Lecture 19 - Motor Learning Flashcards
What is motor learning?
Motor learning is a set of processes that lead to relatively permanent changes in the capacity for skilled motor performance
OR
set of processes associated with practice or experience leading to relatively permanent changes in the capability for movement
You go home for Easter and see a clarinet you used to play while you were in high school. You pick it up and play an old favourite song. You are demonstrating ________.
Retention
What is retention?
The ability to demonstrate a skill over time.
You use your clarinet skills to learn how to play the saxophone. You are demonstrating ______.
Transfer/generalizability
What is transfer/generalizability?
The ability to apply a learned skill to learning of other similar tasks. Practice on one task contributes to performance capacity in some other task.
Retention can be used to see if a skill is _____ versus _____..
A) Learned
B) Merely enhanced performance (temporary change)
While _____ and ____ are good measures of motor learning, _______ is not.
Retention and transfer/generalizability
Performance
What are the 3 internal process stages for motor learning, as outlined by Fitts and Posner? Briefly define each.
1) Cognitive - development of basic movement pattern
2) Associative - refinement of movement
3) Autonomous - performance of movement virtually automatic
T/F: There is an increase in the variability in performance during the associative stage.
False (decrease)
While there is a trial and error period during the _____ stage, the _____ stage is virtually error free with little interference from environmental distractions.
1) Cognitive
2) Autonomous
The cognitive stage requires that learners do what 2 things?
1) Understand the nature of the task/skill
2) Develop strategies that can be used to carry out the task
What three things will be the highest in the cognitive phase and lowest in the autonomous phase?
1) Speed of improvement
2) Variability of Performance
3) Level of attention
What structures are associate with the following:
1) cognitive stage
2) association stage
3) autonomous stage
1) Cortical areas
2) Cerebellum
3) Basal ganglia
With ____, the performer is provided with the solutions to a problem. With _____, the performer is encouraged to problem solve.
In therapeutic interventions for patients with neurological impairments, what should be the focus?
1) Skill training
2) Motor learning (learning a motor skill)
Focus on learning a motor skill rather than skill training.
What are the 5 factors that influence motor learning?
1) Individual
2) Task
3) Environment
4) Practice
5) Feedback
Which of the following factors (within the characteristic of the individual) will NOT affect motor learning?
1) Age
2) Prior movement experiences
3) Previous social experiences
4) Fine motor skills
5) Attitudes
6) Motivational levels
4) Fine motor skills is INCORRECT as it exists within the task domain (not the individual domain).
Writing is an example of a ______ characteristic, while playing the piano is _____.
Unimanual; bimanual
When considering the type of terrain a person is ambulating on and the presence of distractions, what characteristic affecting motor learning is being discussed?
Environment
Outline motor learning, in the context of environment, during the early learning stages versus later learning stages.
Early learning – stable, predictable, closed environments should be used (ie. walking in rehab centre).
As learning progresses, environment should be varied and incorporate real world open environments. (ie. practice ambulation at home, in community, over curbs, over rough terrain.
Which two variables can be externally manipulated by the PT which have major influences on motor learning?
1) Practice
2) Feedback
What is the strongest predictor of motor skill learning in adults?
Practice
What is the power law of practice?
Immediate improvement in performance typically occurs during the initial stages of practice, followed by smaller gains later on.
T/F: Incorrect movement patterns/faulty habits and postures must be learned before correct movements can be mastered.
False. Faulty movement patterns must be UNLEARNED.
What 2 factors are important in determining whether a movement pattern is faulty?
1) Energy consumption – movements should be performed at a low energy cost
2) Whether movement is harmful - should not cost a person with respect to degenerative changes over time
Weight shift is an example of _____ practice, while gait training in parallel bars is considered _____ practice.
1) Part task practice
2) Whole task practice
What is part task and whole task practice?
Part task practice - identifying components of a skill and practicing the components in isolation
Whole task practice - practicing the task in its entirety
describe massed practice
a sequence of practice and rest times, in which rest time is much less than practice time
describe distributed practice
spaced practice times, with practice time equal to rest time
distributed practice is preferred for those with _____, ____, _____, _____
- fatigue
- low motivation
- short attention span
- poor coordination
_____ practice of tasks is of greater benefit to motor learning
- distributed practice
distributed schedule of practice can what? (3 things)
- enhance problem-solving
- allow consolidation of motor memory
- facilitate information retrieval in different contexts
what is random practice?
- practicing a variety of tasks on consecutive trials
- practice same task in different contexts
what is block practice?
- practice one task in one context task
- performed repeatedly before beginning a second task/context
What are the two types of feedback?
Intrinsic and extrinsic
describe intrinsic feedback
sensory information that is linked to the performance of the task
describe extrinsic feedback
information
provided by an external source
what are the 2 types of extrinsic feedback
- knowledge of performance (KP)
- knowledge of results (KR)
describe knowledge of performance (KP)
- provides explicit information on how the person is performing the task(quality/characteristic)
- relates information about the pattern of movement
describe knowledge of results (KR)
- provides information regarding the end result or
overall outcome of the movement - focus is on the relationship between an action and a pre-determined goal
___ frequency of feedback provided to a patient practicing a motor task is helpful for____ acquisition of skill, but slows _____
- higher
- initial
- retention
describe bandwidth feedback
feedback is provided only when performance is outside of an acceptable tolerance of ‘correctness’
Give the following case and task, and take them step by step: What feedback characteristics would you chose during the autonomous stage of motor learning?
- random, whole task, distributed, summary of knowledge
