Motor Learning Definitions – Flashcards
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activities or tasks that require voluntary control over movements of the joints and body segments to achieve a goal
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motor skills
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acquisition of motor skills, the performance enhancement of learned or highly experienced motor skills, or the reacquisition of skills that are difficult to perform cannot be performed bc of injury or disease
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motor learning
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how our neuromuscular system functions to activate and coordinate the muscles and limbs involved in the performance of a motor skill
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motor control
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human development from infancy to old age
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motor development
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a- an activity or task that has a specific purpose or goal to achieve b- an indicator of quality of performance
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skill
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specific patterns of motion among joints and body segments used to accomplish action goals
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movements
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motor skill that requires the use of large musculature to achieve the goal of the skill
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gross motor skill
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motor skill that requires the control of small muscles to achieve the goal of the skill
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fine motor skill
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motor skill with clearly defined movement beginning and end points
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discrete motor skill
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motor skill with arbitrary movement beginning and end points
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continuous motor skill
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motor skill involving a series of discrete skills
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serial motor skill
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supporting surface, objects, and/or other people involved in the environment in which the skill is performed
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environment context
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motor skill performed in a stationary environment where the performer determines when to begin the action
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closed motor skill
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a motor skill performed in a moving environment where the feature or the environmental context in motion determines when to begin the action
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open motor skill
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classification system organized according to relationships among the component characteristics of the group of items or objects being classified
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taxonomy
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features of the environmental context to which movements must conform if they are to achieve the action goal
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regulatory conditions
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an environmental characteristic in gentile's taxonomy of motor skills. regulatory conditions associated with the performance of a skill change or stay the same from one trial to the next
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intertrial variability
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features of the environmental context that have no influence or only an indirect influence on movement characteristics
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nonregulatory conditions
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category of motor skill performance measures that indicate the outcome or result of performing a motor skill
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performance outcome measures
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a category of motor skill performance measures that indicates the performance of specific aspects of the motor control system during the performance of a motor skill
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performance production measures
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interval of time between the onset of a signal and the initiation of a response
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reaction time
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interval of time between the initiation of a movement and the completion of the movement
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movement time
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reaction time when the situation involves only one signal that requires only one response
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simple RT
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reaction time when the situation involves more than one signal and each signal requires its own specified response
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choice RT
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reaction time when the situation involves more than one signal but only one response, which is to only one of the signals; the other signals require no response
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discrimination RT
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the unsigned deviation from the target or criterion, representing amount of error
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absolute error
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the signed (+/-) deviation from the target or criterion
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constant error
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an error score representing the variability of performance
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variable error
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an error measure used for continuous skills to indicate the amount of error between the performance curve produced and the criterion performance curve for a specific amount of time during which performance is sampled
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root-mean-squared error
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description of motion without regard to force or mass; it includes displacement, velocity, and acceleration
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kinetics
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kinematic measure describing changes in the spatial positions of a limb or joint during the time course of the movement
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displacement
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kinematic measure that describes change in velocity during movement
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velocity
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study of the role of force as a cause of motion
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kinetics
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general trait or capacity of an individual that is a determinant of a person's achievement potential for the performance of a specific skills
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ability
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ability that is specifically related to the performance of a motor skill
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motor ability
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hypothesis that maintains that the many different motor abilities exist in an individual are highly related and can be characterized in terms of a singular, global motor ability
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general motor ability hypothesis
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a hypothesis that maintains that the many motor abilities in an individual are relatively independent
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specificity of motor abilities hypothesis
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ability to coordinate movements of a number of limbs simultaneously
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multilimb coordination
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ability to make rapid and precise movement adjustments of control devises involving single arm-hand or leg movements
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control precision
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ability to make a rapid selection of controls to be moved or the direction to move them in
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response orientation
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ability to respond rapidly to a signal when it appears
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reaction time
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ability to make a gross, discrete arm movement when accuracy is minimized
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speed of arm movement
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ability to time continuous anticipatory movement adjustments in response to speed and/or direction changes of a continuously moving target or object
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rate control
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ability to make skillful arm-hand movements to manipulate fairly large objects under speeded conditions
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manual dexterity
