Exam 1 Flashcards
Motor control involves the interaction between what 3 major factors?
- individual
- task
- environment
What are the individual constraints?
- How does an individual perceive the environment?
- What are the cognitive processes taking place?
- What actions take place to perform the task?
Cognition
attention, motivation, emotion; decision making
Perception
sensory/perceptual information; integration of sensory impressions into meaningful information
Action
movement within context of specific activity; motor output from CNS to muscles to execute coordinated, functional movement
What are the task constraints?
- What is the nature of the task being performed?
- What are the functional demands of the task?
- Understand task attributes (ie sequencing)
What are the environment constraints?
- regulatory features: aspects of environment that directly shape movement
- non-regulatory features: factors that may affect performance but movement does not conform to them
Reflex Theory of Motor Control
developed by Sherrington in 1906
states that movement results from stimulus-response sequence of events; sensory stimulus is required to initiate sequence; complex movements involve pairing of several reflexes to produce movement; recovery results from ability to inhibit abnormal movements/synergies and facilitate normal movement
What are the clinical implications of the reflex theory of motor control?
use sensory input to stimulate desired behavior
Reflex Theory Limitations
- spontaneous and voluntary movements?
- what if there is no sensory stimulus?
- what about rapid movements?
- can a single stimulus result in different responses?
- production of novel (non-reflexive) movements?
Hierarchical Theory of Motor Control
developed by Hughlings Jackson
emphasizes a top-down organizational control; higher level = higher association areas; middle level = motor cortex; lower level = spinal cord; reflexes not sole determinant of motor control
Limitations of Hierarchical Theory
- does not explain reflexes present in normal adults
- does not explain movements that do not need constant planning
- does not explain reactive control
Clinical Implications of Hierarchical Theory
- inhibit reflexes
- facilitate normal movement
Motor Programming Theory of Motor Control
a memory-based construct that controls coordinated movements; a memory representation that stores information needed to perform an action (stored motor program)
Flexible - activated by central process or by sensory stimulus
Movement can occur in absence of sensory input and with increased speed of information processing; motor programs may involve open-loop or closed-loop systems
Limitations of Motor Programming Theory
- not the sole determinant of action
- does not replace need for sensory input
- musculoskeletal and environmental variables still affect movement
Clinical Implications of Motor Programming Theory
- explains abnormal movement that is not reflexive in nature
- functional task specific training rather than muscle specific training in isolation
Dynamic Systems Theory of Motor Control
developed by Bernstein
examines how the individual, environment, and task determine the movement; considers the mechanical system in which the neural system controls; movement is dependent on internal and external forces (variability is a necessary condition of optimal function)
Limitations of Dynamic Systems Theory
diminishes the role of the nervous system
Clinical Implications of Dynamic Systems Theory
- importance of functional tasks
- vary conditions
- modify environmental context
What are the four systems responsible for motor control?
- local spinal cord and brainstem circuits
- descending control pathways
- cerebellum
- basal ganglia
Motor Performance
execution of a skill at a specific time and in a specific location
Motor Learning
a change in the capability to perform a skill that must be inferred from a relatively permanent improvement in performance as a result of practice or experience
Performance Characteristics of Skill Learning
- improvement over a period of time
- consistency: performance becomes more consistent
- stability: the influence of perturbation on performance
- persistence: improved performance capability lasts over increasing time periods
- adaptability: improved performance is adaptable to a variety of performance context characteristics
Retention tests measure:
permanence
Transfer tests measure
adaptability
What are the two reasons why performance can misrepresent learning?
- practice may involve a performance variable that artificially inflates or depresses performance
- practice may involve performance plateaus
Fitts and Posner Three Stage Model
- Cognitive stage
- Associative stage
- Autonomous stage
Cognitive Stage
beginner focuses on solving cognitively-oriented problems
Associative Stage
person has learned to associate cues from the environment with required movements; works to refine performance to be more consistent
Autonomous Stage
final stage where performance of the skill is “automatic”
Gentile’s Two Stage Model
- Initial stage
2. Later stage
Initial Stage
learner works to achieve movement coordination pattern to enable some degree of success achieving action goal AND learn to discriminate between regulatory and non-regulatory conditions in environmental context
Later Stage
involves learner acquiring three characteristics:
- adapting movement pattern acquired in initial stage to demands of any performance situation
- increase consistency of action goal achievement
- perform with an economy of effort
Closed skill
fixation of movement pattern