Motor Control and Action
65 important questions on Motor Control and Action
How do we call the whole of components like the central and peripheral nervous sytem, the muscles, joints and bones that enable movement?
What are the points we consider in choosing an action?
- what is the current state. (current situation)
- what is the goal state. (what do i want to achieve)
- which body parts can i use
- are there possible obstacles
How do we call the path from the current state to the goal state?
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How do we call the number of ways a joint can move?
How do we call the problem with the main question; how do you choose a specific action, given an endless array of possibilities?
Which three solutions to the degrees of freedom problem are there?
- the equilibrium point hypothesis
- dynamical systems
- optimal control.
What are the key principles to the equilibrium point hypothesis?
- each degree of freedom has two springs, one to bring it forth, and one to bring it back.
- tensions in the muscles, the two springs, determine the end position of the bone or joint.
- the trajectory doesn't have to be thought out, but forms automaticly and can be adjusted along the way.
- works without feedback.
In the equilibrium hypothesis, how was discovered that the trajectory doesn't have to be thought out and can be adjusted along the way?
- in an experiment a monkey was trained to point at a light switched on in a row of lights.
- the monkey's arm was attached to a motor controled plate
- in some trials the light would get switched on and the arm of the monkey would be moved right after, to another starting position.
- still the monkey managed to point out the light.
- shows that movement is planned in degrees of movement, and not in length of movement(2cm to the right from starting point), and that the movement can be adjusted along the way.
In the equilibrium hypothesis, how do we know that movement works without feedback of some kind?
- in the experiment with the monkey and the lights, his sensory nerves of the pointing arm were cut, and the experiment was conducted in a dark room.
- so he could not feel or see his arm, yet still managed to point out the light.
- your brain seems to know what movement to perform without feedback.
What theory emphasizes motor control as a process of self organization between animal and it's environment?
What are the key charcateristics of the dynamical systems theory?
- simultaneous movements
- balancing
- speed of movement
Which key characteristic of the dynamical systems theory is described; while curling your pinky the ring finger starts to bend as well.
Which key characteristic of the dynamical systems theory is described;
while stretching your arm anticipatory postural adjustments occur.
Which key characteristic of the dynamical systems theory is described;
with the walk of a horse, the legs move independently from eachother, but while running, the legs move simultaneously.
Which key principle of the equilibrium hypothesis is described; the flexing of the bicep and tricep.
Which key principle of the equilibrium hypothesis is described; keeping your elbow in a 70 degrees angle.
Which key principle of the equilibrium hypothesis is described;
reaching for an object but end up catching it since it fell right before retrieval.
Which key principle of the equilibrium hypothesis is described;
stretching your dead leg in the middle of the night.
How do we call the theory that provides a framework for implementing that the most efficient movement is selected to optimal reach goal state?
In the optimal control theory, on which principle is the selection of movement based?
- least amount of mistakes during execution
- least forces applied to joints
- most fluent movement.
Which principle of selection of movement from the optimal control theory is described; reaching for a bottle in a curve, instead of with straight arm, to make the actual grab easier since your thumb is on the inside of your hand.
How do we call a type of measurement that describes the amount of rotational force muscles put on a joint?
What are the characteristics of the basal ganglia?
- group of neurons
- based in the forebrain
- connected to cortex
- involved in action selection.
In the optimal control theory, what are the adjustments based on?
- sensory feedback, we perceive wether we've achieved the goal state and alter our movement in the case we haven't.
- prediction of feedback by the forward model.
What can we conclude from the rubber hand illusion?
Of which components does the model of the optimal control theory consists?
- the control policy
- the motor command
- noise
- the forward model
- boday and the world
- sensory information
- sensory integration
- state estimate.
Which component of the model of the optimal control theory is described; outputs a motor command, after determining what to do, considering goal state and current state.
Which component of the model of the optimal control theory is described;
output of the control policy, contains information on how the body should move.
Which component of the model of the optimal control theory is described;
altering motor command due to imperfections in neural transmissions. corrupts sensory information due to imperfect sensing and neural transmissions.
Which component of the model of the optimal control theory is described; receives motor command, degraded by noise, and puts out movement that alters state of the body and environment.
Which component of the model of the optimal control theory is described;
created by movement of the body and changes to the environment.
Which component of the model of the optimal control theory is described;
provides an internal representation of the state of body and world, and is input to the control policy. output of the sensory integration.
