A losed-Loop Theory of Motor Learning - Term Paper Example

 A Сlosed-Loop Theory of Motor Learning Introduction Learning is defined as the change in behavior that is considered relatively permanent due to practice. It also involves the process of acquiring the capacity and capability to undertake skilled actions. Motor learning, therefore, is defined as activities associated with practice that leads to the permanent change in behavior or capacity to undertake a skilled action. The application of motor learning results in simplifying complicated movement. The permanent change in movement behavior is attributed to the measurement of performance over a certain period. During the process of learning a motor skill, one must master the basic aspects of the skill. The basic aspects must be executed properly in order to enable one to focus and direct attention to other concerns. As practice continues under proper conditions, certain changes will definitely take place. Learning is conducted through distinctive stages that start with cognitive concepts to automatic performance concepts. Ice skating is the art of moving over ice using skates. There are basically two ways one can move over ice, namely: 1. Gliding through the ice, where this was the earliest form of ice skating. This was featured in the older types of skates that were made of bones. This allowed the skaters to glide or rather slide over the surface of the ice. The principle in gliding on the bone-made skates was possible due to the larger surface area in contact with the ice, along with the thin film of water between the skates and the ice surface. 2. Cutting into the ice, which is the modern adaptation of ice skates. These skates feature a metallic blade (mostly steel), which would then cut through the ice to a certain depth which therefore aided in motion in traversing through the ice. The sharp edges in the edge of the skates aides in moving through the ice due to the fact that the sharp edges provide low friction in moving through the ice. This method though adopted in modern ice skates, was developed between the thirteenth and fourteenth century by the Dutch. The birth of ice skating dates back to the BC era, three thousand years back. As mentioned earlier, the early forms of skates were made from bones, specifically animal bones dues to the rigidity in the structure. It was later that metal was used to replace animal bones. Animal bones along with leather were used to make skates that were known as ‘schenkel’ by the Dutch, who the early inventors or discoverers were of ice skating. Ice skating then gained major popularity in the United States of America, during the civil war era (Kleim et al. 2002). It was the combination of skating and dance that made ice skating so popular, a technique or method that was introduced by an American, Jackson Haines. Ice skating has been used across the world for over three thousand years. There are various reasons why people ice skate which include; leisure, sport, travelling and exercise. Ice skating has brought about several derivatives that are recognized as important applications of ice skating. Today the major application of ice skating is sports. There are several recreational games that come due to ice skating. Games such as figure skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, Ringette, tour skating, kite ice skating, and bandy. The basic principle of ice skating is pushing off ice with the edge of the skate to gain speed. In this study we shall use the basic principles behind moving effortlessly on ice and how to utilize the body movements in order to ice skate properly. The goal to be reached is properly ice skating in a certain distance. Using motor learning this can be achievable. Motor learning As described above, motor learning involves activities that are undertaken leading to permanent change in behaviour and capacity to acquire a skilled action. There are two types of motor learning, Declarative learning and Associative learning. In Associative learning, one discovers the cause and effect relationship between variables in order to learn skills. The type of motor learning that we shall focus on is the Declarative learning, whereby facts are described and expressed in declarative sentences. The Declarative learning has an emphasis on procedures that are carried out over time thus leading to procedural learning. Procedural learning occurs without attention and conscious thought and is developed through repetition of activities (Bracko &George, 2001). Motor learning is gauged by evaluating the outcomes of performance; therefore, its success relies on performance. Motor learning involves mastering the rules of movement also known as the movement schema. The rules applied include the anterior displacement of line of gravity into a new base, the various combinations of muscle actions, and body movement that proceed and end simultaneously. The execution of the above rules should result in producing an extensor force that is greater than gravity. Ice skating incorporates fundamental measures that the skater has to keep in mind in order to understand the physical principles of ice skating. The fundamental measures include force, torque, velocity, center of mass, momentum and moment of inertia. The rules of performance enable the skater to successfully execute ice skating actions in various environments (Potteiger, et al. 2010). Motor learning theory The Adam’s Closed Loop Theory was formulated in 1971 and it bases it argument on the relationship between the results of a skilled movement and the feedback received (Adams, 2000). The sensory feedback is information that links