Lecture 16

Question 1

Abilities

Answer 1

are generally movement attributes that are (largely) genetically predetermined that affect performance such as : speed, strength, agility, flexibility etc

Question 2

Abilities differ from skills

Answer 2

In the sense that skills are learned, whereas abilities are a product of both learning and genetics

Question 3

What is skill?

Answer 3

Skill is a complex movement phenomena with many interrelated factors
- Perception (environment, sensory etc)
- Decision making (Goal-oriented, influenced past)
- Action (mechanical, physical etc)

Question 4

Skills are learnt with practice we are not

Answer 4

born with them

Question 5

When can humans learn skills

Answer 5

-Readiness to learn
-Critical periods

Question 6

Readiness to learn

Answer 6

-Development / education psychology
-Motor milestones that they need to meet to be at a regular growing age

Question 7

Critical periods

Answer 7

-Neuroscience concept
-Heightened neural plasticity
-Embryology
-Imprinted in birds (the first thing they latch on to)
-Sensory deprivation studies

Question 8

Sensitive period

Answer 8

When the effect of experience on the brain is particularly strong this is referred to as a sensitive period

Question 9

Critical period

Answer 9

When experience essential for normal development alters performance permanently this is a critical period

Question 10

Brains, tool-use and lan

Answer 10

Some biologists suggest that tool use, cognition and language co-evolved
Humans gathered around fires (made with tools) for warmth, to eat and talk

Question 11

Individual differences and movement preferences
-Subtle and Inherent

Answer 11

Subtle differences in our movement preferences

Inherent movement preferences that explain why we move and learn differently

Question 12

Intrinsic dynamics

Answer 12

“the preferred states of the system given its current architecture and previous history of activity”

Question 13

Why we move / learn differently

Answer 13

• Intrinsic dynamics
• Task demands
• Environment

Question 14

Solving Bernsteins Degrees of freedom problem

Answer 14

There are more degrees of freedom than are strictly necessary to perform a given task. We have redundancy or abundance of DFs.

Question 15

As we become skilled humans learn to exploit the ….

Answer 15

redundancy in our bodies to achieve task goals more consistently

Question 16

Context conditioned variability

Answer 16

Humans utilise DFs and learn to adapt to different contexts remarkably fluently

Question 17

Role of muscle is context dependent

Answer 17

Each relationship between muscle excitation and task demand is unique

Question 18

Due to CCV we need to continuously

Answer 18

recognise and adapt to changes in internal and external forces

Question 19

Alternative view of movement variability

Answer 19

• variability seen as inherent in complex biological systems
• Not necessarily ‘noise’ or error
• within limits, variability can be adaptive and functional

Question 20

Variability that we see in movement is not a problem

Answer 20

Motor systems have evolved to exploit degeneracy

Question 21

Practical implications (wait)

Answer 21

Work with and not against individual differences

Awareness of sensitive periods for learning
- Physical
-emotional
-Neural
-sensory

Encourage informal play

Talent identification and development