motor learning exam 1

movement time

begins when Reaction time ends. interval of time between initiation of movement and completion of movement.

two action functions

body orientation and manipulation

walking is

both an open and closed skill.

classify motor skills

by determining which skill characteristics are similar to those of other skills

performance consistency

calculated by variable error--> determine consistency index, calculate standard deviation of perons's CE scores or series of repetitions

body orientation

changing or maintaining of body location.

taxonomy

classification system that is organized to relationships among the component characteristics of whatever is being classified

skill

commonly used word, denotes an activity or task that has a specific purpose or goal to achieve

kinetics

consideration of force in the study of motion

movement is dependent

context in which the neuromotor processes are activated

motor development

deals with issues related to either or both motor learning and control, but mostly interested in the relationship between these issues and human development from infancy to old age

another meaning of skill

denote some degree of competence or capacity to perform a task

kinematics

description of motion without regard to force or mass - performance production measures

purpose any movement

fulfills is entirely determined by the context in which the movement occurs

second dimension

function of action. We can determine the function of an action by deciding whether or not performing a skill involves moving the body from one location to another, and whether or not the skill involves holding or using an object.

motor control

interested in how our neuromuscular system and limbs involved in performance of a motor skill.

researchers study motor skill through

motor learning, motor control and motor development

discrimination reaction time

move then one signal but one response ex: jogging, jumping over stuff

two additional performance measures used to assess

movement time and response time

NIRS

near infrared spectroscopy, non invasive way to measure activity within a muscle. determines level of oxygen

PET

show blood flow or metabolic activity in the brain and provide a window into all areas of the brain (position emission typography).

constant error

signed (+/-) deviation from the goal - provides a meaningful index of person's tendency to be directionally biased when performing the skill

spatial accuracy

situations involving dimensions such as distance

open motor skills

skill that a person performs in an environment in which supporting surfaces, objects, and or other people are in motion while the person performs the skill.

choice reaction time

move when one signal to which person responds--> and each signal has specified response. ex: driving a car and coming to an intersection with a light

perceptual motor abilites

pg. 60

FMRI

(functional)--> used while a person performs a task. blood flow changes. produced colored images

small muscles

primary muscles involved in achieving the goal of the skill

WMMG

whole muscle mechanonygraphy is a relatively new, noninvasive technique for determining muscle activity

first dimension of gentile's taxonomy

• Regulatory conditions: features of the environmental context to which movements must conform if they are to achieve the action goal. • Important distinction for differentiating motor skills is whether the regulatory conditions are stationary or in motion. • Skills for which regulatory conditions are stationary are closed skills, whereas those for which they are in motion are open skills.

Balance (also known as postural stability) as a motor ability

• Static: standing or sitting • Dynamic: in motion, while you are walking/running • Independent of each other

absolute error

(assessing error for one dimension movement goals) - absolute difference between actual performance on each repetition and the goal - multiple repetition situation, summing these differences and dividing by the number of repetitions will give you avg absolute error for repetitions - provides useful info about magnitude of error a person has made on a repetition or over a series of repetitions - score gives you a general index of accuracy for the session for this one person

EEG

(electroencephalography) use EEGS to asses brain disorders. record waves - 4 waves-> beta, alpha, delta, theta - does not show anatomical structures that are active in regions

premotor time

(first component of RT) period of time between the onset of the stimulus signal and beginning of muscle activity. this quiet interval of time is the first component part of RT - measure of the receipt and transmission of premotor time is a measure of receipt and transmission of information from the environment through nervous system to muscle itself - indicator of perceptual and cognitive decision making activity in which the person engages while preparing an action

motor time

(second component of RT) period of time from the increase in muscle activity until the actual beginning of observable limb movement motor time interval indicates that there is muscle activity before observable limb movement occurs

two important body orientation characteristics for classifying motor skills

- Body stability refers to skills that involve no change in body location during the performance of the skill such as standing, drinking from a cup, and shooting an arrow in archery. - Body transport includes active and passive changes of body locations. This means that body walking, which involves the active changing of body location, standing on a moving escalator, which involves the passive changing of body location, involves body transport.

