Major 11

Applied Motor Control Learning of Exercise, Dance and Sports

Lesson 1

Overview

Motor learning refers to changes that occur with practice or experience that determine
a person’s capability for producing a motor skill. These changes are relatively
permanent, and they are associated with

repetition of motor skills. In dance, motor learning is the process that allows you to
learn basic and sophisticated skills that are not acquired through typical human motor
development. Specific examples

include pirouettes, large jumps, and balances. In addition, the aim of motor learning is
to gain these skills with the specific intent to improve the quality of performance by
enhancing smoothness, coordination, and accuracy.

As the teacher demonstrates the combination or skill for the dance students, the
process of motor learning starts with attention and perception. Perception has two
components. First, you observe and organize your present experience; second, meaning
is attached to that observation based on past experience.

Perception is dependent on the senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, taste). For
example, you see the teacher demonstrate the shift from first position to retiré, and you
might relate it to any number of childhood games in which you attempted to balance on
one leg. You also hear the music for the exercise, giving the movement a temporal
context. It is likely that the first attempts would include some wobbling and adjusting
while the brain seeks strategies to accomplish this shift in a smooth, coordinated way as
demonstrated by the teacher. Note that learning can be enhanced through use of
attention (conscious focus on what is being learned or the environment), but perception
does not necessarily demand attention.

Motor learning is set in motion by perception and continues with replication; in this
phase, you attempt to do the observed task. Learning a dance or any movement skill
depends partly on how the information is presented. Motor learning can take three
general forms: visual, verbal, and kinaesthetic (touch and sensation). You can become
aware of what your preferred learning strategies are, to make the best use of class time.

It is also of great benefit for you to observe your peers attempting the material, and
working through problems and errors. By seeing others correct and improve the
attempted skill, you can see what constitutes a successful strategy and try applying it to
your own experiences. This process has the added benefit of encouraging the idea that
making mistakes is a natural part of the process, a necessary component

of learning to dance. When you develop an overwhelming fear of making mistakes, you
can limit your Progress.

TIME FRAME

Weeks Course Content/Subject Matter

1 Introduction

Nature of Movement

2 - Motor Control and

- Motor Learning Defined.
3-4 - Motor Learning Principles

• Principle of Interest

• Principle of Practice

• Principle of Distributed Practice

• Principle of Skill Specificity

• Principle of Whole-Part Learning

• Principle of Transfer

• Principle of Skill Improvement

• Principle of Feedback

• Principle of Variable Practice

5 - Motor Control Theories

- Theories of Motor Learning

7 - Classification of Motor Skills

7-8 Stages of Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition

• Cognitive

• Associative
 • Autonomous

9 - Midterm Examination

10-11 - The Role of PRACTICE in Skill Acquisition

- The Role of FEEDBACK in Skill Acquisition

12-18 Apply motor learning principles and skill acquisition principles in Exercise, Sports

Final Exam

 Lesson 1

Introduction

The attainment of motor skills involves a process of motor learning, whose

principles integrate information from psychology, neurology, physical education, and
rehabilitation research. Together these disciplines shape our understanding of how
individuals progress from novice to skilled motor performance throughout the lifespan.
Infants learning to reach and grasp use the perceptions they have of their own body and
abilities to secure objects of various shapes and sizes. Older adults must often
accommodate to the gradual loss of strength and sensory changes that occur with aging,
to modify how they perform manipulation tasks.

Motor abilities and skills are acquired during the process of motor development
through motor control and motor learning. Once a basic pattern of movement is
established, it can be varied to suit the purpose of the task or the environmental
situation in which the task is to take place. Early motor development displays a fairly
predictable sequence of skill acquisition through childhood.

However, the ways in which these motor abilities are applied or used for
function are highly variable. Individuals rarely perform the movement exactly the same
way every time. This variability must be part of any model used to explain how posture
and movement are controlled and learnt.

