DPT 452 Functional Neuroscience Quiz

Course Information

• Course Title: DPT 452 Functional Neuroscience
• Course Term: Fall 2024
• Instructor: Anne K. Galgon PT PhD NCS
• Key Topics: motor learning/neuroplasticity, neural mechanisms of postural control, neural mechanisms of locomotion, motor control and upper extremity (UE) movement

Course Schedule

• Today and Monday (11/18): motor learning/neuroplasticity
• Wednesday (11/20): Neural mechanisms of postural control; Quiz 3 (motor control and UE)
• Thanksgiving break
• Monday (12/1) after Thanksgiving: Motor learning lab (last assignment)
• 11/15-12/30 after Thanksgiving: Neural mechanisms of locomotion
• Wednesday (12/4): Review class; Quiz 4 (motor learning)
• Final Exam (12/11)

Course Objectives

• Students will understand the principles of neuroplasticity related to motor learning.
• Students will identify motor learning principles and apply them to improve motor skill performance.
• Students will learn and apply the components for optimizing motor learning during treatment sessions.
• Students will define functional recovery and how motor learning relates to it.

Topics

• Physiological Basis for Learning
• Neuroplasticity (SC&W pp 80-90)
• Motor Learning (Definitions/Terms, Implicit/Explicit processes, Theories)
• Task-oriented approach
• Stages of Learning
• Motor Learning Practice Parameters

Neuroplasticity

• The nervous system is not static; it is continuously reshaped by environmental needs and demands.
• Neuroplasticity is present throughout life, but its degree doesn't match changes in young animals.
• Neuroplasticity occurs during neurodevelopment (childhood), learning (motor learning in adults), and recovery after injury (brain or musculoskeletal).
• Neurons change their function, chemical profile, or structure over time.
• Examples include habituation/sensitization, learning/memory, and cellular recovery after injury.
• Neuroplastic changes are seen in the parallel continuum of learning (short-term and long-term).

Definition of Neuroplasticity

• A general term for the nervous system's ability to adapt and change.
• Includes changes in physiology (nerve thresholds, conduction velocity, and synaptic efficiency), anatomical morphology (structure and connectivity), and behavior (learning/recovery of function).

Rules of Synaptic Plasticity (Hebb's Hypotheses)

• When a presynaptic axon is active, and the postsynaptic neuron is strongly activated by other inputs—the presynaptic axon is strengthened. “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
• When the presynaptic axon is active, and the postsynaptic neuron is weakly activated by other inputs—the synapse is weakened. “Neurons that fire out of sync, lose their link.”

Activity-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity

• Long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) are changes in the effectiveness of presynaptic neurons and excitability of postsynaptic neurons.
• Synaptogenesis is the creation of new connections.

Experience-Dependent Plasticity

• Motor skill acquisition leads to neuronal-level changes (e.g., greater amounts of cortex, increases in synapses, changes in dendritic spine growth, changes in axon arborisation).

Activity-Dependent Synaptic Rearrangement

• Synaptic segregation: Neurons firing together strengthen function.
• Synaptic convergence: Convergence of input—visual environment influences development and inputs compete synaptic control of post-synaptic neuron.
• Modulatory influences: Paying attention to cues (identification) is critical

Two Forms of Long-Term Memory

• Explicit (declarative): Facts, events, medial temporal lobe areas, sensory association cortex, hippocampus, and reflex pathways
• Implicit (nondeclarative): Nonassociative learning (habituation, sensitization), associative learning (classical/operant conditioning), procedural (skills, habits), emotional responses (amygdala), skeletal musculature, cerebellum, deep cerebellar nuclei, and premotor cortex

Habituation and Sensitization

• Sensory information results in either increased or decreased motor response
• Repetition and intensity of stimulus influence motor response

Associative Learning

• Classical and operant conditioning.
• Long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP) describes cooperative presynaptic and postsynaptic depolarization, pairing weak stimuli with a stronger one will strengthen that weak effect.

Procedural Learning

• More complex (motor cortex and cerebellar).
• Learning through trial and error and adaptation.
• Paradigms like the Gilbert and Thatch (1977) monkey experiment, where monkeys learned to return a lever to central position and changes in unexpected loading.
• Includes VOR and prism glasses paradigms.

Cerebellar Control of Motor Adaptation

Motor Learning Terms

• Performance: Temporary change in motor behavior seen during practice, not a measure of true learning
• Retention: True measure of learning after a period of time
• Transfer (generalization): Ability to perform in a new condition not previously practiced.

Performance and Learning

• Performance is observed/measurable behavior sensitive to "state" variables (e.g., fatigue, anxiety, motivation).
• Learning is an internal mental process—observed through repeated performances, and generalizable under various conditions.

Two Types of Learning and Memory

• Explicit learning (declarative) – conscious
• Implicit learning (nondeclarative) – unconscious

Memory Processes (Explicit Learning)

• Four Types of Processing: Encoding (attention to neural circuitry), Consolidation (information stability in long-term memory and structural changes in neurons), Storage (long-term memory), and Retrieval (info from different LTM storage areas using working/short-term memory—attention and rehearsal).

Encoding and Retrieval

• Steps in learning that include sensory processing, selective attention to encode information, short/long term memory, working memory, response selection/programming, and response execution.

Attention

• Attention is a limited resource.
• Attention is compartmentalized by function (different functions require parts of our attention).

Memory and Learning (Diagram)

• Organizational diagram showing connections between different areas of the brain related to memory and learning (association cortex, prefrontal cortex, sensory motor cortex, limbic cortex, basal ganglia, motor cortex, cerebellum, thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus).

Schmidt Schema Theory

• After movement; the individual stores short-term memory of initial condition, parameters of the generalized motor program (invariant features), the outcome of the movement (knowledge of results), and the sensory consequence of the movement.
• Storing short term memory long enough creates two schemas: recall schema (motor) and recognition schema (sensory).
• Variable (different conditions) practices improve learning of generalized motor program.

Ecological Theory (Newell)

• Motor learning is related to the coordination between perception and action, including practicing in perceptual workspaces and environmental exploration for learning regulatory cues to develop motor solutions.

Big Concepts

• Explicit and implicit learning processes are actively used by the individual in motor learning.
• Motor learning theories support the use of instruction, knowledge of results (KR), knowledge of performance (KP), practice, and variable practice for improving motor learning.

MONDAY: Motor Skills Learned

• Motor skills are learned through interaction and exploration of the environment (in relation to both the person and task, and the environment)

Treatment Session Questions

• How to best schedule practice sessions to ensure learning?
• How to ensure learning generalizes from one context to another?
• If simplifying a task is more effective for efficient learning?
• Best practice for retention and generalizability?
• How to best promote neuroplasticity for successful treatment?

Video Information

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQFP3npv6j8 (Focus on motor learning video)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-r7n6CFmQM (Focus on another motor learning video)

Test your knowledge on neuroplasticity and its principles in the context of functional neuroscience. This quiz covers key concepts related to motor learning, synaptic plasticity, and the adaptability of neurons. Assess your understanding of how these processes affect recovery and optimization during treatment sessions.