3 reasons why it is important and useful to consider movements as distinct from motor skill

- People learn actions especially when they begin to learn or relearn motor skills. -People adapt movement characteristics to achieve a common action goal. - People evaluate skill performance, movements and neuromotor processes with different types of measures.

externally paced

- Types of skills in which performers of open skills must time the initiation of their movement with an external feature in the environment.

regulatory conditions

- either stationary or in motion on one dimension and intertribal variability either present or absent on the other

relationships between movements and action

- many to one relationship or one to many, meaning that one movement could be used to achieve many different action goals. -Ex: walking or swimming could be used to move the body from one location to another, but they could also be used to maintain the body in one location if walking on a treadmill or swimming against a current.

each movement is defined by

- particular pattern of relative motions among joints and body segments, though each would be an effective way of solving the problem of transporting the body from one location to another. - *variety of movements can accomplish the same goal*

ability

-A general trait or capacity of a person -Relatively enduring characteristic - Serves as a determinant of a person's - achievement potential for the performance of specific skills

two general characteristics of all skills

-Environmental context in which the person performs the skills -The function of the action characterizing the skill

discrete motor skill

-If a skill requires a specified beginning and end location. - Discrete skills include flipping a light switch, depressing the clutch of an automobile and hitting a piano key. - simple, one movement skills

2 dimensional taxonomy

-Taxonomy can be used to evaluate a learner's movement capabilities and limitations. -Taxonomy becomes a valuable tool for systemically selecting a progression of functionally appropriate activities to help the person overcome his or her deficits and increase his or her skill performance capabilities. -Third practical use for taxonomy is as a means of charting the individual progress of patients or students as they work to attain their rehabilitation or physical activity. -Taxonomy follows a simple to complex progression of skills, it provides an objective basis for determining progress in overcoming skill performance deficits and increasing skill performance capabilities.

environmental context dimension

-The environmental context dimension includes the regulatory conditions to which the performer of a skill must conform, and whether these conditions change from one performance attempt to the next. The action function dimension establishes that all motor skills are performed to serve a specific purpose or function.

characteristics common to motor skills

-goal to achieve. motor skills have a purpose (action goal used to refer to the goal of a motor skill) - types of motor skills of interest in this text are performed voluntarily; in other words, we are not considering reflexes as skills - Motor skill requires movement of joints and body segments to accomplish the goal of the task. - Need to be learned or relearned.

performance outcome measures

-indicate outcome or result of performing a motor skill - how fast a person ran a certain distance - baseball player's batting average - provides info about what happened at levels of action whether or not the goal of the task was accomplished - don't tell us about movement of body/muscles involved

performance production measures

-relate to performance characteristics that produced the outcome. - how body is functioning "muscular system" is operating ex: joint angle, joint torque, EMG, velocity

Interaction of 4 environmental context characteristics and the four action function characteristics

16 skill categories.

3 motor skill classifications that use one dimension approach to categorize skills

1st classification.) Gross motor skills - Primary musculature required= large muscles (walking, hopping, jumping) Primary musculature required = large and small muscles(pitching a baseball, shooting an arrow, putting a golf ball) - Fundamental motor skills: walking, jumping, throwing, leaping, etc.- classified as gross motor skills. Fine motor skills Primary musculature required= small muscles (Signing a check, buttoning shirt, typing a word on a keyboard) 2nd classification.) specificity of where actions begin and end Continuous motor skills: arbitrary beginning and end of action; repetitive movements (steering a car, walking, swimming) Serial motor skills: continuous series of discrete movements (playing a song on a piano, typing a sentence on a computer keyboard, shifting gears in a car) Discrete motor skills: specified beginning and end of action; single movement. (flipping a light switch, hitting a piano key, depressing the clutch pedal in a car) 3rd classification.) stability of the environmental context Open motor skills: supporting surface, objects and or other people in motion. (driving a car, catching a thrown ball, walking on a crowded sidewalk) Closed motor skills: supporting surface, objects and or other people stationary (picking up a cup, buttoning a shirt, shooting a free throw)

