Task 7 - Skill Leanring

Question 1

Skill

Answer 1

Ability that can improve over time through practice

Question 2

Perpetual motor skill

Answer 2

Learned movement patterns guided by Sensory inputs

Question 3

Cognitive skill

Answer 3

Skill that requires problem solving or the application of strategies

Question 4

Features skill memory (3)

Answer 4

1) difficult to convey except by direct demonstration
2) may be acquired without awareness
3) requires several repetitions

Question 5

Memories for events/facts

Answer 5

1) can be communicated flexibly in different formats
2) content that is consciously accessible
3) can be acquired in a single exposure

Question 6

Closed skills

Answer 6

A skill that involves performing predefined movements, that ideally never vary

Question 7

Open skills

Answer 7

Skill in which movements are made on basis of predictions about changing demands of environment

Question 8

More repetition does not guarantee improvement

Answer 8

-knowledge of results: feedback is critical to effectiveness of practice

Question 9

Power law of practice

Answer 9

…

Question 10

Massed practice

Answer 10

• concentrated, Continuous practice of a skill

- > better performance in short term

Question 11

Spaced practice

Answer 11

Spread out over serval sessions

-> long term

Question 12

Constant practice

Answer 12

Practice involving a constrained set of materials and skills

Question 13

Variable practice

Answer 13

• performance of skills in a wide variety of contexts

- > often more effective, can sometimes lead to slower progress, but later performance is usually superior

Question 14

Gradual training

Answer 14

Increasing difficulty of trials during training

-> gradual training spread out over longer periods (spaced training) can enhance skill acquisition more than gruelling,nonstop practice

Question 15

Practicing 2 skills on same day

Answer 15

-interference with retention of memories for first skill

Question 16

Are more complex skills less or more susceptible to interference effects?

Answer 16

Less

Question 17

Brain substrates skill learning

Answer 17

• basal ganglia
• cerebellum
• brainstem
• spinal cord

Question 18

Basal ganglia

Answer 18

• important for controlling velocity (schnelle), direction, and amplitude of movements and preparing to move
• > important in perceptual motor learning that involves generating motor responses based on specific environmental cues

Question 19

Disruption of activity in basal ganglia

Answer 19

• impairs skill learning

- but not the formation/recall of memories for facts and events

Question 20

Input basal ganglia

Answer 20

• from cortical Neurons

- sensory stimuli

Question 21

Output basal ganglia

Answer 21

Thalamus - motor cortex

Brainstem - spinal cord

Question 22

Modified Radial maze task

Answer 22

• rats with basal ganglia lesion or hippocampal lesion are put in a radial maze
• when arms with food are illuminated rats with BG lesion do not learn to go into those
• rats with HC lesion do learn it

Question 23

Training

Answer 23

• practice generally improves performance

- improvements occur through feedback and follow the power law (steep initial learning, slower later learning)

Question 24

Talent - twin studies

Answer 24

• with practice twins become more similar in their performance while fraternal twins become more dissimilar
• > genetic influence on learning

Question 25

Motor programs

Answer 25

• action sequences that can be performed automatically

- they can be short or longer, learned or inborn

Question 26

Stages - Fitts’s model of skill learning

Answer 26

1) cognitive stage
- active thinking required
- information input through observation
- verbalizable rules

2) associative stage
- stereotyping of actions
- less reliance on rules (instructions)

3) autonomous stage
- movements have become motor programs
- > at this stage thinking too much about what you are doing when performing a skill can impair performance

Question 27

Motor skill learning - fast learning

Answer 27

• there is a very quick improvement after the first number of trials
• possible set up of process routine

Question 28

Motor skill learning - slow learning

Answer 28

• set in around 8 hours after the initial trials (also when training has stopped)
• structural changes and modification of perceptual modules (like LTP)
• cortical areas can get enlarged (eg through motor dendritic connections)

Question 29

Motor skill learning - slow and fast learning

Answer 29

• practicing a specific motor skill initiates a neural porcess that improves performance in this task long after practice has ended
• improvements follows principle of long-term consolidation and can be linked to sleep
• skill learning can change Motor cortex physically