**Notes Motor Learning For Final Exam** Chapter 6 - Touch, Proprioception and Vision Introduction Sensory information is essential

for all theories of motor control and learning: Touch Neural basis of touch: Skin receptors Mechanoreceptors located in the dermis layer of skin. Greatest concentration in finger tips. Provide CNS with temperature, pain, and movement info. Provides pre-movement information. Provides feedback about the movement in progress. Provides post-movement information about action goal achievement.

Enables detection of changes in joint angle. Function as a feedback mechanism to CNS to maintain intended limb movement position, direction, and velocity. 2) Golgi tendon organs: In skeletal muscle near insertion of tendon. Detect changes in muscle tension (i.e. force). Poor detectors of muscle length changes. 3) Joint receptors: Mechanoreceptors that detect changes in: - Force and rotation applied to the joint. - Joint movement angle, especially at the extreme limits of angular movement or joint positions. Vision Evidence from everyday experiences:

Roles of Tactile Info in Motor Control: 1. Typical research technique: Compare performance of task involving finger(s) before and after anesthetizing finger(s). Research shows tactile sensory info influences: Movement accuracy Movement consistency Movement force adjustments

Beginning typists look at their fingers. Beginning dancers look at their feet.

Evidence from research: The classic moving room experiment. Participants stood in a room in which the walls moved toward or away from them but floor did not move. Results: When the walls moved, people adjusted their posture to not fall, even though they werent moving off balance. This we called vision and proprioception.

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Proprioception The sensory systems detection and reception of movement and spatial position of limbs, trunk, and head. We will use the term synonymously with the term kinesthesis. CNS receives proprioception information from sensory neural pathways that begin in specialized sensory neurons known as proprioceptors. Located in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints.

Chapter 7 - Performance and Motor Control Characteristics of Functional Skills Speed Accuracy Skills When both speed and accuracy are essential to perform the skill, this is called speed-accuracy trade-off. When speed is emphasized, accuracy is reduced and vice-versa.

Three primary types of proprioceptors: 1) Muscle spindles: Mechanoreceptors that detect changes in muscle fiber length (i.e. stretch) and velocity (i.e. speed of stretch).

Speed-Accuracy Skills: Motor Control Processes General agreement that two motor control processes underlie performance of speed-accuracy skills:

1. Open-loop control At movement initiation Initial movement instructions sufficient to move limb to the vicinity of the target.

-Motor control characteristic: The two arms prefer to perform symmetrically Demonstrates why it is difficult to rub your stomach and pat your head at the same time, or draw a circle with one hand while drawing a straight line with the other hand.

2. Closed-loop control At movement termination Feedback from vision and proprioception needed at end of movement to ensure hitting target accurately.

Prehension General term for actions involving reaching for and grasping of objects. Three components: Transport - Movement of the hand to the object Grasp - The hand taking hold of the object Object manipulation - The hand carrying out the intended use for the object (e.g. drinking from it, moving it to another location)

-With practice, a person can learn to disassociate the two limbs to perform an asymmetric bimanual skill. Locomotion Central pattern generators (CPG) in the spinal cord involved in the control of locomotion (i.e. gait): Provide basis for stereotypic rhythmicity of walking and running gait patterns. But, proprioceptive feedback from muscle spindles and GTOs also influence gait.

Catching a Moving Object -Three phases: Initial positioning of arm and hand Shaping of hand and fingers Grasping the object

Handwriting Striking a Moving Object -Each individuals motor control of handwriting demonstrates motor equivalence: Person can adapt to various context demands (e.g., write on different surfaces, write large or small) Ball speed effect: Skilled strikers demonstrate similar bat movement time for all ball speeds, change amount of time before initiating bat movement.

-Handwriting motor control demonstrates characteristics of a coordinative structure. -Vision provides important info for the motor control of handwriting: Write on a piece of paper: - I like to sit and read books. Write the same sentence with your eyes closed.

Visual contact with moving ball: Skilled strikers do not maintain visual contact with ball throughout ball flight but visually jump from early flight to predicted location in area to strike ball.

Bimanual Coordination Skills -Motor skills that require simultaneous use of two arms -Skill may require two arms to move with the same or different spatial and/or temporal characteristics: Symmetric bimanual coordination Asymmetric bimanual coordination

Chapter 9 - Attention as a Limited Capacity Resource Introduction -Attention refers to characteristics associated with: Consciousness Awareness Cognitive effort

-Kahnemans Attention Theory: An Example of a Central Resource Capacity Theory: Equates attention with cognitive effort Proposed flexible attention capacity limits 3 rules people use to allocate available attention resources when performing multiple tasks: - Ensure completion of at least one task. - Enduring dispositions: Involuntary attention allocation, e.g., Novel for the situation and meaningfulness of the event (e.g., cocktail party phenomenon) . - Momentary intentions: Allocate attention according to instructions.

-As they relate to the performance of skills, with particular reference to the limitations associated with those characteristics on the: Simultaneous performance of multiple skills. Detection of relevant information in the performance environment.

Attention and Multiple Task Performance -When we simultaneously perform multiple tasks (e.g. driving a car, listening to a CD, and talking with a passenger): We sometimes experience no difficulties in performing all the tasks, but we sometimes cannot do all the tasks as we would like.

