motor behaviour - def
the overt, observable production of skilled movements (as opposed to measuring brain activity)
divided into
what are the three classes of movement?
1) reflexive
- involuntary
- given a particular stimulus, always have the same response
- no modification
2) learned
- learn to perform different actions
- ex: reach and pick up an object
3) skilled
what are the three things that skilled performers have?
1) benefited (or learned) from their experiences
2) learned what features of their environment they should attend to
3) learned what to ignore
motor skill - def
the ability to bring about some end result with maximum certainty and minimum outlay of every, or of time and energy
what are the 4 characteristics that define skills
1) environmental goal - has to require some sort of movement
2) achieve the goal with “certainty”
- can perform it reliably
3) minimize energy consumption: physical and psychological
4) minimum time
- with speed and accuracy
what are the 3 components of a skill
performer needs to know:
1) what to do
2) how to do it
- skill and strength standpoint
3) when to do it
- changing environments
- conceptual understanding
classification of motor skills: size of primary musculature
1) gross motor skill - large muscle groups
2) fine motor skills - small muscle groups
which is innervated by more motor neurons? the quads or the eye muscles?
classifying motor skills: environment; closed skill
- environment is not changing
classifying motor skills: environment; open skill
classifying motor skills: movement type; discrete skill
clearly defined beginning and end
-ex: typing a single letter on a keyboard
classifying motor skills: movement type; serial skill
-ex: typing - multiple letters but you can easily define each discrete motion
classifying motor skills: movement type; continuous skill
ex: riding a bike
- repeats in a more continuous fashion
- walking can be continuous or discrete depending on how it’s done
absolute error - def
consider the absolute value of the error on each trial, and take the average of those error scores for the various trials
-aka the magnitude of error
constant error
variable error
how do we measure error scores for continuous actions?
what’s the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
theory:
hypothesis:
information processing approach
what are the three stages of reaction time?
1) stimulus identification
2) response selection
3) movement programming
reaction time - def
time it takes to begin moving after the stimulus first appears (does not include time it takes to perform the movement)
describe the stimulus identification stage of RT
-could be one sensory modality or combination
describe the response selection stage of RT
describe the movement programming stage
- travels down synapse and begin movement