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Efficiently Recording the Eye-Hand Coordination to Incoordination Spectrum

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Published on: March 21, 2019

The effects of practice on coordination.

Yen-Hsun Wu¹, Mark L Latash

¹Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews

|November 6, 2013

Summary

Practice improves task performance by reducing motor variability related to accuracy. However, variability not affecting performance can change unpredictably, sometimes increasing with challenging practice, highlighting nuanced motor learning effects.

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Area of Science:

Motor control
Motor learning
Computational neuroscience

Background:

The uncontrolled manifold (UM) hypothesis provides a framework for understanding motor variability.
UM hypothesis distinguishes between variability that affects task performance and variability that does not.
Practice is known to induce changes in motor control and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

To review practice-induced changes in variance components within the UM framework.
To investigate how practice affects motor variability impacting task performance versus non-impacting variability.
To explore conditions under which non-impacting variability may change during motor learning.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on motor learning and the UM hypothesis.
Analysis of variance components derived from the UM hypothesis.
Examination of how practice influences these specific variance components.

Main Results:

Practice consistently reduces the variance component that affects task performance, correlating with improved accuracy.
The variance component not affecting task performance shows variable responses to practice: it can decrease, remain stable, or increase.
Increased non-performance-impacting variance is observed with practice that specifically challenges performance stability.

Conclusions:

Motor learning involves a selective reduction in performance-relevant motor variability.
The adaptability of non-performance-impacting variability suggests distinct neural mechanisms underlying motor learning.
Challenging practice conditions can lead to increased motor redundancy, potentially supporting more robust motor skills.