How do we call principle used to predict the relationships between actions and their consequences. used to alert body on possible mistakes to be corrected.
Describe results of the research by Wolpert, shergill, bays and frith on tit for tat and predicton of feedback.
- group 1 escalated quickly, tit for tat principle they just started pressing harder each time.
- group 2: was more accurate than group 1 but worse than group 3.
- group 3 stayed pretty close to the goal line.
- the reason for us not being able to recreate forces is due to our prediction feedback. the prediction of the force applied (consequences), leads to a decrease of the perceived force.
Why is it, from an evolutionary perspective, useful to be bad at recreating forces?
Where in the brain does adjustment of movement based on feedback take place?
How do we call the behaviorist theory that explains how action sequences arise through stating that one particular action is associated with the start of the next action in the sequence?
How do we call an abstract representation of movement that centrally organizes and controls the many degrees of freedom involved in performing an action?
What are the characteristics of a motor program?
- consists of a complete series of commands for the action sequence.
- created in advance
- the longer the sequence, the slower the response
- are abstract.
Why are motor programs abstract?
It’s not about particular muscular actions (concrete), rather about a sequence of (abstract) goal states.
Why is the associative chain theory inaccurate?
How does a TOTE strategy work?
- test current condition (we have only one sock)
- operate (pick up sock from pile)
- test goal state (do the socks match?)
- operate again (optional: pick up another sock)
- test goal state (optional: match?)
- exit (goal state achieved).
How do we call a model in which action sequences are represented in sub-actions being activated by higher sub-actions?
Describe MacKay and Bowman's language experiment on hierarchical control systems.
- english-german bilinguals read an english sentence 12 times
- then divided into two groups.
- group 1 reads a german translation of the initial sentence 4 times
- group 2 reads a german sentence unrelated to the initial sentence 4 times.
How do we call a type of artificial neural that can be designed to control the timing of operations of actions.
How do we call a term used to describe the pattern of activity in a hierarchical control structure where activity is generated by excitatory and inhibitory interactions?
What are the functions of recurrent networks (not human program but human have similar function), and interactive activation.
- interactive activation makes sure that when one action in a level of hierarchy is produced, the other actions in that level are inhibited. this way it creates facilitation for which action to complete, to complete the schema.
- recurrent network similarities control the timing of operations of actions, a support system to carry out or inhibit actions used by interactive activation.
How do we call the ability to divide the process of solving a problem into multiple parts and work simultaneously on each part?
Which brain parts are involved in hierarchical control processing?
- the frontal lobes.
- the higher the hierarchical position of the action, the more frontal the representation
- leads to activation of the primary motor cortex.
How do we call the neurological condition where a person loses the ability to perform activities that they are physically able to do?
How do we call the neurological condition characterized by the difficulty of planning actions without the presence of relevant stimuli?
How do we call the view that describes cognition is the overlap between action and perception?
What theory relates how thinking of an action's consequences can give rise to the producing of an action?
How do we call the principle that describes when you try to draw an eclipse with your finger at a constant speed, you speed up at the curves?
How do we call the theory that holds that action production, and perception share certain representations, instead of cognition needing to code perception into motor codes.
How do we call neurons with the special property that they represent both the sensory aspects of perceiving actions, as well as motor aspects of how to produce actions?
What principle causes perception of actions of others leads to activation of your own motor neurons
Describe the research by Rizzolatti on mirror neurons.
- a monkey was brain monitored and was monitored for which neurons would activate while grabbing a peanut.
- it turned out that the same neurons were active when grabbing, as when perceiving someone alls grabbing the peanut.
- discovery of mirror neurons.
What does homologous brain regions mean?
In which activities are mirror neurons involved?
- predicting the goal of a perceived action.
- representing elementary motions
How do we call basic motions?
Describe the research by Calvo-Merino, Grezes, Glaser, Passingham and Haggard on dancers and mirror neurons.
- fMRI was used to examine brain activity of male and female ballet dancers when viewing ballet movements
- some movements are gender specific, only performed by men, or only by women.
- both genders viewed both gender specific movements.
Describe results of the research by Calvo-Merino, Grezes, Glaser, Passingham and Haggard on dancers and mirror neurons.
- different brain regions were activated during viewing of own gender motions, compared to opposite gender movements.
- results show evidence for mirror regions in the brain.
- suggest that we understand actions not only by visual recognition, but also motorically.
How do we call the school that states that cognition is a product of bodily interaction?
What school does the motor theories support?
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