Any movement system must be able to adapt to the changing demands of the individual
mover and environment in which the movement takes place. The individual mover must
be able to learn from prior movement experiences.
 Understanding the relationship among motor control, motor learning, and motor
development provides a valuable framework of applying to exercises, sports and even
in dance.

Motor development is a product as well as a process. The products of motor

development are the milestones of the developmental sequence and the kinesiologic
components of movement such as head and trunk control necessary for these motor
abilities. The process and the product are affected by many factors such as time (age),
maturation (genes), adaptation (physical constraints), and learning.

Motor development is the result of the interaction of the innate or built-in species
blueprint for posture and movement the person’s experiences with moving afforded by
the environment. Sensory input is needed for the mover to learn about moving and the
results of moving. Motor development is the combination of the nature of the mover
and the nurture of the environment. Motor development, motor control, and motor
learning contribute to an ongoing process of change throughout the life span of every
person who moves.

In the area of physical education, from elementary school to the college level,
students learn the different motor skills of various sports to keep fit, have fun, and
develop a healthy lifestyle (NASPE, 2004). Learning proper motor skills is one of the
most important objectives of physical education programs in school settings. With
limited time available for physical education classes, teachers would be wise to teach
students the proper motor skills for exercise and sports. According to Harter’s perceived
competence motivation theory (Harter, 1978; Harter, 1981), when an individual
perceives himself/herself to be good at doing something, his/her motivation to engage
in this activity is enhanced as well.

The more successful the students are at mastering motor skills, the more likely
they are to keep playing sports as their life-long leisure activities. In other words, the
effective teaching of motor skills to students in school settings will directly impact their
future lifestyles and exercise habits. Thus, school physical education teachers should
understand motor learning principles in order to teach students the correct motor skills.
With a thorough knowledge of motor learning, exercise and sports science professionals
like sports coaches and physical education teachers can effectively help their
clients/students design training programs that incorporate the ideal movement
activities required for the particular situation.

In the coaching arena, one of the major responsibilities of coaches is to enhance

athletes’ technical skills since their performance is mainly determined by these skills,
along with their physical ability and psychological well-being. Athletes’ technical abilities
play a crucial role in whether they win or lose in competitions. Not only should a coach
teach proper technical skills, he/she should also be continuously developing creative
new training methods to give the athletes an extra advantage in competition. This is
because today’s superior technical routines could be out of date in a few years.

History has repeatedly shown that the human limits of performance of motor
skills are constantly being surpassed. For example, today’s gymnastic routines could
have been perceived to be impossible to execute in the past. Likewise, the 10 seconds of
100-meter race records have been repeatedly broken in the recent Olympic Games. Due
to the efforts of sports scientists and coaches, the level of technical training is now so
far ahead that motor skills which once seemed impossible to learn have now become
attainable. These accomplishments can, in part, be attributed to the advancement of
our knowledge in the area of motor learning and its relationship to human movement
potentials. Motor skill learning in the coaching arena has always been one of the most
important factors of training for achieving peak performance in competition.

Ballet and other forms of dance involve artistic, beautiful, and swift kinematic
movements that usually take years to perfect. In fact, many dancing movements are
very difficult to learn and master. Physical Education Teachers or even dance
instructors should learn human anatomy and motor learning concepts in order to
understand the relationship between a dancer’s anatomical capability and the
performance of these movements. Since dancing movements are considered to be
process-oriented motor skills, dancers are unable to observe their own movements
during practice or performance so they must rely on their instructors’ accurate feedback
to find out how well they are progressing. Without this external feedback, learning
cannot occur.

In addition, many amateur athletes regularly engage in different recreational

sports or other physical activities in their spare time and they also would like to learn
motor skills to enhance their enjoyment or for self-improvement and competition.
Besides that, many of these amateur athletes serve as club coaches teaching sports skills
to children, training them to improve their skills, and running competitions. In fact,
there are thousands of sports clubs or sport organizations around the world providing
opportunities for people of all ages (from the very young to older adults) to actively
participate in sports activities.