the human brain to the environment. Feedback is perceived as what someone subconsciously feels as a result to changes in environment. The information that feedback provides is considered as the most significant tool for determining the learning of a skill. Intrinsic feedback refers to the information provided during and after the execution of a task within its internal environment. Extrinsic feedback is the information that is provided when there is an additional source to the environment during the execution of the task (Adams, 2000). In the Adam’s theory, the sensory feedback is used for the on-going production of skilled movement and movement errors can as well be detected. A comparison is usually made between the movement errors and feedback from memory of the intended movement. The selection and initialization of the movement is used to trace the memory. Therefore, the perceptual trace built up over practice is used as a reference for correction. The Adam’s theory also states that the accuracy of the performance is directly proportional to the strength of the perceptual trace (Adams, 2000). It is also stated that through repeated practice of movement there will be exceptional development. Physics of ice skating Two major aspects bring about the fundamental in kinematic motion that is attributed in figure skating. The first aspect is the skates, where the designs on the skates that feature a metallic plate with a sharp edge aid in motion through ice by cutting through the surface. The sharp edges, as mentioned earlier, help in reduction in surface area in contact with the ice, therefore reducing the frictional force between the metallic edge of the skates and the ice surface (Armenti, 1992). The second aspect is the skater’s motion. This is the physical motion or movement that a person has to adopt in order to navigate through the ice surface with the ice skates. Motion through the ice may be classified under three major categories. First is the forward motion through the ice. This is basically motion in a straight line, where a skater would be able to move from point ‘x’ to point ‘y’ where these two points are in straight line, or rather the skater takes the shortest distance between these points, which in essence is in a straight line (Kleim et al. 2002). As illustrated below, to move forward the skaters would use their left foot to push themselves and generate motion. The force used to generate this motion would however be in a perpendicular direction with reference to the foot creating motion, which in this case would be the left foot. as the propelling foot is generating motion, the other foot would be in position moving forward and would either be off the ice surface and elevated or would be on the ice surface with preferable the least resistance to motion. As the back foot is generating motion, the foot on the front would allow the skater's body to move forward. On moving forward, the skater switches their feet and the roles are reversed with the front foot going to the back and the back foot to the front. This cycle is then repeated to generate continuous motion in a straight line. Image source: http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/images/414x404xphysics_ice_skating_8.png.pagespeed.ic.gR8uk-HhKX.png The second form of skating in a straight line is skating backwards, as illustrated below. The principle in backward skating is similar to forward skating, but difference comes in the motion, where backward skating has a more ‘s-like’ motion as compared to forward. Image source: http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/images/397x584xphysics_ice_skating_9.png.pagespeed.ic.nECsrKAsTN.png a. Turning when in motion. When making a turn on ice, the strides made are considerably shorter as compared to moving in a straight line. due to this therefore a skater cannot propel themselves efficiently when moving at high velocities and making a turn(Magill, 2007). With regard to figure skating, the bends are much smaller with a narrower radius, therefore the skater would have to gain considerable speed then use the momentum gained to propel them through a turn. Another factor that comes to play due to this is centripetal force (Zatsiorsky, 1998) which therefore forces the skater to tilt at an almost steep angle as illustrated below. Image source: http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/images/physics_ice_skating_1.png To make a successful turn, the skater adjusts their centre of mass, G, which comprises of the skater's body along with the skates, which essentially may be considered as a single rigid body. The distance L between the centre of mass, G and the point where the skates meet the ice, P is critical and should be lowered to reduce the centripetal force. This force is lowered by having the skater crouch or lean forward as they skate (Hong, 2002). b. Stopping when in motion. When a skater wants to stop or reduce the velocity in motion, the motion adopted would be that opposite to moving forward. Here the skater has their forward foot tilted at an angle which increases the surface area of the skate moving against the ice. This therefore leads to an increased friction between the ice surface and the skates, effectively leading to the skater slowing down. To put it in a different way, the skater almost digs into the ice with the edge of the skates, in order to increase surface friction that would lead to reduction of velocity. Stages of motor learning There are three stages of motor learning; cognitive stage, associative stage and autonomous stage. One can follow these stages to successfully learn how to ice skate and develop it making