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ability to make skillful, controlled manipulations of tiny objects involving primarily the fingers
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finger dexterity
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ability to make precise arm-hand positioning movements where strength and speed are minimized
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arm-hand steadiness
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ability to make rapid and repetitive movements with the hand and fingers, and/or rotary wrist movements when accuracy is not critical
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wrist, finger speed
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ability to rapidly and accurately move the hand to a small target
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aiming
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patterning of head, body, and/or limb motions relative to the patterning of environmental objects and events
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coordination
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number of independent elements or components in a control system and the number of ways each component can vary
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degrees of freedom
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control problem that occurs in the designing of a complex system that must produce a specific result
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degrees of freedom problem
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a control system in which all the info needed to initiate and carry out an action as planned is contained in the initial instructions to the effectors
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open-loop control system
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system of control 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
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closed-loop control system
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info from the sensory system that indicates the status of a movement to the central nervous system
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feedback
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memory representation that stores info needed to perform an action
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motor program
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memory representation of a class of actions that share common invariant characteristics
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generalized motor program (GMP)
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unique set of characteristics that defines a GMP and does not vary from one performance of the action to another
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invariant features
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features of the GMP that can be varied from one performance of a skill to another
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parameters
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proportion, or percentage, of the total amount of time required by each component of a skill during the performance of that skill
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relative time
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rule or set of rules that serves to provide the basis for decision
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schema
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an approach to describing and explaining the control of coordinated movement that emphasizes the role of information in the environment and the dynamic properties of the body and limbs
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dynamical systems theory
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behavior that changes in abrupt, nonlinear ways in response to systematic linear increases in the value of a specific variable
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nonlinear behavior
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behavioral steady state of a system that represents a preferred behavioral state and incorporates the notion of invariance by noting that a stable system will spontaneously return to a stable state after it is slightly perturbed
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stability
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stable behavioral steady states of systems
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attractors
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functionally specific variables that define the overall behavior of a system
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order parameters
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coordinated movement control variables that freely change according to the characteristics of an action situation
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control parameters
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emergence of a specific stable behavior due to certain conditions characterizing a situation rather than to a specific control mechanism organizing the behavior
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self-organization
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functionally specific collections of muscles and joints that are constrained by the nervous system to act cooperatively to produce an action
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coordinative structures
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spatial and temporal coordination of vision and the hands or feet that enables people to perform eye-hand and eye-foot coordination skills
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perception-action coupling
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reciprocal fit between the characteristics of the environment that permit a specific action to occur
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affordance
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perception of limb, body, and head movement characteristics
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peoprioception
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sensory neurons located in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints
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proprioceptors
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type of proprioceptor consisting of specialized muscle fibers that lie within the fibers of most skeletal muscles
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muscle spindles
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type of proprioceptor located in the skeletal muscle near the insertion of the tendons into the muscle
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Golgi-tendon organs (GTO)
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collection of various types of proprioceptors located in the joint capsule and ligaments
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joint receptors
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procedure that researchers use to make proprioceptive feedback unavailable
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deafferentation
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clear surface that covers the front of the eye; serves as part of the eye's optical system
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cornea
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opening in the eye that lets in light; its diameter increases and decreases according to the amount of light detected by the eye
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pupil
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eye structure that surrounds the pupil and provides the eye its color
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iris
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transparent eye structure that sits just behind the iris; it allows the eye to focus at various distances
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lens
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eye structure that lines the back all of the eye; as an extension of the brain it contains the neuroreceptors that transmit visual information to the brain
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retina
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one of two types of photoreceptors in the retina; detect low levels of light and are important for peripheral vision
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rods
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one of two types of photoreceptors in the retina; they detect bright light and and play critical roles in central vision, visual acuity, and color vision
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cones
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cranial nerve II, it serves as the means of information transmission from the retina to the brain
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optic nerve
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the place near the base of the brain where the optic nerve fibers meet and either continue to the same side or cross over to the opposite side of the brain
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optic chaism
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image or scene being viewed
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visual field
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middle 2-5 degrees of the visual field
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central vision
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visual field outside the 2-5 degrees
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peripheral vision
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patterns of rays of light that strike the retina of the eye that emanate from and are specific to objects and features in the environment
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optical field
