Motor Control and Motor Learning Flashcards
Motor Control
-ability to regulate or direct mechanisms essential to movement
-info processing, organizes musculoskeletal system to create coordinated, goal-directed movements
Strategies of motion control
feed-forward strategy
feed-back strategy
Therapeutic strategies improve quality and quantity of _______
postures and movements essential to function
Three constraints that contribute to organization of movement
-Task (T)
-Individual (I)
-Environment (E)
Individual constraints
-Perception
-Action
-Cognition
Action
-controlling of muscles and joints to execute coordinated functional movement
-multiple ways one movement can be carried out
Degrees of freedom problem
process of choosing between equivalent solutions to do a movement, then coordinating the muscles and joints involved in the movement
Perception
-sensory info becoming useful information in the CNS
-provides info about the body and environment, CRITICAL for movement regulation
-PNS mechanisms collect and high-level processing processes AFFERENT information
Cognition
-attention, planning, problem solving, motivation and emotion
-mental systems interacting
Dual task control
Being able to perform multiple actions simultaneously, or accomplish something with many demands placed on us
Ex. walking and having a conversation in a noisy hallway
Task constraints
-nature of task performed determines movement needed
-classification parameters used
Functional categories
-bed mobility
-transfer tasks
-walking + ADL’s
Neural control mechanisms
Discrete - definite beginning and end
Continuous - No recognizable beginning and end. End point is not required. Ex. Walking, running
Base of support classification
Stability = stable BOS, sitting/standing
Mobility = moving BOS, walking/running
Sequenced tasks are used when?
-when an object needs to be manipulated
-when there’s an increased demand for stability (ex. weightlifting)
Movement variability
Open movements - constant changing, unpredictable environment
Closed movements - fixed, predictable movements
Retraining functional movement depends on what?
-Understanding nature of tasks
-having a framework for functional evaluation
Environment constraints
Regulatory - movement conforms to features of the environment (ex. walking up a step to get in the house)
Non-regulatory - movement does not conform to specific feature. May or may not affect moving. (ex. background noise)
Systems Theory
-Body is a mechanical system with many degrees of freedom that need to be controlled
-Higher levels of nervous system (CNS) control lower levels (CNS takes care of basic skills so we can focus on higher level things. Breaks down in strokes!)
-Lower levels control synergies (groups of muscles) to act to together (walking and not activating 16 muscles independently)
What creates movement according to systems theory?
-Interplay between body system, external force, and variations in the initial condition
-More advanced tasks = more synergies involved
Degrees of freedom
-Basically having lots of different options or movements to accomplish something
-Differs from person to person
-refers to planes of movement!
Dynamic systems theory
-Similar to systems theory, but places less emphasis on CNS and more on secondary systems
-Focuses on control parameter system
Variability in motor control in Dynamic Systems theory
-variability is not because of error, but is needed for optimal function
-need flexible, adaptive strategies to adjust to environment
-have to have just the right amount of variability
-Attractor well
Attractor well
Figure showing how preferred or stable a movement pattern is
Deep well = very hard to change the pattern
Ex. If a px only learns to climb the stairs with the railing on the right, what will happen if they need to climb the stairs with the railing on the left?
Motor learning
-study of acquisition or modification of movement
-can also be re-acquisition of movement or skills lost by injury
Learning:
-is acquiring the capability for skilled action
-resultes from experience or practice
-cannot be measured directly, referred from behavior changes
-is relatively permanent changes in behavior
Performance vs. learning
Performance: temporary change during practice
Learning: permanent change in skill retention
What two strategies are necessary to achieve a task solution?
sensing (perception, action, cognition)
moving (execution)
Closed loop theory
motor control is achieved by feedback, actual response needs to confirm desired response. If it doesn’t, corrections are made
Adam’s closed loop theory
sensory feedback from ongoing movement is compared with the stored memory of the intended movement within a closed loop process
Open loop theory
-no position feedback of a moving object
-execution of a preprogrammed movement (a motor program) w/o perceptual feedback
-“muscle memory”
Schmidt’s schema theory
Theory that people learn movements in “generalized movement programs” and adjusting those to the environment
Fitts and Posner Three-stage model
- Cognitive stage
-understanding task, choosing a strategy.
-What must be done?
-lots of attention and erros - Associative stage
-how should it be done?
-best strategy chosen, start refining the skill
-small variability and improvement in performance - Autonomous stage
-What presents success?
-perform skills automatically, little to now attention
-can do advanced stuff like dual-task performance
Systems three-stage model
learning to control “degrees of freedom”
- Novice stage (freeze degree of freedom)
-simplify movement by stiffening body parts to control degree of freedom
-accurate but not efficient - Advanced stage (release additional degree of freedom)
-things are being refined, muscle synergies are coordinated better.
-contraction of agonists + antagonists reduced
3.Expert stage (release all degrees of freedom)
-use energy more efficiently, fatigue is reduced
-rely on more passive forces, movements are optimized
Gentile two stage model
Stage 1:
-Understand requirements of movement
-develop goal and strategy to get it
-distinguish regulatory and non-regulatory factors of environment
Stage 2:
-refine the movement
-adapting to changing task or environment
-closed skills need fixation (minimal environment changes, movement consistency)
-open skills need diversification (changing environment, movement diversity)
Stages of motor learning
Acquisition or practice phase: -errors
-skills are learned
-performance
Retention and transfer phase:
-skill mastery
-information stored to be retrieved later for new situations
-learning
Intrinsic feedback
-acquired through sensory systems
-proprioception or somatosensory info
-can be distorted by injury
Extrinsic feedback
knowledge of results (KR): outcome of the movement
knowledge of performance (KP): how the movement was done, or the movement pattern used.
Practice conditions
-massed vs. distributed
-constant vs. variable
-random vs. blocked
-whole vs. part
Massed vs. distributed
Massed: practice time > rest time b/w trials
Distributed: Rest time b/w trials > practice time
Constant vs. variable
Constant: learning a skill under the same conditions
Variable: learning a skill under changing or a variety of conditions
Random vs. blocked
Random: practice motor tasks in a random order
Blocked: practice motor tasks in a fixed order
Whole vs. part
Whole: practicing the entire movement at once
Part: breaking movement into different components
What does the amount of transfer for a movement or skill depend on?
similarity between tasks or environments
Unguided motor learning is ____
less effective for immediate skill acquisition but better for effective for transfer
Key learning elements
-environmental considerations
-motivation
-attention
-guidance and instruction
-selection of feedback and practice
Learning changes due to aging
-performance of skills that are time related declines
-older adults benefit from cognitive learning strategies like mental practice
-processing new information takes longer due to changes in CNS
-need to adapt principles of motor learning and environment where skills are practiced
Ability to learn is dependent on:
-intelligence
-learning skills acquired over the years
-flexibility of learning style
-non-cognitive factors (generational differences, attitudes, etc.)