-Multiple Resource Theories Alternative to theories proposing one central resource - Propose that we have several sources for attention - each source has a limited capacity of resources. - The multiple sources based on specific information processing component: Sensory input (e.g. visual, proprioceptive) Response output (e.g. verbal, motor) Type of memory code (e.g. spatial, verbal) - Performance of simultaneous multiple tasks depends on competition for attention resources within and between the multiple sources.

-WHY? Answer relates to attention performance limiting factor. as a

Attention Theories -Filter Theories (a.k.a. bottleneck theories): Difficulty doing multiple tasks simultaneously because of limitation due to serial processing of multiple stimuli. Theories (Resource capacity

-Alternative theories):

Procedures for Assessing Attention Demands -Dual-task procedure determines the attention demands and characteristics of the simultaneous performance of two different tasks. -Primary task is the task of interest. -Secondary task performance is the basis to make inferences about the attention demands of the primary task.

Difficulty doing multiple tasks simultaneously because of limitation due to availability of resources needed to carry out tasks. - i.e. resource capacity limits Simultaneous performance of multiple tasks can occur as long as the resource capacity limits not exceeded.

-Central Resource Capacity Theories: Propose one central (i.e., CNS) source of attention resources for which all activities requiring attention compete.

Focusing Attention -Attentional focus: The marshalling of attention resources to direct them to specific of our performance or performance environment. Width of focus - Focus can be broad or narrow Direction of focus - Focus can be external or internal

Chapter 15 - Augmented Feedback Introduction Two Types of Performance-Related Information (Feedback): Task-intrinsic feedback - Sensory-perceptual information that is a natural part of performing a skill. Augmented feedback - Performance related information added to or enhancing taskintrinsic feedback.

-Attention switching The changing of attention focus characteristics in a situation that allows successful performance.

Two Types of Augmented Feedback Knowledge of Results (KR) - Externally presented information about the outcome of performing a skill or about achieving the goal of the performance. Knowledge of Performance (KP) - Externally presented information about movement characteristics that led to the performance outcome. Two roles in skill learning process: - Facilitates achievement of the action goal of the skill. - Motivates the learner to continue striving toward a goal.

Attention and Automaticity -Automaticity = Performance of a skill (or parts of a skill) without requiring attention resources: In Kahnemans theory, evaluation of task demands. relates to

-Automaticity of task performance related to amount of practice. Visual Selective Attention -The study of attention as it relates to the use of vision in the selection of environmental information in the preparation and/or performance of an action. -Visual search is the process of directing visual attention to locate relevant information (i.e., cues) in the environment. -Eye-movement recordings are commonly used to investigate visual selective attention. -Important question is: What is the relationship between eye movements and visual selective attention; does what a person is looking at (point of gaze) indicate where visual selective attention is directed? -It is possible to direct attention to an environmental feature without directly looking at it Remember, eye-movement recordings identify focal vision not peripheral vision.

How essential is Augmented Feedback for Skill Learning? FOUR POSSIBLE ANSWERS: It can be essential for skill learning It may not be necessary for skill learning It can enhance skill learning It can hinder or slow skill learning

Five Issues Related to Augmented Feedback Content 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Information about errors vs. aspects of performance KR vs. KP Qualitative vs. quantitative information Augmented feedback based on error size Erroneous augmented feedback correct

-It is not possible to make an eye movement without also making a shift in attention.

Types of Knowledge of Performance (KP) -Verbal KP. -Two types: Descriptive KP Prescriptive KP

Organization: spatial and temporal relationships among the parts of the skill: - High level of organization: parts are spatially and temporally interdependent. - Low level of organization: parts are relatively independent.

-Videotape as augmented feedback. -Movement kinematics as augmented feedback. -Biofeedback as augmented feedback. Concurrent Augmented Feedback -Augmented feedback provided while a person is performing a skill. -Effects of concurrent augmented feedback on learning. Two general types of effects: - Negative learning effect - Enhances skill learning (positive effect)

Decisions to Use Whole or Part Practice Analyze the skill to determine which part of each continuum for complexity and organization best represents the skill: - If the skill is low in complexity and high in organization, practice of the whole skill is best. - If the skill is high in complexity and low in organization, practice by using the part method.

Practicing Parts of a Skill Three part-task strategies (From Wrightman & Lintern, 1985) 1. Fractionalization: For skills requiring asymmetric coordination of the arms or legs. Practice individual limbs: - Begin practicing with limb requiring more difficult or more complex part. Segmentation Also known as the progressive-part strategy. Begin practice with first part of skill then progressively adds each part until skill is practiced as a whole. Simplification Reduce skill difficulty by practicing an easier (i.e., simpler) variation of the skill before practicing the skill itself.

Techniques that Reduce Augmented Feedback Frequency Performance based bandwidths Performer selected frequency Summary and averaged augmented feedback

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Chapter 18 - Whole and Part Practice Whole Practice A practice strategy that involves practicing a skill in its entirety (i.e., as a whole). 3.

Part Practice A practice strategy that involves practicing parts of a skill before practicing the whole skill.

Attention Approach to Involving Part Practice in Whole Practice When it is not advisable or practical to separate parts of a skill for practice. A part practice strategy that provides both part and whole practice: - Practicing the whole skill but focus attention on specific parts that need work.

Skill Complexity and Organization -The decision to practice a skill as a whole or in parts can be based on the complexity and organization characteristics of the skill (Hypothesis by Naylor & Briggs, 1963) Complexity: number of parts or components in a skill, and the attention demands on the task: - Note: Complexity is distinct from difficulty.