Important things to know for Exam 1 Flashcards
Understand these
Motor behavior 3 subdisciplines
Motor Control, Motor Learning, Motor Development
Problems under motor control
Degrees of freedom, serial order, perceptual-motor integration
What are mirror neurons
motor neurons that fire when people observe an action they can perform themselves
Motor learning def:
relatively permanent gains in skills associated with practice or experience
Learning vs. Performance
Performance is the act of executing a motor skill that results in a temporary, nonpermanent change.
Learning is relatively permanent gains in skills through practice or experience.
Motor development
age related successive changes that occur across lifespan
- not associated with practice/experience
- sequential, age-related, and continuous
does not equate to physical growth
CNS composition
brains and spinal cord
CNS functions
- controls voluntary movement
- source of thoughts, perceptions, and emotions
PNS composition
Nerves that branch out from brain and spinal cord
PNS functions
communication channel between CNS to the limbs and organs
The brain composition
Brainstem(Pons), Cerebrum(front&top of brain), Cerebellum(lower back of brain), Diencephalon(inside center of brain)
Pons functions
carry sensory info (vision, vestibular, proprioception)
cerebrum functions
- higher control function
- learning/reasoning
- coordination
- control perception and integrate sensory info
cerebellum functions
- coordination
- learning motor skills
- muscle control
diencephalon functions
- relay sensory info
- produce and regulate neurochemical
What region of brain relates to DoF problem?
Cerebellum
What region of brain relates to serial order problem?
Cerebrum
What region of brain relates to perceptual-motor integration problem?
Cerebrum
Cerebral cortex functions/location
- grey-colored surface of cerebrum
- provides most important signal for production of skilled movement of muscle groups on opposite side of body
4 types of perceptual-motor integration sensations
- vision
- vestibular
- proprioception
- somatosensory
Motor neuron parts
Dendrites, Myelin Sheath, Axon
Dendrites
Receive information from other neurons
Myelin Sheath
Allows electrical impulses to transmit quickly
Axon(nerve fiber)
One per neuron, have many branches which are known as collaterals
Primary motor cortex functions
-provide most important signal for production of skilled movement
- coordination and movement initiation
supplementary motor cortex function
control rhythmic sequential movement by preparing and organizing the movement
premotor cortex functions
- organization of movements before they’re initiated
- enables transitioning between sequential movement
subcortical area structures
basal ganglia
areas of cerebral cortex
primary motor cortex, supplementary motor cortex, premotor cortex
role of basal ganglia
initiation and inhibition of movement, control force, regulate dopamine release
Spinal cord roles(3)
- send sensory afferent signal to brain
- receive motor signal from the brain and send signal to motor efferent
- reflex action
Dorsal(posterior) horns cells transmit…
sensory(afferent) info
Ventral(anterior) horns contains…
Motor(efferent) neurons whose axons terminate on skeletal muscles
Helpful pneumonic
SAME: Sensory Afferent + Motor Efferent
DAVE: Dorsal Afferent + Ventral Efferent
Fitts & Posner’s 3-Stage Model
Cognitive, Associative, Autonomous
Cognitive Stage
Development of basic movement pattern
- beginner learner
- learn fundamentals
- high focus/attention
- inconsistent performance
- many gross errors
- greatest performance improvements
Associative Stage:
Refinement of movement pattern
- intermediate learner
- lower attention demand
- more consistent performance
- fewer errors
- experiences gradual performance improvements
Autonomous stage
performance of movement virtually automatic
- advanced learner
- high level of proficiency
- performs mostly automatic
- focus more on strategies
- consistent performance with few errors
- can detect own errors and make proper adjustments
explain a step by step approach to improving each of the 3 stages from Fitts & Posner’s model for someone learning to spin a basketball on their hands
explain out loud(too long to write)
what is positive transfer?
provide example
Beneficial effect that practicing one skill/exercise has on learning/performance of another.
example: create one on the spot
What is zero transfer? Provide an example.
practice of a skill/exercise has zero effect on performance/learning of another.
Example: make one on the spot
What is negative transfer?
Provide an example.
Practice of one skill/exercise hinders the learning/performance of another skill/exercise.
Example: make one on the spot
explain the basic concept of bilateral transfer.
Training with one hand for a certain skill. Then trying that skill with the other hand. Bilateral transfer occurs if the other hand improves in that skill as well. Asymmetrical transfer can occur
What is asymmetrical transfer?
practicing with the dominant hand may lead to better improvements in non-dominant hand than vice versa.
Original learning score
level of skill/ability acquired during initial training phase
Absolute retention score
the difference between the initial performance score and final performance score
difference score =
original learning score - absolute retention score
percentage score =
(difference score/change in original learning score) x 100
retention savings score =
original time to peak - retention time to peak
Closed loop vs. open loop
closed loop:
- feedback
- corrections made based on feedback
- relatively long duration of movement
open loop:
- no feedback
- preplan movement
- movement that are more rapid and discrete
information processing theory
- brain = computer
- brain receives and processes info
- instructions of movement are stored in brain and are retrieved to send motor signals to appropriate muscles
ecological approach
- direct perception
- information -> movement coupling
- affordances
- repetition without repetition
- perceiving and moving occur simultaneously
- there is no info in performer’s environment that directly specifies the variables that are needed to be controlled
- skill lives within the performer-environment system
- is highly task specific
what are affordances?
action possibilities of the environment and task in relation to the perceiver’s capabilities
- guided by body-scale ratios
what is a regulatory condition
an environmental task that directly influence the way a skill is performed.
- can be stationary or in-motion
what is an nonregulatory condition
an environmental factor that are present during a movement or task but do not directly influence how the skill is performed.
- crowd noise, lighting conditions, background music, color of components
what is stimulus-response compatability?
the degree to which a stimulus and its response match.
- ex. responding to verbal stimulus with verbal response
What is psychological refractory period?
a delay in response to a second stimulus that occurs after processing the first stimulus
What is Hick’s law
states that the more choices someone is presented with, the longer it will take them to make a decision
What is central limit capacity?
the ability of the CLT to approximate a normal distribution with a sufficiently larger sample size.
What is an attractor?
A stable state
(ex. benching with good form)
What are control parameters?
- Cause of change
(ex. increasing weight)
What are rate limiters?
- cause of a negative change
(increasing weight beyond capability)
What are phase shifts?
- The change
(ex. too much weight can lead to a change in correct form)
Parts of cerebral cortex?
- frontal lobe
- parietal lobe
- occipital lobe
- temporal lobe
Frontal lobe function
voluntary movement
Parietal lobe
Control of perception and integration of sensory info
Occipital lobe function
visual perception
Temporal lobe function
memory, abstract thoughts, judgement
