How efficient are central mechanisms for the learning and retention of coincident timing actions? (original) (raw)
Related papers
American Journal of Life Sciences, 2014
The levels of learning in motor tasks have been investigated by means of extensive practice (i.e., practice that is continued beyond the achievement of performance stabilization), which shows better performance than practice until performance stabilization when facing situations that require adaptation. However, the better performance of extensive practice has been tested with unpredictable perturbation, in which changes are necessary after the movement onset, but not with predictable perturbation, which allows planning a new organization of the action before the movement onset. The present study investigated adaptation to predictable perturbation, comparing no performance stabilization at all, practice until performance stabilization and practice beyond performance stabilization, i.e., extensive practice, in a coincident timing task. This task required the performance of a sequence of movements in accordance with a visual stimulus. Forty-five self-reported right-handed volunteers participated in this study, and they were randomly divided into three groups during the first phase of the study: Pre-Stabilization (PG), Stabilization (SG) and Extensive Practice (EG), which were operationally defined as 10 trials, three trials in a row with absolute error (AE) < 30 msec and six blocks of three trials in a row with AE < 30 msec, respectively. In the second phase, the velocity of the visual stimulus changed, causing a perceptual perturbation. The results showed that adaptation is easier after performance stabilization and that the variability observed after performance stabilization could be a source of adaptability. In general, these results indicate that the process of motor learning continues beyond performance stabilization.
Extensive practice is associated with a higher level of learning than practice until performance stabilization. This is partially attributable to the changes in the variability of the structure that control the motor skill that occur during practice. However, because both conditions result in performance stabilization, the error in the task performance does not decrease further, and it is necessary to introduce higher demands (e.g., unpredictable perturbations) into the task for differences between the two conditions to arise. This study aimed to investigate whether extensive practice contributes to adaptation to unpredictable perturbations in a sequential motor skill task as compared to practice until performance stabilization. Thirty-four self-reported right handed young adults performed a sequential coincident timing task and were assigned to two groups during the first phase of experiment: the stabilization group (SG) or the extensive practice group (EG), which differs with respect to the quantity of practice. In the second phase, both groups performed under equal conditions and the subjects practiced the same task performed in the first phase, but unpredictable changes in the velocity of the visual stimulus were occasionally introduced. The results suggest that extensive practice improves adaptation to unpredictable perturbations better than practice until performance stabilization and indicates that the motor learning process continues after performance stabilization.
Experimental Brain Research, 2011
This investigation aimed at assessing the extent to which memory from practice in a speciWc condition of target displacement modulates temporal errors and movement timing of interceptive movements. We compared two groups practicing with certainty of future target velocity either in unchanged target velocity or in target velocity decrease. Following practice, both experimental groups were probed in the situations of unchanged target velocity and target velocity decrease either under the context of certainty or uncertainty about target velocity. Results from practice showed similar improvement of temporal accuracy between groups, revealing that target velocity decrease did not disturb temporal movement organization when fully predictable. Analysis of temporal errors in the probing trials indicated that both groups had higher timing accuracy in velocity decrease in comparison with unchanged velocity. EVect of practice was detected by increased temporal accuracy of the velocity decrease group in situations of decreased velocity; a trend consistent with the expected eVect of practice was observed for temporal errors in the unchanged velocity group and in movement initiation at a descriptive level. An additional point of theoretical interest was the fast adaptation in both groups to a target velocity pattern diVerent from that practiced. These points are discussed under the perspective of integration of vision and motor control by means of an internal forward model of external motion.
Experimental Brain Research, 2011
Motor learning is a process that extends beyond training sessions. Specifically, physical practice triggers a series of physiological changes in the CNS that are regrouped under the term ''consolidation'' . These changes can result in between-session improvement or performance stabilization (Walker 2005). In a series of three experiments, we tested whether consolidation also occurs following observation. In Experiment 1, participants observed an expert model perform a sequence of arm movements. Although we found evidence of observation learning, no significant difference was revealed between participants asked to reproduce the observed sequence either 5 min or 24 h later (no betweensession improvement). In Experiment 2, two groups of participants observed an expert model perform two distinct movement sequences (A and B) either 10 min or 8 h apart; participants then physically performed both sequences after a 24-h break. Participants in the 8-h group performed Sequence B less accurately compared to participants in the 5-min group, suggesting that the memory representation of the first sequence had been stabilized and that it interfered with the learning of the second sequence. Finally, in Experiment 3, the initial observation phase was replaced by a physical practice phase. In contrast with the results of Experiment 2, participants in the 8-h group performed Sequence B significantly more accurately compared to participants in the 5-min group. Together, our results suggest that the memory representation of a skill learned through observation undergoes consolidation. However, consolidation of an observed motor skill leads to distinct behavioural outcomes in comparison with physical practice.
