MC - miliseconds, seconds

ML - hours, days, weeks

MD -  months, years, decades

1. Motor learning is a process of acquiring a capacity for skilled action (solving problems related to performing tasks in complex environments)

2. Learning is dependent on practice or experience (power law of practice says early in practice improvements are faster while later in practice improvements are slower) Practice is more than repetition!

3. Learning cannot be measured directly - we observe learning through behavior

4. Learning results in relatively permanent changes in behavior.

observable behavior that is attributable (in part) to learning

remember that behavior is also in part attricutable to "state" variables, i.e. emotion, fatigue, motivation, etc

Performance is an observable behavior, sensitive to "state", and variable

Learning is an internal mental process observed through repeated performances and under different circumstances, and is relatively permanent

Proposed a closed loop control system that uses sensory feedback to control mov't during the mov't.

He recognized that 2 memory states are needed to detect errors

- one to produce mov't

- one to evaluate mov't

discrete: well defined beginning and end, usually or brief duration

serial: a series of discrete skills that follow in a specific sequence - take somewhat longer to perform

continuous: often repetetive or rhythmic, w/o specific beginning or end. continue until a goal is accomplished

closed: performed in a stable/predictable environment, therefore can be planned in advance

open: performed in a changing/unpredictable environment; therefore must be adapted to dynamic change in the environment

improving performance w/o awareness of components that are changing

-allows attention to be used to address the environmental demands related to the task...instead of motor parameters such as force or timing

Hardware - anatomical structures

Software - physiologic processes

1. stimulus identification

2. response selection

3. response programming

interval between presentation of an unanticipated stimulus and the start of a response

it is an interval when decisions are made that lead to an action

Begins when stimulus is detected and ends when action begins

Franklin Henry - father of motor learning

Memory drum theory states that reaction times for complex movement tasks were longer than reaction times associated with simple movements

He proposed that the "instryctions" for the complex movement are stored in memory and it takes longer to be "drawn out" than simpler movements

This is now called a "Motor Program"

Repeated trials of a movement result in a formation of a memory structure called "perceptual trace"

Perceptual trace is based on feedback that is compared to a "reference of correctness"

The learner works to keep the difference between feedbacl and perceptual trace at a minimum

Knowledge of results can strengthen the perceptual trace

1. initial movement conditions (body position, weight of object)

2. paramters used in the generalized motor program (force, muscle activation)

3. knowledge of results

4. sensory consequences of how it felt/looked

1. Recall Schema - the relationship b/w parameters assigned to a motor program and the outcome it produces (responsible for movement evaluation)

2. Recognition schema - relationship between initial conditions, outcomes, and sensory consequences (responsible for production of movement)

- nondeclarative or implicit

- declarative or explicit

Memory for facts and events

- medial temporal lobes

- sensory association ctx

- hippocampus

non-associative learning

- habituation (decrease in responsiveness due to repeated exposure to a stimulus)

- sensitization (increased responsiveness following a noxious stimulus)

- neurodevelopment (childhood)

- learning (motor learning) (adult)

- recovery after injury (brain injury)

1. Physiological (nerve threshold, conduction velocity, synaptic efficiency)

2. anatomical morphology (changes in structure, connectivity, increases in dendritic branching, dendritic spine density)

3. behavior (learning or recovery of function)

cell proliferation

cell migration

cell differentiation

axonal growth

dendrite arbor formation

neurotransmitter synthesis

synaptogenesis

Ca++ entry and NMDA trigger both LTD and LTP

The key is the level of activation of NMDA receptors

timing of pairing stimulus or experience

frequency of pairing stimulus or experience

number of times of pairing or experience

importance of the experience

- reward

- threat

- emotion

- safety

- allay fears

- help get the feel of a mov't in early stages

best for serial skills (a series of discrete tasks)

particularly for those where one segment doen't affect the rest

(not effective with continuous skills)

(not effective for rapid discrete skills)

mass  -practicing without rest intervals (time spent practicing > time spent resting)

distributed - practicing with  rest intervals (time spent practicing < or equal to amout of time spent resting)

constant - no inter-trial variability (same mov't pattern, same reg and nonreg conditions)

variable - movt pattern changes; environmental (reg and nonreg conditions changing)

performing different tasks on each successive practice trial in a random order

better for learning than blocked practice!

1. individual needs to understand the task requirements (intruction)

2. individual needs sufficient practice

3. individual needs to be challenged

- encoding

- consolidation (neural plasticity)

- storage (LTM)

- retrieval (recall)

1. focus - selective att'n to appropriate stimuli

2. shift - appropriate flexibility in response to new information (more important info takes precedence)

3. sustain - ability to maintain attention to task

4. encode - ability to manipulate material into working STM and process it into LTM

1 - focused attn

2. - sustained attn

3. - selective attn (freedom from distractibility)

4. - alternating attn

5. - divided attn (highest lvl of attn - ability to respond simultaneously to multiple tasks or multiple task demands.

name the most popular theories by the following people:

A. Franklin Henry

B. Adams

C. Schmidt

A. Memory Drum

B. Closed loop theory (memory and perceptual traces)

C. Recall and recognition schema

aka declarative learning

- developing memory of factual knowledge

aka procedural learning

- improved performance is assumed to reflect the acquisition of knowledge about a task

Skill is acquired through physical practice but w/o conscious awareness.

Knowledge of results  - terminal feedback about outcome of the movement in relationship to the movement's goal

Knowledge of performance - feedback relating to the movement pattern to acheive the goal (may be beneficial to an expert learner)

Most research has been done on the efficacy of KR