Influence of Local Fatigue on Speed and Accuracy in Motor Learning

Author(s):  
Richard B. Alderman
Sports ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håvard Stranda ◽  
Monika Haga ◽  
Hermundur Sigmundsson ◽  
Håvard Lorås

Acute exercise has an influence on human cognition, and both theoretical approaches and previous investigations suggest that the learning process can be facilitated. A distinction has been made however, between the predominately positive effects on task speed compared to both the negative and null effects on aspects of task accuracy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise conducted before each practice trial (3 × week) for a period of four weeks, on speed and accuracy components in a novel keyboard typing task. To this end, young adults (n = 26) where randomized to a non-exercise resting group (control) or an exercise group (ergometer cycling at 65% of age-predicted maximal heart rate). Immediately after exercise or resting, participants practiced keyboard typing through specialized online software for a total of 2 h across the study period. All participants improved their speed and accuracy in the keyboard typing task. At 7-day retention, no differences were found between groups. Thus, the degree of improvement on both speed and accuracy task components was not significantly different between the exercise and control group. Further studies are warranted to establish the specific relationship between aerobic exercise and task components in motor learning and retention.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1477-1492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Whitfield ◽  
Alexander M. Goberman

Purpose The aim of the current investigation was to examine speech motor sequence learning in neurologically healthy younger adults, neurologically healthy older adults, and individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) over a 2-day period. Method A sequential nonword repetition task was used to examine learning over 2 days. Participants practiced a sequence of 6 monosyllabic nonwords that was retested following nighttime sleep. The speed and accuracy of the nonword sequence were measured, and learning was inferred by examining performance within and between sessions. Results Though all groups exhibited comparable improvements of the nonword sequence performance during the initial session, between-session retention of the nonword sequence differed between groups. Younger adult controls exhibited offline gains, characterized by an increase in the speed and accuracy of nonword sequence performance across sessions, whereas older adults exhibited stable between-session performance. Individuals with PD exhibited offline losses, marked by an increase in sequence duration between sessions. Conclusions The current results demonstrate that both PD and normal aging affect retention of speech motor learning. Furthermore, these data suggest that basal ganglia dysfunction associated with PD may affect the later stages of speech motor learning. Findings from the current investigation are discussed in relation to studies examining consolidation of nonspeech motor learning.


2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca A. Finelli ◽  
Terrence J. Sejnowski

Learning procedural skills involves improvement in speed and accuracy. Walker proposes two stages of memory consolidation: enhancement, which requires sleep, and stabilization, which does not require sleep. Speed improvement for a motor learning task but not accuracy occurs after sleep-dependent enhancement. We discuss this finding in the context of computational models and underlying sleep mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 406
Author(s):  
Anthony W. Meek ◽  
Joselyn Perez ◽  
Brach Poston ◽  
Zachary A. Riley

Cortical representations expand during skilled motor learning. We studied a unique model of motor learning with cellular phone texting, where the thumbs are used exclusively to interact with the device and the prominence of use can be seen where 3200 text messages are exchanged a month in the 18–24 age demographic. The purpose of the present study was to examine the motor cortex representation and input–output (IO) recruitment curves of the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle of the thumb and the ADM muscle with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), relative to individuals’ texting abilities and short-term texting practice. Eighteen individuals performed a functional texting task (FTT) where we scored their texting speed and accuracy. TMS was then used to examine the cortical volumes and areas of activity in the two muscles and IO curves were constructed to measure excitability. Subjects also performed a 10-min practice texting task, after which we repeated the cortical measures. There were no associations between the cortical measures and the FTT scores before practice. However, after practice the APB cortical map expanded and excitability increased, whereas the ADM map constricted. The increase in the active cortical areas in APB correlated with the improvement in the FTT score. Based on the homogenous group of subjects that were already good at texting, we conclude that the cortical representations and excitability for the thumb muscle were already enlarged and more receptive to changes with short-term practice, as noted by the increase in FTT performance after 10-min of practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-727
Author(s):  
Beula M. Magimairaj ◽  
Naveen K. Nagaraj ◽  
Alexander V. Sergeev ◽  
Natalie J. Benafield

Objectives School-age children with and without parent-reported listening difficulties (LiD) were compared on auditory processing, language, memory, and attention abilities. The objective was to extend what is known so far in the literature about children with LiD by using multiple measures and selective novel measures across the above areas. Design Twenty-six children who were reported by their parents as having LiD and 26 age-matched typically developing children completed clinical tests of auditory processing and multiple measures of language, attention, and memory. All children had normal-range pure-tone hearing thresholds bilaterally. Group differences were examined. Results In addition to significantly poorer speech-perception-in-noise scores, children with LiD had reduced speed and accuracy of word retrieval from long-term memory, poorer short-term memory, sentence recall, and inferencing ability. Statistically significant group differences were of moderate effect size; however, standard test scores of children with LiD were not clinically poor. No statistically significant group differences were observed in attention, working memory capacity, vocabulary, and nonverbal IQ. Conclusions Mild signal-to-noise ratio loss, as reflected by the group mean of children with LiD, supported the children's functional listening problems. In addition, children's relative weakness in select areas of language performance, short-term memory, and long-term memory lexical retrieval speed and accuracy added to previous research on evidence-based areas that need to be evaluated in children with LiD who almost always have heterogenous profiles. Importantly, the functional difficulties faced by children with LiD in relation to their test results indicated, to some extent, that commonly used assessments may not be adequately capturing the children's listening challenges. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12808607


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