Lecture 18, Observational Learning and Imagery

Question 1

Observational Learning

Answer 1

observer watches a demonstration and adapts their own movement as a result of the interaction (quite a popular approach)
- effective compared to physical practice alone
- coach demo something before athletes tries it themselves or athletes watching videotapes
- can be useful in cases where practice is limited - potentially there is a lot is risk associated with practice like high dive jump (do not want to do 100 attempts)

Question 2

What Information could have been conveyed with a demonstration? (2)

Answer 2

cognitive spatial elements of the task and perceptual-motor elements of the task

Question 3

Cognitive-Spatial elements of the task

Answer 3

goal/reference-of-correctness - knowledge of that the task should look, sound and/or feel like (the athletes need to know what they are actually supposed to be doing)
- the reference-of-correctness can convey important timing information which can be important for different types of tasks (can be better conveyed through demonstration rather than someone verbally conveying)

explicit strategies - observers will copy the strategy used by the model (ex. keep hands in front of face to block the ball) - can see what the model is doing and pick up strategies based on that

Question 4

Perceptual-Motor elements of the task

Answer 4

• implicit (non-verbalizable) motor plans, potentially via action simulation
• that when we watch someone else perform an action our own motor system is active a if we are performing the action ourselves

Question 5

Implicit motor plans through action simulation

Answer 5

observed actions are mapped onto viewer’s own motor representation of the action
- when we watch other people perform our own motor system is engaged during observation
- equivalence in the neural system between observation or what happens as a response to observation and what happens in action
- help underly learning by observations as well predicting the action of others

Question 6

Evidence that we engage in ‘action simulation’ when watching others

Answer 6

• the same neurons that fire when you plan and perform an action, also fire when observing someone else perform the action

Question 7

“Skill” performers show evidence of action simulation when observing practiced motor skills

Answer 7

participants watched videos in a fMRI scanner of movements that they had extensive or little experience performing
- recruited ballet dancer and capoeira dancers (different features between both) - watch videos of either groups - the ballet dancers and capoeria dancers showed higher activation when watching videos that they had motor experience with (supports the idea that the motor system is really engaged during observation and that previous experience with the task seems the facilitate the stimulation in a way)
- y-axis is brain activity during observation

Question 8

The mirror neuron system is also involved during observational practice of new skills

Answer 8

• participants practiced dance sequences while watching videos with and without a human present (without the human present gave some information about the timing they had to step on arrows)
• after practice, participants watched the same videos in an fMRI scanner and had more activation during videos where a human was present (increased activation in the areas that are associated with mirror neuron system when the human was present)
• when physically tested, participants were better at performing the dance that was practiced with the human present in the video
• did did only having a human presence in the video impact neural simulation but it also results in overall better learning when they were tested afterwards (stimulatory processes seem to underly learning via observation)

Question 9

Is it better to watch an expert (“correct”) or novice (“learning”) model?

Answer 9

potentially both
expert - predict that more skilled, more similar and higher status model would improve learning
- more attention should be focused on the model
- more accurate perceptual blueprint (to do it correctly in the future)

novice - others have hypothesized that a learning model (that gets better) would be best
- assists problem solving of skill (effort) - watching someone fail and then succeed can be helpful
- more consistent with stage or learner (more similar to us)
- alerts to errors and how to correct them (help us avoid making those mistakes)

Question 10

Watching an expert and novice both elicit learning, but possibly through different mechanisms

Answer 10

watching an expert model:
- more accurate template of the action
watching a novice or learning model:
- improvements in error detection abilities
→ if learning by watching expert and novice models engages different mechanisms, then they should have additive effects

Question 11

Three reasons why to intersperse demonstrations and physical practice when teaching new motor skills

Answer 11

1. more likely to engage learner in active problem-solving
2. provides learner with rest between trials of physical practice
3. could also help activate MNS during observation, encourage simulation

Question 12

What is Imagery?

Answer 12

“visual mental imagery is ‘seeing’ in the absence of the appropriate immediate sensory input, auditory mental imagery is ‘hearing’ in the absence of the immediate sensory input, and so on. imagery is distinct from perception, which is the registration of physically present stimuli”
- visual seeing in your mind without seeing something in front of you and auditory is where you can hear something in your mind without immediate sensory input in that there is no audition or sound
- one is internally generated and is is external stimuli which leads to stimulation

Question 13

What is functional equivalence?

Answer 13

shared neural substrates underpinning overt (movement) and covert (motor imagery and action observation) processes
- functional equivalence between when we imagine and actually do something
- looking at the similarities of covert state of imagery versus actually performing the movements

Question 14

Mental chronometry

Answer 14

if actual and imagined actions are functionally equivalent, they should have similar timing characteristics
my notes:
- mental chronometry is imagining ourselves performing the task and then actually perform the task where we compare the time it takes for us to imagine the task and then fully perform the task
- if there is a difference is indicates that our imagery is not being quite accurate or there’s less of functional equivalence in a way
- our imagery does not always abide by the same time constraints as when physically constrains (can be unrealistic)