| Term | Definition |
|---|
| motor skills | activities or tasks that require voluntary head, body, and/or limb movement to achieve a goal |
| motor learning | the study of the acquisition of motor skills, the performance enhancement of learned or highly experienced motor skills, or the reacquisition of skills that are difficult to perform or cannot be performed because of injury, disease, and the like. |
| motor control | the study of how our neuomuscular system functions to activate and coordinate the muscles and limbs involved in the performance of a motor skill |
| motor development | the study of human development from infancy to old age with specific interest in issues related to either motor learning or motor control |
| movements | behavioral characteristics of specific limbs or a combination of limbs that are compnent parts of an action or motor skill |
| gross motor skill | a motor skill that requires the use of large musculature to achieve the goal of the skill |
| fine motor skill | a motor skill that requires control of small muscles to achieve the goal of the skill |
| discrete motor skill | a motor skill with clearly defined movement beginning and end points, usually requiring a simple movement |
| continuous motor skill | a motor skill with arbitrary movement beginning and end points. |
| serial motor skill | a motor skill involving a series of discrete skills |
| environmental context | the supporting surface, objects, and/or other people involved in the enironment in which a skill is performed |
| closed motor skill | a motor skill performed in a stationary environment where the performer determines when to begin the action |
| open motor skill | a motor skill that involves a nonstble, unpredictable environment where an object or environment context is in motion and determines when to begin the action |
| taxonomy | a classification system organized according to relationships among the component characteristics of the group of items or objects being classified |
| regulatory conditions | charactristics of the environmenal context determine the movement characteristics needed to perform an action |
| interitrial variability | refers to whether the regulatory conditions associated with the performance of a skill in one situation or for one trial are present or absent in the next situation or trial |
| performance outcome measures | a category of motor skill performance measures that indicates the outcome or result of performing a motor skill (e.g how far a person walked, how fast a person ran a certain distance, or how many degrees a person flexed a knee) |
| performance production measures | a category of motor skill performance measures that indicates the performance of specific aspects of the motor control system durng the performance of the action (eg., limb kinematics, force, EEG, EMG, etc.) |
| reaction time (RT) | the interval of time between the onset of a signal (stimulus) and the initiation of a response (e.g., the amount of time between the "go" signal for a swimming sprint race start and the beginning of the feet moving off the starting block) |
| movement time (MT) | the interval of time between the initiation of a movement and the completion of the movement |
| response time | the time interval involving both reaction time and movement time; that is, the time from the onset of a signal (stimulus) to the completion of a response |
| simple RT | the reaction time when the situation involves only one signal (stimulus) that requires only one response |
| choice RT | the reaction time when the situation involves more than one signal and each signal requires its own specified response |
| discrimination RT | the reaction time when the situation inolves more than one signal but only one response, whih is to only one of the signals; the other signals require no response |
| absolute error (AE) | the unsigned deviation from the target or criterion, representing amount of error. A measure of the magnitude of an error without regard to the direction of the deviation |
| constant error (CE) | the signed (+/-) deviation from the target or criterion; it represents amount and direction of error and serves as a measure of performance bias |
| variable error (VE) | an error score representing the variability of performance |
| root mean squared error (RMSE) | an error measure used for continuous skills to indicate the amount or error between the performance curve produced and the criterion performance curve for a specific amount of time during which performance is sampled |
| kinematics | the description of motion without regard to force or mass; it includes displacement, velocity, and acceleration |
| displacement | a kinematic measure describing changes in the spatial positions of a limb or joint during the time course of the movement |
| velocity | a kinematic measure describing the rate of change of an objects position with respect to time. It is derived by dividing displacement by time |
| acceleration | a kinematic measure that describes change in velocity during movement; we derive it from velocity by dividing change in velocity by change in time |
| kinetics | the study of the role of force as a cause of motion |
| electromyography (EMG) | a measurement technique that records the electrical activity of a muscle or group of muscles. It indicates the muscle activity |
| electroencephalography (EEG) | the recording of brain activity by the detection of electrical activity in specific areas on the surface of the cortex by several surface electrodes placed on a persons scalp. Brain activity is recorded as waves, which are identified on the basis of the speed of the rhythmic activity |
