Motor Learning Final Exam Study Guide

Motor Learning Final Exam Study Notes

• Father of Motor Learning: Richard Schmidt

• World War II Impact on Motor Learning: Training, not inherent motor ability, was crucial for pilot success, and selection was less effective than training.

• Information Processing: Study method: inferring information processing from input and output. Not all processing is the same; different stimuli involve different processing.

• Short-Term Sensory Store Capacity: Large amounts of information for a few seconds.

• Short-Term Memory Capacity: 5-9 pieces of information for about 30 seconds.

• Long-Term Memory Capacity: Large amounts of information for a long time.

• Sensory Memory Encoding: Very literal storage of information.

• Long-Term Memory Encoding: Semantic storage of information.

• Short-Term Memory Capacity Enhancement: Chunking.

• Motor Control and Movement Complexity: Reaction time increases with the number of movement segments (closed-loop control), and the number of choices (Hick's Law).

• Information Processing Stages in Response Selection: Stimulus identification and response selection

• Stages of Motor Skill Learning:

• Cognitive: Maximal attention is necessary; focus on appropriate strategies.

• Associative: Attention allocation is reduced.

• Autonomous: Minimal attention required.

• Motor Control Types:

• Open-loop Control: Movements that do not utilize feedback during execution.

• Closed-loop Control: Movements that use feedback during execution.

• Performance Degradation Reasons:

• Arousal: Excessive arousal reduces performance in challenging situations

• Anticipation: Incorrect or inappropriate anticipation can be disruptive.

• Flexible Attention: Failure to adjust focus based on context can hinder performance.

• Psychological refractory period: A brief delay in processing subsequent stimuli

• Trace Decay: Failure to hold on to information long enough, or Interference

• Generalized Motor Program Characteristics:

• Invariant Features: Constant features that stay the same regardless of movement variations (order, overall force, duration).

• Variant Features: Variable features that change to produce different variations of a movement (relative force, timing, muscles used).

• Modifying a Motor Program: Changing a variant feature, not the motor program, alters a movement (relative timing, specific muscles).

• Speed-Accuracy Trade-off: Fitts' Law describes the relationship between movement speed and accuracy.

• Knowledge of Results (KR): Feedback about the outcome of a movement.

• Knowledge of Performance (KP): Feedback about the movement pattern.

• Optimal KR Delivery: Summary KR, providing occasional complete feedback, and bandwidth KR are effective for retention.

• Practice Schedules:

• Blocked practice: Repetitive practice of a single skill.

• Random practice: Practice of multiple skills in random order.

• Contextual Interference Effect: Benefits of variability in practice, best seen when multiple motor programs are involved (random practice is superior).

• Motor Program Control Theory: Coordinative structures (control of agonist and antagonist muscles) regulate limb movements.

• Schmidt's Schema Theory: Recall schema and recognition schema are crucial components.

• Optimal Study Schedule: Distributed practice (studying over time) is generally better for retention than massed practice.

• Learning Enhancement Techniques

• Beginning a class with a review of previous material supports retention.

• Context Interference Effect Explanation

• Elaboration Hypothesis.

• Reconstruction Hypothesis. .