Chapter 5

Question 1

Helps us understand phenomena and explains the reasons why these phenomena exist or behave as they do. They are developed to help us understand various aspects of the physical universe and do so by providing us with explanations of observable physical events.

Answer 1

Theory

Question 2

1. Must accurately describe a large class of observations 2. Must make definite predictions about the results of future observations.

Answer 2

Requirements of a Theory

Question 3

Theory of Motor Control

Answer 3

Understanding and explain motor skill performance (constraints, limits, potential, deficits, etc.) enables the practitioner to: 1. Identify performance problems; 2. Develop intervention strategies to help overcome performance problems; 3. Predict effectiveness of intervention strategies; 4. Develop a systematic approach to help a person increase skill performance capabilities; 5. Create new intervention strategies; and 6. Evaluate effectiveness of intervention strategies (See p. 88 for graphic)

Question 4

Proposing laws and principles that govern coordinated human motor behavior. Focuses on explaining observed behavior w/o specifying neural-level features.

Answer 4

Behavioral-level motor control theories

Question 5

Describes neural mechanism interactions that explain how the nervous system is involved in behavioral principles.

Answer 5

Neural-level motor control theories

Question 6

The patterning of head, body, and/or limb motions relative to the patterning of environmental objects and events

Answer 6

*Coordination

Question 7

The number of independent elements or components in a control system and the number of ways each component can vary

Answer 7

*Degrees of Freedom

Question 8

A control problem that occurs in the designing of a complex system that must produce a specific result; the design problem involves determining how to constrain the system’s many degrees of freedom so that it can produce the specific result

Answer 8

*Degrees of Freedom Problem

Question 9

A control system in which all the information needed to initiate and carry out an action as planned is contained in the initial instructions to the effectors

Answer 9

*Open-loop Control System

Question 10

A control system in which, during the course of an action, feedback is compared against a standard or reference to enable an action to be carried out as planned

Answer 10

*Closed-loop Control system

Question 11

The control center of a control system whose role is to generate and issue movement instructions.

Answer 11

Executive

Question 12

The muscles of the limbs, body, and/or head involved in producing a desired movement

Answer 12

Effectors

Question 13

Information from the sensory system that indicates the status of a movement to the central nervous system; in a closed-loop control system, feedback is used to make corrections to an ongoing movement.

Answer 13

*Feedback

Question 14

A memory representation that stores information needed to perform an action

Answer 14

*Motor Program

Question 15

The memory representation of a class of actions that share common invariant characteristics; it provides the basis for controlling a specific action within the class of actions

Answer 15

*Schmidt’s Generalized Motor Program (GMP)

Question 16

A set of different actions having a common but unique set of features

Answer 16

Class of Actions

Question 17

A unique set of characteristics that defines a GMP and does not vary from one performance of the action to another. The “signature” of a GMP that forms the basis for what is stored in memory

Answer 17

*Invariant Features

Question 18

Features of the GMP that can be varied from one performance of a skill to another; the features of a skill that must be added to the invariant features of a GMP before a person can perform a skill to meet the specific demands of a situation.

Answer 18

*Parameters

Question 19

The proportion, or percentage, of the total amount of time required by each component of a skill during the performance of that skill

Answer 19

*Relative Time

Question 20

A formalized theory of how the GMP operates to control coordinated movement

Answer 20

Schmidt’s Schema Theory

Question 21

A rule or set of rules that serves to provide the basis for a decision; in Schmidt’s schema theory, an abstract representation of rules governing movement

Answer 21

*Schema

Question 22

Responsible for providing the specific rules governing the performance of a skill in a given situation

Answer 22

Motor Response Schema

Question 23

An approach to describing and explaining the control of coordinated movement that emphasizes the role of information in the environment and the dynamic properties of the body and limbs; it is also known as the dynamic pattern theory

Answer 23

*Dynamical Systems Theory

Question 24

A behavior that changes in abrupt, nonlinear ways in response to systematic linear increases in the value of a specific variable

Answer 24

Nonlinear Behavior

Question 25

A behavioral steady state of a system that represents a preferred behavioral state and incorporates the notion of invariance by noting that a stable system will spontaneously return to a stable state after it is slightly perturbed

Answer 25

*Stability

Question 26

The stable behavioral steady states of systems. In terms of human movement, they characterize preferred behavioral states.

Answer 26

*Attractors

Question 27

Functionally specific variables that define the overall behavior of a system; they enable a coordinated pattern of movement to be reproduced and distinguished from other patterns; known also as collective variables

Answer 27

*Order Parameters

Question 28

A quantified value that represents the movement relationship between two movement segments

Answer 28

Relative Phase

Question 29

Coordinated movement control variables that freely change according to the characteristics of an action situation. Under certain conditions, they can shift a system’s behavior from one coordination pattern to another coordination pattern.

Answer 29

*Control Parameters

Question 30

The emergence of a specific stable pattern of behavior due to certain conditions characterizing a situation rather than to a specific control mechanism organizing the behavior

Answer 30

*Self-organization

Question 31

Functionally specific collections of muscles and joints that are constrained by the nervous system to act cooperatively to produce an action; sometimes referred to as muscle or motor synergies

Answer 31

*Coordinative Structures

Question 32

The spatial and temporal coordination of vision and the hands or feet that enables people to perform eye-hand and eye-foot coordination skills; that is, the coordination of the visual perception of the object and the limb movement required to achieve the action goal

Answer 32

*Perception-action Coupling

Question 33

The reciprocal fit between the characteristics of a person and the characteristics of the environment that permit a specific action to occur, such as stairs having the physical characteristics to permit stair climbing

Answer 33

*Affordance