"Motor learning refers broadly to changes in an organism's movements that reflect changes in the structure and function of the nervous system."
The processes that underlie the acquisition and refinement of motor skills.
Motor Control: The study of how the central nervous system (CNS) coordinates and executes movements through the control of muscles and joints.
Skill Acquisition: The process of learning and developing new motor skills, including the stages of cognitive, associative, and autonomous learning.
Feedback and Feedback Frequency: The use of feedback (information about the performance) and techniques to enhance motor learning, such as the frequency of feedback and the type of feedback provided.
Practice and Training: The different types of practice and training programs that can be used to improve motor skill acquisition, including variable and constant practice, blocked and random practice.
Transfer of Learning: The ability to apply what has been learned in one context to another context, such as learning to ride a bike, and then being able to ride a motorcycle.
Motor Development: The study of the changes in motor skills during the lifespan and how they are affected by various factors, such as age, genetic and environmental influences.
Determinants of Skilled Performance: The factors that affect skilled performance, such as physical, cognitive, and sensory-motor processes.
Motor Learning Disabilities: Understanding the challenges faced by individuals with motor learning disabilities and how to address them through specific teaching strategies and interventions.
Expertise and Skill Acquisition: The differences between experts and novices and how expertise is acquired through deliberate practice, feedback, and other factors.
Performance Analysis and Measurement: The use of various techniques to measure and analyze motor skills, such as kinematics, kinetics, electromyography (EMG), and biofeedback.
Cognition and Motor Learning: The relationship between cognitive processes and motor learning, including attention, perception, memory, and decision-making.
Aging and Motor Learning: Understanding the changes in motor skills and cognitive processes associated with aging, and how to adapt training and learning strategies accordingly.
Implicit learning: This type of motor learning occurs without conscious effort, through trial and error, and is often associated with everyday activities such as walking, riding a bike, or typing.
Explicit learning: Explicit motor learning is a more conscious and deliberate process, in which an individual is consciously aware of the task and actively tries to improve their performance through feedback and practice.
Perceptual-motor learning: This type of motor learning involves the integration of sensory information and motor responses to perform a specific task. This type of learning is often seen in sports such as basketball or soccer, in which an athlete must react to visual and auditory cues to successfully execute a play.
Serial skills learning: Serial skills learning is the ability to learn and perform a sequence of motor actions, such as playing a musical instrument or typing. This type of learning often requires attention to detail and repetition to achieve mastery.
Closed skills learning: Closed skills learning is the ability to perform a motor task in a stable and predictable environment, such as hitting a golf ball on a driving range. This type of learning often involves repetitive practice to develop muscle memory.
Open skills learning: Open skills learning is the ability to adapt and adjust motor responses to an unpredictable environment, such as playing a tennis match. This type of learning often involves developing perceptual and decision-making skills.
Cognitive strategies learning: Cognitive strategies learning involves developing mental processes that improve motor performance, such as visualization or mental rehearsal. This type of learning can be used to enhance motor learning in a variety of settings.
Procedural learning: Procedural learning is the ability to learn and remember a specific set of steps to perform a motor task, such as learning to tie a shoe or brush teeth. This type of learning often involves repetition and feedback to achieve mastery.
"Motor learning occurs over varying timescales and degrees of complexity."
"Humans learn to walk or talk over the course of years."
"Humans continue to adjust to changes in height, weight, strength, etc. over their lifetimes."
"Motor learning enables animals to gain new skills and improves the smoothness and accuracy of movements."
"Motor learning calibrates simple movements like reflexes."
"Motor learning research often considers variables that contribute to motor program formation, sensitivity of error-detection processes, and strength of movement schemas."
"Motor learning is 'relatively permanent' as the capability to respond appropriately is acquired and retained."
"Temporary gains in performance during practice or in response to some perturbation are often termed motor adaptation, a transient form of learning."
"Neuroscience research on motor learning is concerned with which parts of the brain and spinal cord represent movements and motor programs and how the nervous system processes feedback to change the connectivity and synaptic strengths."
"At the behavioral level, research focuses on the design and effect of the main components driving motor learning, i.e. the structure of practice and the feedback."
"The timing and organization of practice can influence information retention, e.g. how tasks can be subdivided and practiced."
"The precise form of feedback can influence preparation, anticipation, and guidance of movement."
"Motor learning enables animals to gain new skills."
"Motor learning improves the smoothness and accuracy of movements."
"Motor learning research often considers variables that contribute to motor program formation, sensitivity of error-detection processes, and strength of movement schemas."
"Motor learning refers broadly to changes in an organism's movements that reflect changes in the structure and function of the nervous system."
"Motor learning enables humans to adjust to changes in height, weight, strength, etc. over their lifetimes."
"Motor adaptation is a transient form of learning that refers to temporary gains in performance during practice or in response to some perturbation."
"The precise form of feedback can influence preparation, anticipation, and guidance of movement."