Chapter 6 (lectures 8-10)

Question 1

Frontal Lobe

Answer 1

decision making and critical thought

Question 2

Central sulcus

Answer 2

separating the parietal lobe from the frontal lobe and the primary motor cortex from the primary somatosensory cortex

Question 3

Parietal lobe

Answer 3

Integrates visual signals

Question 4

Wernicke’s area

Answer 4

speech understanding

Question 5

Temporal lobe

Answer 5

Auditory cortex

Question 6

Broca’s area

Answer 6

Speech production

Question 7

Divisions of the nervous system

Answer 7

1) central NS: nervous tissue within the brain and spinal cord
2) periphral NS: nerve tissue outside the brain and spinal cord

Question 8

Functional types of neruons

Answer 8

1) sensory (afferent) neurons: send signals from the senses to the CNS
2) motor (efferent) neurons: carry signals from the brain or spinal cord to the periphery

Question 9

Motor Unit

Answer 9

• a motor neuron and all of the muscle fibers it innervates

- generally, the fewer fibers in the motor unit, the more precise the moment

Question 10

How can we increase force output?

Answer 10

1) Recruitment: simply recruit, or activate a greater number of motor units, usually activated and deactivated in sequence (size principle)
2) rate coding: to vary force by means of altering the frequency of motor unit firing , muscle force increases when the frequency of firing increases

Question 11

Cerebellum

Answer 11

• receives afferent input from muscles, tendons, joints
• responsible for the regulation of force, range, and rate of movement
• associated problems” ataxia, gait disturbances

Question 12

Basal ganglia

Answer 12

• involved in:
• retrieval and activation of movement plans
• scaling the amplitude of movement
• perceptual motor integration
• more recent evidence that the BG involved in cognitive processes such as memory and attention
• associated problems: huntington’s disease, parkinson’s disease

Question 13

Motor cortex (primary)

Answer 13

• a band that stretches across the top of the cerebral cortex
• was the first place that localized brain function was found (penfield and rasmussen, 1950)
• appears to be a trigger for movement (one of the last areas to be active prior to movement)

Question 14

Pre-motor cortex

Answer 14

• shown to send efferent signals to the proximal musculature
• helps with preplanning and stability

Question 15

Supplementary motor cortex

Answer 15

• important in planning movements

- shown to be active before the premotor area

Question 16

is practing with a weighted bat a good idea?

Answer 16

no, the player mentally feels like they hit better but they actually do not.
the brain adjusts for a different scenario than game scenarios

Question 17

control system for open loop control

Answer 17

sensory system

-learned movements are translated into open loop control

Question 18

How do we learn tasks that require open loop control?

Answer 18

start with closed loop control and feedback, and it is translated into open control

Question 19

how does the executive know which muscles to activate

Answer 19

• timing

- force

Question 20

The executive

Answer 20

-has a package of instructions called the program that gets sent to the effector

Question 21

the effector

Answer 21

carries out the instructions sent from the executive

Question 22

Response chaining hypothesis

Answer 22

• variant of open-loop control
• each subsequent movement was thought to be automatically triggered by response-produced afferent information from the muscles.

Question 23

deafferentation

Answer 23

-disrupting the flow of sensory information into the body

Question 24

Ian Waterman and proprioception

Answer 24

• 19yr old who contracted flu
• when he woke up he could not feel his body
• virus destroyed the dorsal nerves that carry sensory information

Question 25

Central control of rapid movements

Answer 25

-triple burst EMG; burst of agonist muscle, then the agonist is turned off and the antagonist is turned on (bringing the limb to a stop)

Question 26

Degrees of freedom problems

Answer 26

-concern is that the system has too many independent states that must be controlled at the same time

Question 27

Motor Program

Answer 27

• a set of muscle commands that are structured before a movement sequence begins, and that allows the sequence to be carried out uninfluenced by peripheral feedback

Question 28

Motor program evidence

Answer 28

• Slater-hammel (1960)
• clocked swept around and finger had to be lifted at right time
• on random trials the sweep was stopped before and then the next time it was stopped after

Question 29

Point of no return

Answer 29

• the inability to sometimes inhibit programmed action

- point of no return in motor program

Question 30

Function of motor program

Answer 30

• structure and issue movement commands

- organize the many components of the motor system into a single functional unit in order to produce desired action

Question 31

Storage problem of motor control

Answer 31

where are all the motor programs stored?

Question 32

the novelty problem of motor control

Answer 32

how do we do things when we are just learning them?

Question 33

The generalized motor program

Answer 33

• proposed by schmidt
• accounts for the ability to adapt to motor programs to adapt to different situations or environmental factors
• contains invariant features and flexible features

Question 34

Invariant features

Answer 34

• unique to individual
• sequence of movements
• amount of force used
• relative timing

Question 35

Parameters (flexible features)

Answer 35

• change from situation to situation
• defines how the GMP is executed
• ex. time to carry out the task
• ex. the size of the movement

Question 36

GMP and Schemas

Answer 36

• when you perform a skill/movement 4 main things are evaluated by the CNS
  1. initial conditions
  2. response specification
  3. sensory consequences of the movement
  4. end result of the movement
• development of schemas allows for the comparator to function

Question 37

GMP summary

Answer 37

• learner decides what movement to execute in a given situation by subconsciously retrieving the program from memory based on the existing schema and parameters
• desired movement is organized and carried out
• motor program can be carried out using open or closed loop control

Question 38

Schema theory

Answer 38

• variability will enhance learning
• two types
  1. recall
  2. recognition

Question 39

Recall schema

Answer 39

organizing the motor program so it can initiate the movement and control movement
it updates the system

Question 40

recognition schema

Answer 40

• assess and compare the outcome using sensory information

- it revises the system

Question 41

Errors in motor programs

Answer 41

Selection errors: choosing the wrong motor program

Execution errors: executed by the wrong motor skill

Question 42

Other motor control theories

Answer 42

• internal models
• information processing theory
• equilibrium point hypothesis
• optimal control