Motor skill learning and neuroplasticity Flashcards
1
Q
What is motor control?
A
The planning and execution of movements
2
Q
What is motor skill?
A
The increasing spatial and temporal accuracy of movements with practice
3
Q
What is explicit learning?
A
On-task learning that is conscious and known
4
Q
What is implicit learning?
A
Off-task, unconscious learning
5
Q
Task learning: Acquisition (Stage 1)
A
- Explicit/online learning#
- Quick and flexible improvements in performance
- Requires high levels of attention and focus
- Use of pre-learned skills and feedforward to contribute to learning of new skill
6
Q
Task learning: Consolidation (Stage 2)
A
- Simplified storage and recall of learned sequences (chunking)
- Rate of learned slowed down
- Sleep increases rate of brain activity in basal ganglia (chunking)
7
Q
Task learning: Retention (Stage 3)
A
- Primary motor cortex stores “motor maps” for each skill
- Supplementary motor area also involved in “well learned” skills, but not in skills still in optimisation periodisation
- Cerebellum may be involved in optimisation/error correction - linking to continued skill learning
8
Q
What is neuroplasticity?
A
Structural changes seen in both gray and white brain matter through practice of a motor task/ skill
9
Q
What % of the brain is gray matter?
A
40%
10
Q
What % of the brain is white matter?
A
60%
11
Q
Structural changes in gray matter?
A
- Linked with fast/explicit learning
- Seen as early as after just 2 practice sessions in a balance task
- Greater CSA in experts vs non-experts
- Is subject to detraining as much as any other muscle, with return to baseline structure as quickly as changes are made
12
Q
Structural changes in white matter?
A
- Linked to slow/ implicit learning
- Increases in white matter structure and activity linked with practice hours during a childhood
- Increased in white matter CSA occur with extensive training/ practice
- White matter proposed to affect impulse conduction and synchronisation between cortical regions of the brain
