The Foundations of Motor Behaviour and Neuromuscular Control

Question 1

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Control

Answer 1

Motor Control studies neuromuscular function in the generation and coordination of movements to perform a motor skill

Question 2

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Behaviour

Answer 2

Motor Behaviour is an activity (action) carried out through muscle contraction to achieve a motor task

Question 3

Note, Actions ≄ Movements. Explain why this is

Answer 3

Actions –> aim

Movements –> the way of achieving the aim

Question 4

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Equivalence

Answer 4

Motor Equivalence states that the same action can br carried out by executing different (sequences of) movements

Question 5

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Adaptability

Answer 5

Motor Adaptability is the ability to accomplish the same motor task in different conditions

Question 6

state what it is meant by the key term - Control Problem

Answer 6

a Control Problem seeks out how we can make a system behave as it should to achieve a goal

Question 7

what is the issue with ‘the dreadful night storage heaters’

Answer 7

Input: a dial you adjust to accumulate the desired amount of energy

Output: heat

Issue: can’t adjust to the system in which it operates

Question 8

state what it is meant by the key term - Feedback Control

Answer 8

Feedback Control is based on the difference between the observed and the desired measure

Question 9

explain how Feedback Control is achieved (3 points)

Answer 9

• the difference is the error in the system
• based on the error, you can adjust your input to get the desired output
• called a ‘feedback control system’

Question 10

why do we classify skills?

Answer 10

classifying skills into general categories helps us to understand the demands those skills placed on the performer/learner

Question 11

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Skills

Answer 11

activities/tasks that require voluntary control over movements of the joints and body segments to achieve a goal

Question 12

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Learning

Answer 12

the acquisition of motor skills, the performance enhancement of learned or highly experienced motor skills, or the reacquisition of skills that are difficult to perform or cannot be performed because of injury, disease, and the like

Question 13

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Control

Answer 13

how our neuromuscular system functions to activate and coordinate the muscles and limbs in the performance of a motor skill

Question 14

state what it is meant by the key term - Motor Development

Answer 14

human development from infancy to old age with specific interests in issues related to either motor learning or motor control

Question 15

state what it is meant by the key term - Skills

Answer 15

(a) an activity or task that has a specific purpose or goal to achieve; (b) an indicator of quality of performance

Question 16

state what it is meant by the key term - Movement

Answer 16

specific patterns of motion among joints and body segments used to accomplish an action goal

Question 17

state what it is meant by the key term - Action

Answer 17

is to cause some type of change in the environment or in the person’s relation to the environment

Question 18

Motor skill performance is influenced by what 3 factors?

Answer 18

1) Motor skill
2) Performance environment
3) Physical and psychological characteristics of the performer

Question 19

what is the benefit of classifying skills? (3 points)

Answer 19

provides you with an appropriate basis for establishing generalisations or principles about how we perform and learn motor skills

generalisations aid understanding of skill learning

help development of strategies to enhance motor learning and rehabilitation

Question 20

Define skill

Answer 20

Skill is the learned ability to bring about pre-determined results, with maximum certainty, with minimum outlet of time, energy, or both

Question 21

what are the 3 major ways in which skill is usually determined?

Answer 21

1) consistency of outcome
2) adaptability (diff conditions)
3) efficiency of task completion

Question 22

what is the purpose of a motor skill?

Answer 22

the purpose of a motor skill is to cause some kind of change in the environment or in the person’s relation to the environment

Question 23

what does a cognitive skill require?

Answer 23

a cognitive skill requires mental activity, which includes decision making, problem solving, remembering, and the like

Question 24

how does a cognitive skill differ from a motor skill?

Answer 24

does not require voluntary limb movement to achieve its goal

Question 25

state 4 characteristics of skills/actions

Answer 25

1) a goal/purpose
2) voluntary
3) requires movement
4) must be learned/re-learned

Question 26

state what it is meant by the key term - Movement

Answer 26

movements are specific patterns of motion among joints and body segments used to accomplish an action goal

Question 27

state an additional fact about movements

Answer 27

movements are the component parts of a motor skill (i.e. - the means by which action goals are accomplished or problems are solved)

Question 28

do experts use more/less movement variations to achieve a goal?

Answer 28

more (novices usually use one/few movement patterns to achieve the goal)

Question 29

what do neuromuscular processes represent?

Answer 29

neuromuscular processes represent the third level on which motor behaviour is often analysed

Question 30

what are the neuromuscular processes? (2 points)

Answer 30

1) central and peripheral nervous system processes which underlie movement
2) these processes can’t be measured by the naked eye, but there are a number of methods that can be used to observe them

Question 31

what are the three reasons to why it is important to distinguish the three levels of study?