Having the necessary motor learning knowledge would be very beneficial for
these athletes and coaches. The range of professions that involve motor skill related
activities is much broader than we could possibly cover here in my slides.
 Lesson 2

Motor Control and Motor Learning

 Motor control Defined

 Motor control is the study of postures and movements and the mechanisms that
underlie them (Rose & Christina, 2006). Also, motor control can be defined as the
study of how an individual can execute designated motor skills through the
neuromuscular control process in response to external environmental demands
(Haywood & Getchell, 2009; Latash & Lestienne, 2006).

 Specifically, motor control deals with issues such as information processing,

attention and interferences, the mechanism of muscular coordination, sensory
contributions to motor performance, and production of movements through
neuromuscular systems. Motor control allows the nervous system to direct what
muscles should be used, in what order, and how quickly, to solve a movement
problem.

 Motor Learning Defined

 Motor learning is defined as the process that brings about a permanent change in
motor performance as a result of practice or experience (Schmidt and Lee, 1999).
It is a the process of acquiring a skill by which the learner, through practice and
assimilation, refines and makes automatic the desired movement.

 An internal neurologic process that results in the ability to produce a new motor
task.

 The process by which a person learns the skills that make up the developmental
sequence and learns how to execute and control movement, automatically and
voluntarily.
 Lesson 3

Principles of Motor Learning

Principle of Interest

 It is the student's attitude toward learning a skill determines for the most part
the amount and kind of learning that takes place.

Principle of Practice
  Practicing the motor skill correctly is essential for learning to take place.

Principle of Distributed Practice

 In general short periods of intense practice will result in more learning than
longer, massed practice sessions.

Principle of Skill Specificity

 A student's ability to perform one motor skill effectively is independent of

his/her ability to perform other motor skills.

Principle of Whole-Part Learning.

 The complexity of the skill to be learned and the leaner's ability determine
whether it is more efficient to teach the whole skill or break the skill into
component parts.

Principle of Transfer

 The more identical two tasks are the greater the possibility that positive transfer
will occur. Practice conditions should match the conditions in which the motor
skill is going to be used.

Principle of Skill Improvement

 The development of motor skills progresses along a continuum from least mature
to most mature. The rate of progression and the amount of progress within an
individual depends upon the interaction of nature and nurture.

Principle of Feedback

 Internal and external sources of information about motor performance is

essential for learning to take place.

Principle of Variable Practice.

Block practice aids in performance while variable practice aids in

learning. Variable practice causes an increase in attention.
 Lesson 4

THEORIES Of MOTOR CONTROL

MOTOR CONTROL
AUTHOR DATE PREMISE
THEORIES

Reflex Theory Sherrington 1906  Movement is controlled by

stimulus-response.

 Reflexes are basis for movement –

 Reflexes are combined into actions

that create behavior.

REFLEX THEORY

The building blocks of complex behavior. Sir Charles Sherrington,

neurophysiologist (The Integrative Action of the Nervous System), 1906.

Classified the major responses to stimuli, and believed that most of the voluntary
movements resulted from these fundamental reflexes.

Hierarchical Theories Adams 1971  Cortical centers control movement

in a top-down manner throughout the

nervous system.

 Closed-loop Mode: Sensory feedback is

needed and used to control the

movement.

 Voluntary movementts initiated by

“Will” (higher levels).

 Reflexive movements dominate

only after CNS damage.

HIERARCHICAL THEORIES
 The hierarchical theory states that the central nervous system (CNS) is organized
in hierarchical levels such that the higher association areas are followed by the motor
cortex, followed by the spinal levels of motor function. Each higher level controls the
level below it according to strict vertical hierarchy; the lines of control do not cross, and
lower levels cannot exert control.

Motor Program Schmidt 1976  Adaptive, flexible motor programs (MPs)

Theory
and generalized motor programs (GMPs)

exist to control actions that have common

characteristics.

 Higher-level Motor Programs - Store rules

for generating movements.