them acquire the skill permanently. During the stages of motor learning, augmented visual feedback, such as videos or using mirrors, are used for comparison and correction of the learner’s performance. The first phase is the cognitive stage where the learner is introduced to the motor task, in this case ice skating (Carey et al. 2007). The learner gets the general idea of the ice skating and determines the objectives of the skill. The learner also gets to understand the environmental cues that control the regulation of the movement. In this stage the learner develops strategies and schedules that deal with the formulation, restraints and practice of ice skating. The learner is focused on what to do and how to do the skill (Krakanuer 2006) The second phase is the associative stage whereby the actual practice takes place and refining of skills is done. The spatial and temporal aspects of practice are organized better and skills become more consistent. In this stage conscious decisions are made as well as real world performance scenarios of ice skating is introduced. As the conscious decisions are made, the learner corrects errors thus become better at ice skating. The third and final phase is the autonomous stage where as the name suggests the learner has automatic performance in ice skating. Temporal and spatial components are highly organized and the learner becomes more consistent with the goal attainment. At this point the learner can successfully ice skate a certain distance because their movement at this point will be autonomous (Doyon & Benali 2005). Motor learning concepts The three common concepts used for evaluation include time, response magnitude and accuracy of error. Together these concepts provide information on the success of the ice skating movement. The measurement of speed indicates how long the learner takes to respond to change as well as their duration of movement. (Rose & Christiana 2006). These speed measurements are recorded in movement time, total reaction time and total response time. The measurement of response magnitude gives information about the weight, height and distance moved when ice skating. The measurement of error gives the learner a way to perform ice skating with little or no error, which is ideal for any motor skill. There are three common sources of error; constant error (CE), absolute error (AE) and variable error (VE) (Hikosaka et al. 2002). Problem Statement Learning to ice skate successfully over a certain distance, Hypothesis It is not possible to successfully learn and acquire the motor skill that is ice skating over a certain period. Methods a) Participant The learner could be between 12-16 years of age. Their height could be 143 centimetres, and they weigh 50 kilograms. They have no history of serious or health threatening illnesses. Their weight and height makes it manageable to skate successfully. b) Equipment The learner needs to have proper ice skates and adorn in the appropriate sportswear for ice skating. This will minimize avoidable accidents that may occur. The sportswear should be comfortable as well as allowing flexibility for the learner. In order to get augmented feedback the learner can use a video camera to record their performance and use them for comparison purposes. The performance progress can as well be measures by the distance the learner manages to ice skate successfully. c) Protocol Using the three stages of motor learning as a reference, the learner can design a protocol they can follow in order to successfully learn the skill. In the first stage, the learner gets to know what is ice skating and learns the basics of skating on ice. The learner starts at a slow pace in order to grasp how to skate on ice by using applying the physics of ice skating. Improvements are made as the learner learns the skill. The second stage involves to setting of goals, in this case, a distance the learner would like to ice skate successfully. The overall distance that is 50 meters can be divided into intervals of 10 meters to make the goal look achievable. In the third stage, the learner is required to put more concentration on the skill and try out different techniques. There should be evidence of a gradual change and ease of transition shown by the learner (Hikosaka et al. 2002). d) Data The distance covered by the learner should be recorded and compared to the goals set. The learner should reach the target of skating 10 meters every time they practice. e) Results The results of the learning process showed promise since the learner was able to ice skate 9-15 meters every time they practiced thus reaching the goal of ice skating for 50 meters. Although the learner faced difficulty in reaching the stated goals, they showed great improvement in their performance. The results can be summarized as follows: Stages of learning Stage one Stage 2 Stage 3 Distance covered 8.5 meters 17 meters 25.5 meters Total: 50 meters f) Discussion From the results it can be noted that the acquiring of the skill was a success because the learner was able to ice skate a total of 50 meters by the end of the stages. Therefore, the use of motor learning has proven to be successful to help the learner to acquire ice skating skills. In conclusion, motor learning is an effective and efficient way to learn, acquire skills, measure performance and be successful at reaching set goals. 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Kinematics of human motion. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. About.com Inventors,. (2015). History of Ice Skates. Retrieved 20 May 2015, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bliceskates.htm Read More