the number of stimulus-response choices increases.

Stimulus-Response Compatibility

The natural degree of association or correspondence between a presented stimulus and its required motor response.

Anticipation

The prediction of upcoming events or timing that reduces reaction time, processes stimuli faster, but creates inhibition if incorrect.

Short-Term Sensory Store

A limited-capacity, unconscious holding tank for raw sensory information arriving from the environment before noise is filtered.

Short-Term Memory

The conscious mental workspace where active decision-making, processing of feedback, and movement planning occur.

Long-Term Memory

The permanent storage system for learned motor programs, abstract rules, and past experiences.

Structural Interference

Performance decrements caused by physical or environmental factors when two tasks compete for the exact same physical motor pathways.

Capacity Interference

Performance decrements resulting from a limitation in attention or central executive function when two tasks compete for the same limited pool of resources.

Bottleneck Theory

An attentional model proposing that information processing operates like a one-lane bridge where signals must wait their turn sequentially.

Multiple Resources Theory

An attentional model suggesting that distinct processing channels exist for different sensory modalities, allowing concurrent multitasking if different senses are utilized.

Stroop Effect

A form of cognitive interference where an overlearned automatic skill (such as reading) impedes the processing of a conflicting attribute (such as ink color).

Cocktail Party Effect

The ability to selectively focus on a specific auditory stimulus while filtering out a surrounding array of background noise.

Inattentional Blindness

A psychological phenomenon in which an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain view because attention is occupied elsewhere.

Automatic Processing

Effortless motor execution that operates below conscious awareness without imposing demands on attentional capacity.

Controlled Processing

Conscious, step-by-step cognitive control over movement execution and decision-making.

Psychological Refractory Period

The delay in responding to a second stimulus when it is presented closely after a primary stimulus, caused by processing limitations.

Grouping Effect

A phenomenon that occurs when two stimuli are presented so closely together in time that the central processing system treats them as a single combined stimulus.

Secondary Task Technique

A testing method used to evaluate how much central processing capacity or working memory a primary motor skill demands.

Internal Focus of Attention

Directing attentional focus toward one's own body movements, muscle actions, or joint kinematics during performance.

External Focus of Attention

Directing attentional focus toward the intended movement effect, external target, or surrounding environment.

Perceptual Narrowing

The constriction of attentional focus into tunnel vision that occurs under elevated levels of arousal or anxiety.

Closed Loop Control

A control system that utilizes continuous sensory feedback regarding error signals during movement execution to guide adjustments.

Ventral Visual Stream

A bottom-up visual pathway specialized for object identification, contrast, focus, and perceptual details ('vision for perception' or 'what').

Dorsal Visual Stream

A top-down visual pathway specialized for processing spatial movement, distance, motion, and speed to guide actions ('vision for action' or 'where/how').

Action-Specific Perception

The theory that an individual's perception of spatial environment attributes is scaled relative to their current ability to act upon them.

Initial Impulse

The initial ballistic motor command that propels a limb toward an intended target before sensory modifications occur.

Current Control

The active, online sensory feedback adjustments made to fine-tune a movement as the effector approaches its target.

Visual Proprioception

Sensory information provided by optical flow and visual fields that informs the central nervous system about body and eye position in space.

Muscle Spindles

Sensory receptors embedded in skeletal muscles that detect changes in muscle length and velocity to prevent excessive or rapid stretching.

Golgi Tendon Organs

Sensory receptors located at musculotendinous junctions that monitor muscle tension and force to protect against structural overload.

Reciprocal Inhibition

A neural reflex mechanism where the activation of an agonist muscle initiates an inhibitory signal that relaxes its corresponding antagonist muscle.

Monosynaptic Reflex

A direct neural reflex pathway in which a sensory neuron synapses with a single motor neuron in the spinal cord without brain intervention.

Muscle Stiffness

The mechanical property of muscles that provides immediate passive joint stability, spring-like energy return, and precision by resisting perturbation.

Efference Copy

An internal copy of an outgoing motor command used by the central nervous system to anticipate the sensory consequences of that action.

Open Loop Control

A mode of motor control where an executive plan is dispatched to effectors without the capability of using feedback for real-time error correction.

Central Pattern Generator

Spinal neural circuitry that produces rhythmic motor patterns without requiring continuous sensory feedback or descending input from the brain.

Feedforward Control

A predictive control process where the central nervous system anticipates upcoming task demands and presets motor parameters prior to movement onset.

Point of No Return

The temporal threshold in motor preparation beyond which an activated motor command cannot be cancelled or altered.

Generalized Motor Program

An abstract, stored representation of an action class that coordinates movement parameters without reliance on ongoing error detection.

Units of Action

The coordinated structural movement modules that comprise generalized motor programs.

In-Phase Movement

A symmetrical motor coordination pattern where homologous limbs move simultaneously in identical directions.

Anti-Phase Movement

An asymmetrical motor coordination pattern where homologous limbs move simultaneously in opposite directions, becoming unstable at higher frequencies.

Movement Goals

The specific functional outcomes targeted by the brain during motor initiation, consisting of spatial accuracy, metabolic efficiency, and stability.