| fMRI | functional magnetic resonance imaging; a brain-scanning technique that asses changes in blood flow by detecting blood oxygenation characteristics while a person is performing a skill or activityin the MRI scanner. It provides clear images of active brain areas at a specified time and can provide quantitative information about the levels of bran region activity |
| relative phase | an index of the coordination between two limb segments or limbs during the performance of a cyclic movement. It is based on calculating the phase angles for each limb segment or limb at a specific point in time and then subtracting one phase angle from the other. |
| ability | a general trait or capacity of an individual that is a determinant of a persons achievement potential for the performance of specific skills |
| motor ability | an ability that is specifically related to the performance of a motor skill |
| general motor ability hypothesis | a hypothesis that maintains that the many different motor abilities that exist in an individual are highly related and can be characterized in terms of a singular, global motor ability |
| specificity of motor abilities hypothesis | a hypothesis that maintains that the many motor abilities in an individual are relatively independent |
| neuron | a nerve cell; the basic component of the nervous system |
| dendrites | extensions from a neuron's cell body that receive neural impulses from other neurons |
| axons | extensions from a neuron's cell body that transmit neural impulses to other neurons, structures in the CNS, or muscles |
| sensory neurons | nerve cells that send neural impulses to the CNS |
| motor neurons | nerve cells that send neural impulses from the CNS to skeletal muscle fibers |
| interneurons | specialized nerve cells that originate and terminate in the brain or spinal cord; they function between axons descending from the brain and synapse on motor neuron, and between the axons from sensory nerves and the spinal nerves ascending to the brain |
| cerebrum | a brain structure in the forebrain that consists of two halves, known as the right and left cerebral hemispheres |
| cerebral cortex | the undulating, wrinkly, gray colored surface of the cerebrum; it is a thin tissue of nerve cell bodies called gray matter |
| sensory cortex | cerebral cortex area located posterior to the central sulcus; it includes several specific regions that recieve sensory information transmitted via the sensory nerves specific to that type of information |
| primary motor cortex | a cerebral cortex area located in the frontal lobe just anterior to the central sulcus; it contains motor neurons that send axons to specific skeletal muscles throughout the body. |
| premotor area | a cerebral cortex area located in the frontal lobe just anterior to the primary motor cortex |
| supplementary motor area (SMA) | a cerebral cortex area located on the medial surface of the frontal lobe adjacent to portions of the primary motor cortex |
| parietal lobe | an area of the cerebral cortex that plays an important role in the control of voluntary movement, such as the integration of movement preparation and execution processes by interacting with the premotor cortex, primary motor cortex, and SMA before and during movement |
| basal ganglia | a subcortical collection of nuclei buried within the cerebral hemispheres; the play an important role in the planning and initiation of movement and the control of antagonist muscles during movement |
| Parkinson's disease | a basal ganglia disorder caused by the lack of production of the neurotransmitter dopamine by the substatia nigra; the disease is characterized by slow movements, a reduced amount of movement, tremor, and muscular rigidity |
| diencephalon | a component of the forebrain located between the cerebrum and the brainstem; it contains the thalamus and hypothalamus |
| cerebellum | a brain structure located behind the cerebral hemispheres and attached to the brainstem;it is covered by the cerebellar cortex and is divided into two hemispheres;it plays a key role in the execution of smooth and accurate movements |
| brainstem | a brain stucture located directly under the cerebral hemispheres and connected to the spinal cord; it contains three areas that are significantly involved in motor control: the pons, medulla, and reticular formation |
| limbic system | a group of brain structures consisting of parts of the frontal and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex, the thalamus and hypothalamus, and the nerve fibers that interconnect these parts and other CNS structures; it is involved in the learning of motor skills |
| ascending tracts | sensory neural pathways in the spinal cord and brainstem that connect with the various sensory areas of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum |
| descending tracts | motor neural pathways that descend from the brain through the spinal cord |
| motor unit | the alpha motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it innervates; it serves as the functional unit of motor control for the innervation of the muscles involved in a movement |
| motor unit recruitment | the process of increasing the number of motor units needed to increase the number of muscle fibers active at any one time and thereby increase the amount of force the muscle can exert. |
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