The continuous nature of timing reprogramming in an interceptive task
Journal of Sports Sciences, 2005
The time course of movement timing reprogramming was examined in a task requiring temporal coincidence of the conclusion of a forehand drive with the arrival of a moving luminous target at the end of an electronic trackway. The moving target departed from one end of the trackway at a constant velocity of 2 m . s 71 , and for a part of the trials its velocity was increased to 3 m . s 71 . Target velocity was modified at different moments during stimulus displacement, producing timesto-arrival after velocity increment (TAVIs) from 100 to 600 ms. The effect of specific practice on movement reprogramming was also examined. The results showed early adjustments to the action (TAVIs = 100 -200 ms) that seemed to be stereotyped, while feedback-based corrections were implemented only at TAVIs of 300 ms or longer. Temporal accuracy was progressively increased as longer TAVIs were provided up to 600 ms. Skill training led to an overall increment of temporal accuracy, but no effect of specific practice was found. The results indicate that timing reprogramming in interceptive actions is a continuous process limited mainly by intrinsic factors: latency to initiate more effective adjustments to the action, and rate-of-movement timing reprogramming.
Long-Term Retention Explained by a Model of Short-Term Learning in the Adaptive Control of Reaching
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2008
Extensive theoretical, psychophysical, and neurobiological work has focused on the mechanisms by which short-term learning develops into long-term memory. Better understanding of these mechanisms may lead to the ability to improve the efficiency of training procedures. A key phenomenon in the formation of long-term memory is the effect of overlearning on retentiondiscovered by Ebbinghaus in 1885: when the initial training period in a task is prolonged even beyond what is necessary for good immediate recall, long-term retention improves. Although this overlearning effect has received considerable attention as a phenomenon in psychology research, the mechanisms governing this process are not well understood and the ability to predict the benefit conveyed by varying degrees of overlearning does not yet exist. Here we studied the relationship between the duration of an initial training period and the amount of retention 24 hours later for the adaptation of human reaching arm movements to a novel force environment. We show that in this motor adaptation task, the amount of long-term retention is predicted not by the overall performance level achieved during the training period, but rather by the level of a specific component process in a multi-rate model of short-term memory formation.
2004
Three experiments compared learning of relative and absolute timing of a sequential key-pressing task by physical and observational practice. Experiment 1 compared a task with a complex internal structure (goal proportions of 22.2, 44.4, 33.4 on the three movement segments) to one with a simpler structure (goal proportions of 33.3, 33.3, 33.4). Observers only learned the relative timing as well as physical practicers when the internal structure was simple, but learned the absolute timing in both conditions. Experiment 2 compared variable (700, 900, and 1100 ms overall time) with constant practice (900 ms overall time). Observers of constant practice models learned the relative timing better than no-practice control participants, but not as well as the models, while observers of variable practice models learned the relative timing no better than the control group. Observers in both practice conditions were able to produce the absolute timing as well as those who physically practiced. In Experiment 3 observers of an expert model were able to produce the relative timing as well as those who physically practiced the skill, while those who observed iv learning models were not. All observers and the physical practice participants were able to produce the overall duration as well as the expert model. The results of these three experiments support earlier findings that increasing stability during practice promotes better learning of relative timing, but that absolute timing can be learned under less-stable conditions (Lai, Shea, Wulf, & Wright, 2000b). These findings also have important implications on the limitations of Scully and Newells' (1985) prediction that relative timing, but not absolute timing, could be learned by observation. Experiments 1-3 along with earlier findings (Black & Wright, 2000) have consistently found that absolute timing could be learned by observers even as the nature of the task, practice schedule, and model are manipulated. Furthermore, the results suggest a limitation to the effectiveness of learning models (Adams, 1986; McCullagh & Caird, 1990). v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation for the outstanding assistance and friendship from the members of my committee that made my experiences at Texas A&M so beneficial. In particular I would like to thank David Wright and Charles Shea for the opportunity to collaborate on research and for all that I learned from them. I would also like to thank Dr. John Buchanan and Dr. Jack Nation for serving on my committee and for the important information that I gained from their classes and seminars.