Motor Learning and Control

Defining learning and control Measurement Schemes Open vs. Closed loop control Stages of Learning The role of practice
Amount Composition Scheduling

Motor Control
Understanding the execution of the events (physiological or behavorial/psychological description) that lead to skilled human movement

Motor Control: Questions

How do we control how much force we produce ?
# of motor units rate coding Physiological level

What aspects of a movement are remembered to help recall a movement ?

spatial location effector used

Psychological level

Motor Learning
involves changes in the execution of the events (physiological or behavioral/ psychological description) that lead to improvements (skilled) human movement

Motor Learning: Questions

Can we become more efficient in the way we produce force?
Can we recruit motor units differently with practice? Can we use different frequency to recruit units?

Do we change the manner in which we remember a movement ?

Do we use different information about movement to remember it change (spatial features of movement followed by motor features (flexion-extension)

Motor Development
study of changes in human movement behavior across the lifespan and the influence of these changes on human motor performance (p. 238) We will get to this in a later section

Measuring Motor Control

Latency Measurements
Reaction Time
assessment of planning operations that contribute to organizing/planning a movement

Movement Time
assessment of movement implementation

Measuring Motor Control

Error Measures
Absolute Error
absolute deviation from a target

Constant Error
movement bias

Variable Error
movement variability

Measuring Motor Control

Movement Quality
Kinematics
Position, velocity, acceleration, jerk (see biomechanics)

Kinetics
Force, torque (see biomechanics)

Electromyography

Controlling Movement
Open-Loop (memory-driven)
movements are completely pre-planned and subsequent feedback during the movement doesnt change the nature of the plan (e.g., traffic lights)

Using Reaction Time to examine movement planning

GO

Warning

Initiation

Termination

foreperiod

RT

MT

Sternbergs (1969) planning model

Perception

Decision

Motor Plan

Reaction Time

Perception: SRT

F F F F

F E F F

F F F F

F F F F

F F F F

O O O O

O E O O

O O O O

O O O O

O O O O

YES NO

YES NO

Plot reaction time for simple and complex perceptual cases

Perception in Real World

Decision-making: CRT

Decision-making: CRT
300

250 200

RT

150 100

50 0

One Light

Two Lights

Choice impacted by Compatibility

Real World Compatibility Effects

Real World Compatibility Effects

Motor Plan: Movement Complexity

Say /ba/ when the circle changes color

Say /ba/ x 4 when circle changes color

Motor Plan: Movement Complexity

300

250

RT

200

150

100

50

ba x 1

ba x 4

RT in this case is time to start to say /ba/

Simplifying Movement Planning

Using feedback or closed-loop processing

Closed-Loop Control: Evidence

0.8

Proportion of Targets missed

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 150 250 350

Light Off Light On

450

Required Movement Time between Targets

Keele and Posner (1968)

Closed and Open-Loop Control

Closed

Perception

Decision

Motor Plan

Open

Fitts and Posners Stages of Learning

Cognitive
high verbalization
Closed-loop

Associative
fine-tuning

Autonomous
attention-free
Open-loop

Distinguishing Performance from Learning

Performance (or acquisition) Learning
retention of what is practiced generalizibility of what is practiced

Transfer Paradigm
Acquisition Retention (transfer)

Importance of Practice: Anecdotal

It appears that the patient will require much more opportunity to practice if motor control is to improve (Duncan, 1997).

Skill acquisition is impossible without practice (Winstein, 1997).

Practice is repetition without repetition (Bernstein, 1967). Practice problem-solving is more effective for learning than simply repeating the solution (Lee et al., 1994)

Importance of Practice
Power law of practice: Practice Extent Composition and Scheduling of practice

Pre-practice considerations
Pre-practice Considerations
motivation for learning making the task seem important (rationale) goal setting (see Fig 11.1 Schmidt & Lee)

Verbal information (overused, Wulf & Weigelt, 1997)

perceptual presentations better than verbal

Verbal instructions can sometimes interfere (implicit learning)

DV: Amplitude Frequency IV: Instruction No Instruction

Verbal instructions can sometimes interfere (implicit learning)

Change in RT with practice

Change in RT with practice

Power Law of Practice

The power law of practice is a very general law in human cognition, and in particular in human learning. The higher the level of expertise and the time spent on the task, the more difficult it is to improve (principle of diminishing returns).
Previous graphs reveal a typical example of data showing a power law (first graph). An interesting feature of the power law is that , when data are plotted by taking their logarithms, they are well fitted by a straight line. (second graph).

Can we make a practice trial more useful?

Practice Composition
Practice Variability Mental Practice Part vs. Whole Practice

Practice Scheduling
Practice Distribution Contextual Interference

Practice Variability vs. Specificity

ACQ Specificity
AAAAAAAA BBBBBBBBB CCCCCCCCC

RET TRAN
A B C E E E

Variable
AAABBBCCC ABC E

Practice Specificity or Variability?

Mental Practice
Skill acquisition (?) Skill Maintenance (?) Arousal Regulation () Planning and event management () Stress Management ()

Whole vs. Part Practice

Nature of the Skill
task component interdependence

Capability of Learner
beginners, low aptitude

Organization of Parts
Segmentation (progressive part), simplification, fractionation

Key for whole is Interdependence of Parts

Practice Distribution: Using Time

How to best use 60 hours of training to maximize performance and learning? (e.g., 2-a-days)
1 Session 2 Session 6 weeks

1 hour

12 weeks

2 hour

6 weeks

3 weeks

Baddeley & Longman (1978)

Practice # of hrs to Number of hrs Schedule learn keyboard to type 80/min 1 hr / 1 session 34.9 55 1 hr / 2 session 2 hr / 1 session 2 hr / 2 session 43 43 49.7 75 67 80+

Correct # of Keystrokes as a function of practice distribution

Can this work with verbal material: Melton (1970)

Structuring Variability: Contextual Interference

ACQ RET Specificity AAAAAAAA A BBBBBBBBB B CCCCCCCCC C
Variable 1 AAABBBCCC Variable 2 ABCBCACAB

TRAN
E E E

ABC
ABC

E
E

A practical Example : Badminton

Shea & Morgan (1979)

Contextual Interference: Applied Examples

Baseball (Hall et al., 1994) Badminton (Goode & Magill, 1986; Lui, 1991) Volleyball (Bortoli et al., 1992) Pawlata Roll (Smith et al., 1995)

Motor Learning and Control

Defining learning and control Measurement Schemes Open vs. Closed loop control Stages of Learning The role of practice
Amount Composition Scheduling