Lecture 17 - Intro to motor control and learning

Question 1

Gross vs Fine motor skills

Answer 1

Fine motor skills:

involves the use of small muscles of the hands, toes, mouth
-perform small precise movements, high accuracy

ex: threading needle, picking up coin

Gross motor skills
large movements that require the use of large muscles in the arms, legs, torso and feet

-multiple limbs and large muscle

ex: walking, standing up from a seated position, reaching
to open a door

Question 2

Closed and open motor skills

Answer 2

Open:
In an open motor skill the environment is variable and unpredictable. They require continuous evaluation of task and environmental demands.

Ex: football, hockey, tennis,

Closed:

In a closed motor skill the environment is stable and predictable. Performer can evaluate environmental demands and prepare motor actions in advance

ex: running a marathon, swimming

Question 3

Discrete motor skill

Answer 3

Discrete motor skills are typically brief actions with a well- defined beginning and end.

Discrete motor skills are important component of sports and daily life

Question 4

Serial motor skill

Answer 4

Serial motor skills are composed of a group of discrete skills strung together to make up a new, more complicated skill.

Many activities of daily living would be classified as serial motor skills
(e.g., pouring a glass of milk). They are
performed by assembling discrete motor skills into a functional sequence

Question 5

Continuous motor skill

Answer 5

Continuous motor skills are repetitive and often cyclical with no clear beginning or end

Performer can adjust the speed of movement

Question 6

Take home message

Answer 6

Humans can perform a range of
motor skills. These skills can be classified into different functional categories so we can study and understand them

Question 7

How do we make accurate reaching movements

Answer 7

Basic properties of reaching movements

ex: reaching for glass of milk

So may different paths to reach hand but we take most efficient one. Path tends to be STRAIGHT AND SMOOTH

Question 8

How can we measure and understand

Answer 8

Task: reach from start to end in fixed time

Hand motion profile: measure distance over time

Hand speed profile: velocity of time, with deceleration

Pertuberation: to change or disturb someones motion

Question 9

invariant features of upper limbs

Answer 9

Upper limb movements tend to be smooth, relatively straight and
accurate with ‘bell- shaped’ velocity
profiles

• Hand velocity graph

Similar speed and acceleration profiles
across movement amplitudes

• hand speed and acceleration profiles graph

On average, healthy young adults spend 45-50% of movement time in the
acceleration phase and 50-55% in the
deceleration phase of movement