Research technique to test the question of which hypothesis valid:

Correlate any two motor abilities Each hypothesis predicts different correlation result- what are these different results -Initial research compared RT and MT • Henry and colleagues (1960s) showed low correlations • See example in "a closer look" pg. 40 - Recent research has investigated whether variations of a motor ability commonly seen as specific actually represents one ability

second critiera

Second criterion is the extent to which the person can achieve the task under a range of different conditions.

series motor skills or sequential motor skills

Skills that requires a series or sequence of discrete movements, such as shifting gears in a standard shift car, or playing a piece on a piano.

first critiera

The first criteria is the extent to which the person can consistently achieve the goal of the task, with highly skilled individuals showing a greater capacity to consistently achieve the goal of the task than less skilled participants.

closed motor skill

When the supporting surface, object or other people involved in the performance of a skill are stationary. For these skills, the relevant environmental context features are stationary, which means they do not change locations during the performance of a skill.

visual acuity

ability to see clearly and precisely

visual tracking

ability to visually follow a moving object

motor learning

acquisition of motor skills, the performance enhancement of learned or highly experienced motor skills or the reacquisition of skills that are difficult to perform or cannot be performed because of injury, disease and the like

motor skill

activities or tasks that require voluntary control over movements of the joints and body segments to achieve a goal

3rd meaning for skill

an activity or task that has a specific purpose or goal to achieve. For example, we commonly say that multiplication is a fundamental skill of mathematics or playing the piano is a kill that takes practice. Of these 2, the skill of piano playing includes a motor skill because it requires voluntary limb movement to achieve its goal, which is to produce music. Multiplication is referred to as a cognitive skill.

third critiera

assess individuals level of skill is their degree of efficiency. Skilled individuals are much more efficient than less skilled individuals.

those who study motor development place much greater emphasis

how processes such as growth and maturation influence changes in motor behavior

nonregulatory conditions

include features such as the color of an object, the presence of spectators, the weather conditions and whether the skill is performed during the day or night. All of these features can influence performance, but they do not determine movement characteristics in the same way that regulatory conditions do

Skill categories in table 1.1 are organized in terms

increasing complexity beginning at the top leftmost category with the simplest skills and progressing to the most complex skills in the bottom right most categories.

RT and MT

independent measures. can have fast RT but not fast MT. different aspects

consistency problems

indicate a lack in acquiring the basic movement patterns needed to perform a skill

movements

indicate specific patterns of motion among joints and body segments.

bias problems

indicate that the person has acquired the movement pattern but is having difficulties adapting to specific demands of the performance situation.

error measures

indicators of performance accuracy bout certain types of error measures also tell us about possible cause of performance problems

motor skills performance

influenced by motor skill, performance environment and physical and psychological characteristics of the person performing the skill.

reaction time

interval of time between the onset of a signal (stimulus) that indicates the required movement and the initiation of the movement - only time before movement begins - can be used to identify environmental context info a person may use while preparing to produce a required action - provides window for examining how a person interacts with the performance environment while preparing to produce a required action

what might researchers investigate in motor control

investigate this question while a person is learning a new skill or performing a well learned or highly experienced skill

MRI

magnetic resonance imaging, realigns body's hydrogen atoms, which become the basis for creating extraordinarly clear two/three dimensional images of body tissue

object manipulation

maintaining or changing the position of an object, such as a ball, a tall or another person. •Another way to think about the meaning of this term would be in reference to holding or using an object. -Skills that require object manipulation are more difficult to perform than skills that involve no object manipulation because the person must do two things at once. -First person must manipulate the objects correctly and second he or she must adjust body posture to accommodate for the imbalance created by the object.