Dynamical Bernstein 1967  Movement emerges to control degrees

Systems Theory
Turvey 1977 of freedom.

Kelso & 1984  Patterns of movements self-organize within

Tuller
1987 the characteristics of environmental
Thelen
conditions and the existing body systems

of the individual.

 Functional synergies are developed naturally

through practice and experience and help

the problem of coordinating multiple

muscles and joint movements at once.

 De-emphasize commands from CNS in

movement and emphasize physical

explanations for movement.

DYNAMIC SYSTEM THEORY

 The study of synergies gave rise to dynamic action theory, an approach that
observes the individual in motion from a new perspective. Considering the self-
organization principle, the theory states that when a system made up of individual parts
is integrated, its parts will act collectively in an organized manner. They will not require
any instructions from a higher center on how to achieve coordinated action. The theory
proposes that movement is the result of elements that interact, with no need for motor
programmes.

Ecological Gibson & Pick 2

Theories 0
 The person, the task, and the
0
environment interact to in
0
uence motor behavior and
learning. The interaction of
the person with any given
environment provides
perceptual information used
to control movement.

 The motivation to solve

problems to accomplish a
desired movement task goal
facilitates learning.

ECOLOGICAL THEORIES

In the 1960s, Gibson explored the way in which our motor systems allow us to
interact more effectively with our surroundings in order to develop goal-oriented
behavior. He focused on how we detect information in our setting that is relevant to our
actions, and how we then use this information to determine our movements. The
individual actively explores his or her environment, and the environment promotes the
performance of activities that are environmentally appropriate.
Systems Model Shumway- 2007
 Multiple body systems overlap to
Theory Cook
activate synergies for the production of
movements that are organized around
functional goals.

 Considers interaction of the person with

the environment.

 Goal-directed Behavior - Task Orientated

SYSTEMS MODEL THEORY

Systems theory explains that neural control over movement cannot be

understood without a prior understanding of the systems that move. It states that
‘‘movements are cotrolled neither centrally nor peripherally, but rather are effected by
interactions among multiple systems’’. The body is regarded as a mechanical system
subject to both internal forces and external forces (gravity).

The same central command may give rise to very different movements due to
interactions between external forces and variations in the initial conditions; also, the
same movements maybe elicited by different commands. The theory attempts to
explain how initial conditions affect the characteristics of movement. Systems theory
predicts real behavior much more accurately than the preceding theories since it
considers not only what the nervous system contributes to motion, but also the
contributions of different systems together with the forces of gravity and inertia.

Lesson 5
MOTOR LEARNING THEORIES
 Lesson 6

CLASSIFICATION OF MOTOR SKILLS

Three useful classification systems for motor skills include defining the:

• (1) size of the movement – gross or fine motor skills;

• (2) beginning and end points – discrete or continuous; and

• (3) characterizing the stability of the environment in which the task is being
performed – open or closed. These three classification schemes can be used to
organize and plan task practice.

Fine and gross motor skills are familiar to therapists. Fine motor skills are those that
use small muscles of the hands, and mouth for manipulation and speech. Gross motor
skills use the larger muscles of the trunk and extremities. Both small and large muscles may
be included in various upper extremity tasks such as stabilizing the trunk while reaching in
standing.

Movements classified as discrete or continuous may be controlled by different

mechanisms. Discrete movements have a defined beginning and end point. Common
examples are turning on a light, pushing a button, raising your hand in class, slipping on a
shoe, and goal-directed reaching. Continuous or rhythmic motions are those with no clear
start or end. Walking, playing the drums, swimming, and driving all represent continuous
tasks. The distinction between these classes of movements is often difficult to discern.
 Finally, skills can be classified as open or closed based on the temporal and spatial
features of the environment where a task is performed. A closed skill is one in which the
performer can start and stop at any time because the regulatory features of the
environment remain constant. Examples include sitting on a chair in a quiet room while
performing hand exercises, dressing, and many activities of daily living.

