Motor Programs, Evidence

Question 1

for a 90mph fast ball batter has ____ seconds to commit to a swing (22 ft from plate)

Answer 1

0.09 seconds

Question 2

Name 5 evidence for motor programs.

Answer 2

• reaction-time evidence (response complexity effects)
• deafferentation experiments
• central pattern generator
• inhibiting actions
• muscle response patterns

Question 3

Reaction time increases when…

Answer 3

• additional elements in are added to an action
• more limbs must be coordinated
• the duration of the movement becomes longer

Question 4

a ______ _______ _______ usually produces the typical startle indicators.

Answer 4

loud acoustic signal

Question 5

What is deafferentation?

Answer 5

severing the afferent nerve bundles so CNS no longer receives sensory information

Question 6

Sensory information (is/is not) critical for movement production.

Answer 6

is not

Question 7

What do the monkey studies show about deafferentation?

Answer 7

• after deafferentation, monkeys could still respond to lights and carry out learned motor programs
• show that if the movement is quick enough the motor program controls the entire movement.
• However, Fine motor movements are affected.

Question 8

What is the central pattern generator?

Answer 8

• Centrally located control mechanism that produces genetic, repetitive actions (ie locomotion)
• produces mainly genetically defined actions

Question 9

The concept of central pattern generator is used to describe… whereas motor program theory applies to…

Answer 9

• simple, genetically defined activities such as walking

- learned skills such as riding a bicycle.

Question 10

What is the reflex reversal phenomenon?

Answer 10

Reflex activity produces different responses to a stimulus, depending on the phase of the movement.

Question 11

Describe inhibiting actions.

Answer 11

a motor program is released that is responsible for initiating the action in tasks and serves to carry out the entire action unless a second stop signal program is initiated in time to arrest its completion

Question 12

The method most frequently used for studying action inhibition is…

Answer 12

the stop signal paradigm

Question 13

Describe the Slater- Hammel Experiment.

Answer 13

• If the clock hand stopped at 700ms (100ms before 800ms, where they were told to stop the watch) then there was almost no chance of keeping their finger on the button.
• The ‘GO SIGNAL” is about 150-170 ms before the action.

Question 14

Describe muscle response patterns using electromyography (EMG).

Answer 14

• After mechanically blocking the usage of a limb, EMG activity is exactly the same as when limbs are not blocked
• There is no feedback from the moving limbs because the limbs can’t move, yet there seems to be a motor program (Antagonist muscle still contracts to control “movement”)

Question 15

In looking at muscle response patterns, a limb’s electrical muscle activity patterns are unaffected for…What does this mean?

Answer 15

• 100 to 120 ms when the limb is blocked by a mechanical perturbation
• the movement activities are organized in advance and run off unmodified by sensory information for 100 to 120 ms

Question 16

Name 2 problems in motor program theory.

Answer 16

• storage

- novelty

Question 17

Describe how storage is a problem in motor program theory.

Answer 17

How (or where) do humans store the nearly countless number of motor programs needed for future use?

Question 18

Describe how novelty is a problem in motor program theory.

Answer 18

How do performers produce truly novel behavior that cannot be represented in an already stored motor program?

Question 19

What is the generalized motor program (GMP) theory?

Answer 19

• A class of movements
• Retrieved from memory
• characterized by its relative timing

Question 20

GMP theory has variations in:

Answer 20

• movement time
• movement amplitude,
• the limb used represent the movement’s surface structure

Question 21

Name 3 invariant features of GMP.

Answer 21

• characterized by its relative timing, which can be measured by a set of ratios among the durations of various events in the movement.
• Relative timing represents a movement’s deep, fundamental structure.
• Relative timing remains invariant, and relative timing structure is very difficult to alter.

Question 22

Name 3 parameters added to GMP.

Answer 22

• Relative timing may be carried out with different surface features (e.g., duration, amplitude).
• Surface features are very easy to alter by parameter adjustment.
• Parameters change only how the GMP is expressed at any given time.

Question 23

Is walking and running from the same GMP? Explain.

Answer 23

• no

- each has its own pattern of relative timing