General motor ability hypothesis

many different motor abilities that exist are highly related within a person and can be grouped as a singular, global motor ability -o All motor abilities are highly related to each other o A person can be described as having an overall amt of general motor ability

Specificity of motor ability hypothesis

many motor abilities are relatively independent in an individual. (henry,1961) -People can have fast reaction time but slow movement time o All motor abilities are relatively independent o Each person varies in the amount of each ability o A person's motor ability can be described only by a profile of amounts of each of several specific motor abilities.

relationship between neuromotor processes and movements

many to one and one to many

EMG

measure electrical activity in muscles

electromyography

measure the beginning of muscle activity in an RT situation, a researchers can fractionate reaction time into two component parts - indicate time at which muscle shows increased activity after stimulus signal has occurred.

if 2 people have the same

o Amount of practice o Level and amount of instruction o Motivation to perform the skill - Then motor abilities will influence the level of performance success each person can/will achieve

motor ability

o An ability that is specifically related to the performance of a motor skill o Each person has a variety of motor abilities • Differ in the amount - Motor abilities establish achievement potentials for specific motor skills - Each motor skill requires specific motor abilities to successfully perform it

two research examples

o Rose et al. (2002)-children with CP showed balance problems while walking but not while standing o Drowatzy and zuccato (1967)- correlations among various tests of static and dynamic balance typically ranged from .03 to .26 (see table 3.1) o Conclusions: static and dynamic are distinct, independent of each other

what are the interests researchers have in studying motor learning

of interest are the behavioral and or neurological changes that occur as a person learns a motor skill and the variables that influence those changes

simple reaction time

one signal--> one response. "life response when light comes on" ex: sprinter starting a race

performance bias

over or undershoot the goal

achievement potentials

people with differing levels of motor abilities important for playing tennis will have differing achievement potentials

what is used to understand the learning and control of motor skills

performance environment, the person and the skill

environmental context

refers to the specific physical location where a skill is performed.

stability

refers to whether the relevant environmental context features are stationary (stable) or in motion(unstable).

physical proficiency abilities

related to gross motor abilities. static strength--> muscular endruace used in exerting force repeatedly explosive strength--> the ability to mobilize energy effectively for bursts of muscular effort trunk strength--> the strength of the trunk muscles extent flexibility dynamic flexibility gross body coordination gross body equilibrium stamina

neuromotor processes

represent the third level on which motor behavior is often analyzed. - are mechanisms within the CNS and PNS as well as the muscular system that underlie the control of movements and actions.

neurophysiological level of study

researchers directly or indirectly observe central and peripheral nervous system components as they interact with muscles involved in performing a motor skill.

intertrial variability

second environmental characteristic in the taxonomy. Refers to whether the regulatory conditions during performance are the same or different from one attempt to perform the skill to another. We can distinguish motor skills according to whether intertribal variability is absent or present. - • Present when environment is in motion, only time motion variability is absent from trial to trail is when the motion is caused by a machine (treadmill or a ball machine).

continuous motor skills

skills with arbitrary beginning and end locations. In addition, continuous skills usually contain repetitive movements. We can classify skills such as steering an automobile, tracking a moving cursor on a computer monitor with a joystick, swimming and walking as continuous skills. Although some continuous skills, such as walking and swimming may have distinct movement beginning locations, the end location is arbitrary and the movements are repetitive.

terms related to motor ldkills

skills, actions, movements and neuromotor processes

3 features for environmental context

the supporting surface on which the person performs the skill, objects involved in performing the skill and other people involved in the performance situation.

how many criteria are used to analyze where a person's performance would be classified.

three

temporal accuracy

time dimensions (both help us evaluate performance for skills for which accuracy is the action goal

response time

total time interval, involving both RT and MT