Week 1:  Movement, Person-Task-Environment

In this week we learned about…

Person, Task, and Environment, tied all into each other, are what movement arises out of. Open Environments are reactive and Closed Environments are planned in advance. Predictability is key in determining what type of environment we are moving through.  Task type is categorized by points in time, whether began or stopped within or out of the learner’s control, Person factor involves soaking in and interpreting the environment around you, thinking of which action to execute, and using the body’s muscles to navigate through space and time. Perception of environment is what tells us to begin to formulate a decision about what to do, cognition is the thought process of deciding which action or behavior to put the body through, and Motor Action is actually putting the muscles through the physical movement or behavior chosen.

Week 1 Slide Show
Week 1 Reflection 

Week 2: Sensory Perception

Summary in your own words…

Homunculus (parts of brains controlling what parts of body): Primary Motor Map Cortex in the Precentral Gyrus. Primary Somato-Sensory Map Cortex in the Postcentral Gyrus. We learned that afferent messages are sent by the sensory system from the extremities toward the spinal cord and the brain. We also learned that efferent messages are motor messages sent out from the brain and from the spinal cord that go from the core of the body and tell the body what to do motor movement-wise. Interoceptive (pain, hunger, horny, thirsty, tired, internal organs) feedback is how you feel on the inside of your body, and Exteroceptive (vision, touch, hearing, smelling, tasting) feedback is how you can sense if your personal bubble is about to be popped or not. Perception is how interpretation of your messages received by the sensory systems is giving meaning, definition, or thought. Consciousness in sensory perception is giving priority to one stimulus over another. “AVVP-T” (“AVP Tournament”) is a way to remember your senses: Auditory (noises help choice of action), Visual (peripheral and central vision in ventral pathway is what, and in dorsal pathway is where), Vestibular (head orientation via semi-circular canals in the inner ear for balance), Proprioception,  (feeling movement in muscle and joint in Golgi Tendon Tension Organs and in Muscle Spindles) and Tactile (skin pressure or temp change sensed by free nerve endings). Perception is giving meaning or purpose to your feelings and sensory stimuli.

Week 2- Sensory Feedback
Week 2 Reflection

Week 3: Information Processing

Summary in your own words

We learned about three stages of information processing reaction time model, and “environmental-stimulus-response-compatibility” for response influence. We also learned about influences on reaction time: STATCF: Stimulus Type Attention Task Complexity and Familiarity. Additionally we found out about information processing via “ID and then select your programming”.  A Hick with too many choices takes way too long deciding what programming to choose, “flipping through channels” on TV in the middle of Hick town. We hold the power and the moment to make a choice on what programming to choose.

Felt the following information about what parts of brain process what, is important:

INFORMATION PROCESSING IN THE BRAIN•

PERCEPTION•Visual (V1)•Somatosensory (S1, S2)•Parietal lobe – attention

COGNITION•Insula•Cingulate cortex•Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (dlPFC)

ACTION•Supplementary Motor Area (SMA)•Premotor Cortex (PMC)•Primary Motor Cortex (M1)•Basal ganglia•Cerebellum

Week 3

Week 4: Cognition & Motor Action

Summary in your own words….

We learned about loop feedback mechanisms. “Open loop” is feed-forward, perceive-apply meaning, cognitive decision toward an action to take, and culminating with physically doing the action. “Closed loop” has to do with muscles, environment, and the reference of expected results, at the “response programming selection” phase of the information processing model. If there is a difference between interoceptive and exteroceptive feedback, throwing off the reference of expected results, then a correction will need to be made to whatever action was started in the first place. Feedback from stimuli taken in by the senses, decides whether we need to make a correction to what the body needs to do or not. Directions of how our attention is grabbed also is a factor. Top-down processing is our brain telling our body to search something specific out. Bottom-up processing is when something outside of our body (exteroceptive feedback) gets our body’s attention, and sends messages from the extremities inward toward the core, CNS, brain, and spinal column, which in turn bounces translations back outward to the periphery (giving our body actions to do in response). During week four we also learned that being mindfully aware of pain being sensed is usually most important, and our body acts on feelings of pain first in an response of automatic self-preservation  (fast reflex movement, hot stove, etc).

Week 4