Midterm I Flashcards
Define skill
the ability to bring about some end result with maximum certainty and minimum outlay of energy, or of time and energy
All skills involve
Perceiving the environment, deciding what, how and when to move, producing the movement
Open skill
the environment is variable and unpredictable during the action
Closed skill
the environment is stable and predictable
Discrete skill
have an easily defined beginning and end (brief duration)
Serial skill
a group of discrete skills strung together to make up a new, more complicated skilled action
Continuous skill
continuous skills have arbitrary beginning and end points, the behaviour flowing for minutes or hours
Constant error
the signed difference of a score on a given trial from a target value; a measure of bias for that trial
Absolute error
the average absolute deviation of each of a set of scores from a target value; a measure of overall error
Variable error
the standard deviation of a set of scores about the subject’s own average (CE) score; a measure of movement consistency
Root mean square error (continuous task)
Root of the average of squared deviations of a set of values from a target value
Stimulus ID (perception)
sensory input is detected and identified, representation of important info is created
Response selection (decision)
response alternatives are evaluated and one (if any) selected
Response programming (action)
motor system is organized to produce movement, also known as movement planning
Reaction time
a measure of information processing, elapsed time between sensory stimulation (stimulus) and motor behaviour
Donders stages of processing
Simple RT, Go/no-go task, Choice RT, Go/No-go – Simple = stimulus ID, `Choice RT – Go/no-go = response selection
Hicks law
choice RT increases by the same amount every time the SR pairs double, RT ~ LOG2(#SR pairs)
SR compatibility
the extent to which the stimulus response it evokes are connected in a natural way
Practice
experience with a task can reduce RT delays caused by an increase in SR pairs and by SR incompatibility
Spatial/event anticipation
knowing what/where something is going to happen
Temporal anticipation
knowing when something is going to happen
Major benefit of anticipation
can reduce “RT” to almost zero (or negative, think false start)
Major risk of anticipation
plan/program the wrong movement and as a result, end up in a disastrously wrong position
Short term sensory store
very brief (<1s) for vast amounts of sensory information, only some which gets processed further
Short term memory
also called working memory – smaller capacity for information for a few minutes, requires attention/rehearsal to retain (most effortful form of memory)
Long term memory
well learned information collected over a lifetime – practically limitless (everything you know), with practice information moves from STM to LTM
Attention
An ability, intention, limited
Parallel processing
handling two or more streams of information at the same time
Stroop effect (PP)
competition between the response to the color word and ink colour
Cocktail party effect (PP)
when you are engrossed in one conversation in a noisy environment but automatically hear when someone somewhere else says your name - shows there is parallel processing and that streams of information are being processed without explicit attention
Inattentional blindness
when our attention is absorbed by one stimulus stream and as a result we are “blind” to other information
Sustained attention
after a period of time the task of concentrating on a single target of our attention becomes a progressively more difficult chore
Controlled response selection
IP is voluntary, slow, sequential, attentionally demanding
Automatic response selection
IP is non-conscious, fast, parallel, low attentional load
Psychological refractory period
the delay in responding to the second of two closely spaced stimuli
Double simulation paradigm (PRR)
Grouping: both stimuli detected as a single event and organize a single, more complicated action in which both limbs respond simultaneously
Perceptual narrowing
the narrowing of attentional focus as arousal goes up
Cue-utilization hypothesis
explanation of low/high arousal effects on performance
During high arousal – narrow perceptual field
Exteroception
provides sensory information about the environment that comes primarily from outside the body (big five)
Proprioception
provides sensory information about the state of the body that comes primarily from muscles, joints and movements
Vestibular apparatus
sense organs in inner ear – balance, posture and head movement
Joint receptors
receptors around joint – extreme positions of the joints
Muscle spindle
sense receptors in muscles that provide information about changes in muscle length (driving force of reflex)
GTO
sense receptors located at muscle/joint junction that provide information about muscle force
Cutaneous receptors
sense receptors located in the skin that provide information about pressure and T
