Skill Learning

Question 1

What are perceptual-motor skills? And cognitive skills?

Answer 1

1. Perceptual-motor skills correspond to a learned movement pattern guided by sensory inputs:
   - Closed skills - Predetermined movements
   - Open skills - Response changes based on the environmental cues
2. Cognitive skills require you to use your brain

Question 2

How do you get better at a skill?

Answer 2

1. Genetics
2. Practice - Must include feedback about the performance
3. Power law of learning - You learn much more at start and slower after
4. Observational learning
5. Massed practice creates better performance in the short-term but spaced practice is better in the long-term
6. Variable practice - Different movement instead of practicing just one

Question 3

What is implicit learning?

Answer 3

When you are not aware the you have learned a skill

Question 4

How do you remember/forget a skill?

Answer 4

1. Depends on:
   - Complexity
   - Encoding
   - Frequency of recall
   - Conditions of recall
2. Skill decay - The loss of a skill due to non-use
3. If a new skill interferes with an old skill

Question 5

What are the different stages of acquisition?

Answer 5

1. Cognitive stage - Active thinking to acquire the skill
2. Associative stage - Actions become stereotyped
3. Autonomous stage - Movement patterns become rapid and effortless, almost automatic

Question 6

What are the main brain parts involved in skill learning?

Answer 6

1. Basal ganglia
2. Spinal cord
3. Cerebellum
4. Brainstem
5. Cerebral cortex

Question 7

What is the role of the basal ganglia?

Answer 7

1. Receives sensory stimuli
2. Controls the velocity, direction and amplitude of movements
3. Firing occurs most when:
   - Beginning - During task
   - After training - Before and after task
4. Damage:
   - Prevents from learning perceptual-motor skill
   - Does not disrupt memories for events

Question 8

What is the role of the cerebral cortex?

Answer 8

1. The area of the cortex that is involved in a particular skill will expand with practice
2. Responsible for controlling complex action sequences

Question 9

What is the role of the cerebellum?

Answer 9

1. Input from spinal cord, sensory systems and cerebral cortex
2. Output to the spinal cord or motor systems in the cerebral cortex
3. Involved in tasks that require precise timing or aiming at or tracking a target
4. Responsible for timing

Question 10

What is apraxia?

Answer 10

1. Damage to the cerebral hemispheres leads to problems in the coordination of purposeful skilled movements
2. Difficulty to access skill memories
3. Interferes with the control and execution of the skill more than the learning of skills

Question 11

What is Huntington’s disease?

Answer 11

1. Gradual damage to neurons in the basal ganglia and cerebral cortex followed by a gradual loss of motor abilities
2. Patients can still learn but much more slowly - Struggle with tasks that require planning and sequencing

Question 12

What is Parkinson’s disease?

Answer 12

1. Disruptions in the normal functions of the basal ganglia and progressive deterioration of motor control
2. Harder to learn certain perceptual-motor skills
3. Deep brain stimulation may help