Open skills require the performer to conform to changes in the environment for
success. Predictive abilities are essential. For example, catching a ball requires you to move
your hands in time with the movement of the ball to make contact. Similarly, when
reaching out to shake someone's hand – you must conform to the other person's speed
and hand position to be successful.
 Lesson 7

STAGES Of MOTOR LEARNING AND SKILL ACQUISITION

NEWBORN

Turns head easily from side to side. When lying on back, moves head one way and then
another.
• Comforts self by bringing hands to face to suck on fingers or fist.
• Keeps hands mostly closed and fisted.
• Blinks at bright lights.

1 MONTH

 Raises head slightly off floor when lying on stomach.

• Holds head up momentarily when supported.
• Keeps hands in closed fists.
• Comforts self by sucking on fist or fingers.

2 MONTHS

 Holds head up and begins to push up with arms when lying on stomach.
• Makes smoother movements with arms and legs.
• Moves both arms and both legs equally well.
• Brings hands to mouth.
Holds objects with hand (reflexive)
Smiles and coos Smiles and coos

3 MONTHS
• Lifts head and chest when lying on stomach.
• Moves arms and legs easily and vigorously.
• Shows improved head control.
Turns head to sounds
Eye muscles develop for focusing

4 MONTHS
• Holds head steady without support.
• Grabs and shakes toys, brings hands to mouth.
• Pushes down on legs when feet are placed on a hard surface.
• Pushes up to elbows when lying on stomach.
• Rocks from side to side and may roll over from tummy to back.

6 MONTHS
• Rolls over in both directions.
• Begins to sit with a little help.
• Supports weight on both legs when standing, and might bounce.
• Rocks back and forth on hands and knees, may crawl backward before moving
forward.
May sit supported
Understands own name
can grasp an object that is handed to her

9 MONTHS
• Gets in and out of sitting position, and sits well without support.
• Creeps or crawls.
• Pulls to stand and stands, holding on.
• Begins to take steps while holding on to furniture (cruising).
Mimics sounds Waves “bye-bye”
Understands “no”
May understand and respond to some words May pull self up to stand
Says “mama”, “dada”

12 MONTHS
• Pulls to stand and walks holding on to furniture, walks unsteadily.
• Gets into sitting position without help.
• Begins to stand alone.
• Begins to take steps alone.
Points with finger
Focuses on distant objects
Says a few real words

18 MONTHS
• Walks alone, and begins to run and walk up steps.
• Walks backward pulling toy.
• Feeds self with spoon and drinks with cup.
• Helps dress and undress self.

2 YEARS
• Kicks a ball forward.
• Throws a ball overhand.
• Walks up and down stairs holding on.
• Stands on tiptoes.
• Begins to run.
• Climbs on and off furniture without help.
• Puts simple puzzles together.

3 YEARS
• Climbs and runs well.
• Walks up and down stairs, with one foot on each step.
• Jumps with both feet, and may hop on one foot.
• Pedals tricycle or three-wheel bike.

4 YEARS
• Catches a bounced ball most of the time.
• Hops and stands on one foot for a few seconds.
• Pours beverages, cuts with supervision and mashes own food.

5 YEARS
• Hops and may be able to skip.
• Does somersaults.
• Uses a fork and spoon, and sometimes a table knife.
• Stands on one foot for at least 10 seconds.
• Uses the toilet independently.
• Swings and climbs.

THE THREE STAGES OF MOTOR LEARNING

SUMMARY
 However, sometimes external feedback may have a more important role and
serve as a replacement if impairment is present in a sensory system. Augmented task-
related feedback can come in many forms such as verbal, visual (demonstration), or
physical (manual guidance). Use of augmented feedback can greatly enhance a person's
ability to learn a task, but when and how should it be provided?

Feedback control conditions is a situated form of motor control relying on

sensory information about performance and specific sensory input from the environment,
in which the movement is carried out this sensory input while process does not
necessarily cause conscious awareness of the action.