Answer 31

1) Actions, movements, and neuromuscular processes represent the order in which motor control and learning is prioritised; highlighting the order of learning
2) not all people can accomplish the action using the same movements/neuromuscular processes
3) different measures are used to evaluate what is going on at each level of study

Question 32

state, and explain, the first reason why it is important to distinguish the three levels of study:

Answer 32

1) actions, movements, and neuromuscular processes represent the order in which motor control and learning is prioritised; highlighting the order of learning
- first priority is to understand the action goal and strategies to achieve it
- second is to discover best movement to achieve it
- third is to refine that movement by modifying neuromuscular processes

Question 33

state, and explain, the second reason why it is important to distinguish the three levels of study:

Answer 33

2) different people achieve the same action with different movements and neuromuscular processes
- learners must discover and use a movement pattern that fits their anatomical make uo

Question 34

state, and explain, the third reason why it is important to distinguish the three levels of study:

Answer 34

3) different measures are used to evaluate what’s happening at each level of study
- given the order of priority in motor learning, this implies that different measures may be taken to assess the different stages of practice

Question 35

what are ‘Association Areas’

Answer 35

association areas lie adjacent to each specific sensory area in the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes

Question 36

use 3 points to further explain what ‘Association Areas’ are

Answer 36

• where the brain associates info from diff sensory cortex areas
• integration of sensory info from multiple sources
• association areas connect with different cortex areas which allows connection between perception and higher order cog functions

Question 37

what is ‘Brain Computer Interface’?

Answer 37

a technological advancement called Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI’s) has shown exciting potential for helping people with neurological disorders prevented from physical movement to regain their capacity to move

Question 38

how do BCI’s work? (3 points)

Answer 38

1) takes advantage of electrical activity in the brain that results from actively imagining the act of moving
2) BCI’s read brain waves during imagining phase
3) BCI’s can be part of an EEG skull cap

Question 39

state an extraordinary finding of BCI’s in action

Answer 39

Scherer et al., (2005) reported a case study in which a patient was able to train himself in three days to use an implanted BCI so that his paralysed hand could manoeuvre a prosthesis, grasping a small object and moving it from one place to the next and then releasing it

Question 40

state what it is meant by the key term - Open-Loop Control System

Answer 40

a control system in which all of the information needed to initiate and carry out an action is contained in the initial instructions of the effectors

Question 41

state what it is meant by the key term - Closed-Loop Control System

Answer 41

a system of control in which, during the course of the action, feedback is compared against a standard (or reference) to enable an action to be carried out as planned

Question 42

state what it is meant by the key term - Feedback

Answer 42

information from the sensory system that indicates the states of a movement to the CNS; in a closed-loop control system, feedback is also used to make corrections to an ongoing movement

Question 43

state what it is meant by the key term - ‘Proportional Feedback Control Law’

Answer 43

the control variable is proportional to the error (i.e. - error is multiplied by a ‘gain’)

Question 44

what is the control variable (u) ?

Answer 44

the control variable (u) is proportional to the error (e) in your system

Question 45

what is the error in a system?

Answer 45

error: the difference between the measured outcome and the desired outcome of a system

Question 46

what are the two differences between open and closed-loop control systems?

Answer 46

1) a closed-loop control system involved feedback whereas an open-loop control system does not
2) the second difference relates to the movement initiated by the control centre

Question 47

explain the first difference between open and closed-loop control systems:

‘a closed-loop system involves feedback whereas an open-loop system does not’

Answer 47

• in human movement, the feedback is afferent information sent by the various sensory receptors to the control centre
• the purpose of this feedback is to update the control centre about the correctness of the movement while it is in progress

Question 48

explain the second difference between open and closed-loop control systems:

the second difference relates to the movement initiated by the control centre

Answer 48

• in ope-loop systems, there’s no feedback, so initial instruction contains all the info required to carry out the action, although, feedback is produced and available, it is not used to control the ongoing movement. this may be so because there is not enough time to use feedback to effectively control the movement after it has been initiated.
• in closed-systems, the movement instructions differ. first, the control centre issues an initial instruction to the effectors. the actual execution of the movement depends o feedback info that reaches the control centre. this feedback info about the status of the movement, which serves to continue as initially planed; provide additional instructions to a movement already in progress; or correct movement errors

Question 49

what are the drawbacks of closed-loop feedback systems?

Answer 49

it depicts the movement effectors as the only source of feedback. However, in the actual performance of skill in which the closed-loop control system operates, there are several other sources of sensory feedback, such as the auditory and visual systems