Lecture 1:
Overview of Motor
Control
What is Motor Control?
The big picture...
MotorBehavior
MotorControl
MotorLearning
MotorDevelopment
Motor Behavior
 An
area of study stressing primarily
the principles of human skilled
movement generated at a
behavioral level of analysis.
Motor Behavior:
Action
 Perception
 Cognition
 Interaction of individual, task and
environment.

Motor Control
 An
area of study dealing with the
understanding of the neural,
physiological and behavioral
aspects of movements.
Two main aspects of motor
control:
 Stabilizing
the body in space,
postural and balance control.
 Moving the body in space,
movement.
Motor Learning
 A set
of internal processes
associated with practice or
experience leading to relatively
permanent changes in the
capability of motor skill.
Motor Development
 A field
of study concerning the
changes in motor bahavior occuring
as a result of growth, maturation
and experience.
Task
Individual
Motor
control
Environment
Why should we study motor
control?
 Improving
movement capability
following injury to guide clinical
intervention.
 Improving motor performance.
 Generating and building theory.
Theory vs. Model in Motor
Control
 A theory
of
motor control is
a group of
abstract ideas
about the
nature and
cause of
movement.
 A model
is a
represetation of
something,
usually a
simplified
version of the
real thing.
Theories of Motor Control
Reflex theory



The building blocks of complex behavior.
Sir Charles Sherrington, neurophisiologist
(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.
Stimulus
Response
Sensory receptor
Response
Effector(muscle)
Information processing model
Input
(Signals)
Processing
(The human)
Output
(Motor response)
Information processing model
Stimulus Stimulus
(Input)
iden.
Response Response Movement
selection progra.
output
REACTION TIME
THE HUMAN
Hierarchical Theory
Top - down structure
 Reflexes are part of this hierarchy,
normally higher centers inhibit them
(Chart to be scanned)
 Motor control emerges from reflexes,
later on integrated with higher control
levels.
 Limitations

Motor programming theories
 Sensory
input not essential to drive
movement but important function in
modulating it.
**Try for yourself (signature) demo.
 Limitations
Dynamical Systems theory
Bernstein-characteristics of acting
systems, external and internal forces.
 Distributed model of motor control-no
need for higher center of control.
 Interaction of elements, physical and
neural components.
 Limitations

Parallel distributed processing
theory.
 NS
processes information in serial
and parallel.
 Limitations
Task oriented theories
Control of movement is organized
around goal-directed functional
behaviors such as walking or talking.
 Limitations

Ecological theory.
How do we detect information in our
environment that is important to our
actions?
 Limitations
