Motor Control and Motor Learning Flashcards
Motor Control
- Movement is a product of the contributions of many systems working together within their own maturational level to produce movement tailored for that particular individual at that particular time, within that unique environment, to perform a specific task.
Motor output from CNS produces “action” through the following mechanisms
- Body’s effector system
- Muscles and joints
- Degrees of freedom
Tasks grouped according to functional categories: (3)
- Bed mobility tasks
- Transfer tasks
- Walking and ADL’s
Tasks grouped according to critical attributes that regulate neural control mechanisms: (2)
- Discrete
- Beginning and end
- Continuous
- End point is not inherent characteristic of task
- e.g., running-ending decided by performer
Tasks grouped according to whether the base of support is stable or in motion: (2)
- Stability
- Stable base of support
- Sitting, standing
- Mobility
- Moving base of support
- Running, walking
Tasks grouped according to whether object manipulation is required
- Adding a manipulation component increases the demand for stability during task performance
Tasks grouped according to movement variability: (2)
- Open movements
- Performer adapts behavior within constantly changing environment
- Tennis, soccer
- Closed movements
- Stereotyped, fixed, predictable
Environmental Constraints on Movement: Regulatory
- Movement must conform to regulatory features for goal achievement
- These features shape the movement itself
- Size, shape, weight of object to pick up or surface on which to be stable
- Examples: differently-sized cups require different grasping patterns; walking on an uneven grassy surface impacts the gait pattern differently than walking on a smooth floor
Environmental Constraints on Movement: Non-regulatory
- Movement does not have to conform to these features
- May or may not affect movement
- Examples: noise, lighting
THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
- Theories describe various patterns of behavior and why those behaviors occur
Theoretical Views (5)
- Neural-Maturationist
- Cognitive-Behavioral
- Cognitive-Developmental
- Motor Learning
- Dynamical Systems
Neural-Maturationist (theoretical view)
- Stages of motor development occur as a result of CNS maturation
- Organizational, top-down control, wherein higher levels exert an influence over lower levels
- These higher levels contain motor programs that store rules for generating movements.
- Appearance/disappearance of reflexes occurs with maturation of the CNS
***Neural-Maturationist Model attributes progressively Sophisticated movements to neurological maturation
Neural-Maturationist Theory Limitations (theoretic view)
- Presumes that reflexes still play a role in all movement/ Where do spontaneous/voluntary movements fit in?
- Doesn’t answer question of how novel movements occur
Neural Maturationist Theory Clinical Implications
- Function could be predicted by presence/absence of reflexes
- Pediatric PT developed based on this model: exam of reflex development and motor milestones dominate neurological testing
- clinical interventions based on increasing or decreasing reflex effects still used today
- Many current therapeutic exercise approaches have their basis in this model
Neural-Maturationist Summary
- Nervous system drives change
- Motor milestones in a predictable, sequential order over time
- What skills change and when
- Useful to tell us if a child is progressing in a typical fashion over time
But there is no How and Why of motor skill change
Cognitive Theories
- Focus is on the advancement of the development of thinking (motor skill interaction with other areas of development and the experience of acting on the world
Cognitive -Behavioral
- No identifiable stages
- Development occurs through interaction with the environment
- The building blocks are associated pairings in the environment (classical conditioning) and the behavioral consequences of reward and punishment (operant conditioning)
Cognitive -Developmental
- Development occurs as a result of sensory and motor interactions with environment at the different stages
- 4 stages of development with cognitive milestones
- first actions use reflexes and progress to voluntary actions
Cognitive theories limitations
- The interrelatedness of movement skill to cognition was not described
Cognitive theories clinical implications
- Therapist needs to provide a variety of sensory experiences to encourage the child to interact with the environment
- Use direct hand over hand if necessary to provide interaction with objects
Motor Learning theory
- Movement conditions, parameters of the motor program, outcome of the movement, and how the movement felt are stored in short-term memory until the following 2 schema can be extracted
-
Recall schema (motor components)
- Movement conditions
- Motor program parameters (trial and error practice
-
Recognition schema (sensory components)
- Knowledge of results
- Sensory feedback from movement
-
Recall schema (motor components)
Motor Learning from a temporal perspective in 3 stages
- Cognitive Stage - Early stage involves understanding the task, selecting a strategy, and constraining degrees of freedom to make the task easier. Characterized by large number of errors, but important to let patient be an active participant.
- Associative Stage - Intermediate stage allows task refinement, allowing more degrees of freedom with less muscle co-contraction, increasing coordination and decreasing variability of performance
- Autonomous Stage – Final stage wherein speed and efficiency of performance improves and automatic skills emerge. Patients ready for advanced challenges via distraction or new combinations of skills
***Learning is the ongoing process of updating the recognition and recall schema with each movement that is made (during each of the 3 stages):
Repetition Important!
Dynamical Systems Theory
- All systems will demonstrate a change over time, & thus are dynamic
- Self-organization of the interaction of systems is the main dynamical action principle
- Collection of individual parts come together as a unit without commands from a higher center
- Non-linear behavioral change occurs in response to a single control parameter of that behavior
- New movements emerge because of readiness within the system
Dynamic Systems Theory- Limitations
- De-emphasized neural contributions at both individual and environment levels