Motor Learning

Question 1

Motor Control

Answer 1

How movement is produced & regulated

Question 2

Motor Learning

Answer 2

How skilled movement is acquired & modified

Includes motor relearning

set of processes associated with practice or experience leading to relatively permanent change in the capability for producing skilled action

Question 3

Important components of motor learning

Answer 3

Process – behavioral change

Permanent change

Practice

Interaction among individual, task, and environment

Question 4

What parts of the brain does explicit/declarative learning require?

Answer 4

association cortices

medial temporal lobe

limbic system structures (hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus)

Cerebellum (dentate nucleus)

Question 5

Four types of processing in explicit/declarative learning

Answer 5

Encoding

Consolidation

Storage

retrieval

Question 6

What does encoding require?

Answer 6

Attention

Motivation

Rehearsal

Association with prior memory info

Question 7

What parts of the brain does encoding occur?

Answer 7

prefrontal lobe

temporal lobe

parietal lobe

anterior hippocampus

thalamus

basal ganglia (striatum)

Question 8

What is consolidation? What part of the brain is crucial for this?

Answer 8

Structural changes in neurons to prepare for long-term storage

Hippocampus is crucial for this process

Question 9

What is storage? What part of the brain is involved in this?

Answer 9

Long-term retention

Hippocampus

Question 10

What parts of the brain does retrieval occur?

Answer 10

prefrontal lobe

temporal lobe

entorhinal cortex

perirhinal cortex

posterior hippocampus

thalamus

basal ganglia

Question 11

What is lost and spared in surgical excision of the hippocampus?

Answer 11

Long-term memory is spared

Short-term memory has difficulty converting to long-term

Question 12

What happens when the temporal lobe is stimulated?

Answer 12

Caused pt to relive past memories

Question 13

Habituation vs. sensitization

Answer 13

Habituation decreases response to a non-painful stim

Sensitization increases response to repeated painful stim

Question 14

What happens in habituation in the neuron?

Answer 14

Decreased EPSP

Decreased # of synaptic connections

Decreased # of active transmitting zones within existing connection

Question 15

What happens if habituation stimulus is massed without rest between sessions?

Answer 15

Large short-term effects

Small long-term effects

Habituation requires more time

Question 16

What happens in sensitization in the neuron?

Answer 16

Prolonged action potential

Increased EPSP

More transmitters available

Question 17

Short-term changes in sensitization

Answer 17

Changes in existing proteins

Question 18

Long-term changes in sensitization

Answer 18

Synthesis of new protein

New synaptic connection

More post-synaptic dendrites

More active zones at synapses

Question 19

Describe operant conditioning

Answer 19

Relationship between the person’s action and a consequence

Ex: retaining balance after stroke

Question 20

Hebb’s Law

Answer 20

Neurons that fire together wire together

Question 21

Describe procedural learning

Answer 21

Learning skills and habits without conscious thought or attention

Trial and error practice

Question 22

What parts of the brain are involved in procedural learning?

Answer 22

Specific frontal regions (including sensorimotor cortex)

Basal ganglia

Parietal regions

Cerebellar structures

Question 23

Describe Schmidt’s Schema Theory

Answer 23

There are a set of rules for a particular movement

Abstract representations

Question 24

What allows Schema to be strengthened?

Answer 24

Practice variability

Question 25

Describe Newell’s Ecological Theory

Answer 25

Perception and action systems are important to optimize

Process that increases coordination between perception & action consistent with task & environmental constraints

Question 26

Knowledge of performance

Answer 26

Information about technique or how the task is being done

Question 27

Knowledge of results

Answer 27

Information about the outcome

Question 28

Bernstein’s motor learning stages

Answer 28

Novice stage

Advanced stage

Expert stage

Question 29

Novice stage of Bernstein’s motor learning stages

Answer 29

Reduced degrees of freedom

Co-activation, couple joints, fix joint angles

Question 30

Advanced stage of Bernstein’s motor learning stages

Answer 30

Begins releasing joints, more control

Less co-activation

Coordinated muscle synergies across joints

Question 31

Expert stage of Bernstein’s motor learning stages

Answer 31

All joints released

Passive properties and inertia exploited

Question 32

Gentile’s stages of motor learning

Answer 32

Stage 1- understand the task

Stage 2- fixation/diversification

Question 33

Closed vs. open skills

Answer 33

Closed skills have minimal distraction and consistent motor pattern

Open skills have more distractions and varied motor pattern

Question 34

Concurrent vs. terminal feedback

Answer 34

Concurrent is given during the task

Terminal is given at the end of the task

Question 35

Describe power law of practice

Answer 35

Rate of improvement during practice is logarithmically related to remaining potential improvement

Question 36

Constant vs. variable practice

Answer 36

Constant practice is practicing something the same way every time

Variable practice practices something in different ways

Question 37

Blocked vs. random practice

Answer 37

Blocked practice practices the same activity trial after trial

Random practice practices the task with contextual interference