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motor learning

·July 18, 2024·4 min read

Brain Structure Differences Explain Faster Learning of Motor Skills

A new study reveals that quick learners of motor skills have distinct brain activity patterns. Using brain-monitoring electrodes, they found that visual processing plays a crucial role in learning new movements.

This shows a person with a metal ball in their hand.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·December 24, 2023·4 min read

Enhancing Motor Learning with Visual-Motor Illusions

Researchers found that visual aids creating illusions of movement, like screens showing a hand's motion, can enhance motor performance and early-stage motor learning. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy revealed distinct brain activity changes in motor learning regions compared to traditional third-person motion observation.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 28, 2023·7 min read

Short-Term Memories Key to Rapid Motor-Skill Learning, Not Long-Term Memory

A new study challenges conventional thinking on the role of short and long-term memories in relearning motor skills. Researchers found that fleeting short-term memories, rather than long-term ones, are responsible for rapid motor learning, indicating the existence of mechanisms for regulating the learning rates for memories that are distinct from the memories themselves.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·February 13, 2023·4 min read

Changes in the Brain Responsible for Motor Skill Learning

As rat models became proficient at learning new motor skills, they developed synchronous low-frequency oscillatory activity in two brain areas that were recorded that emerged across the cerebellum and motor cortex networks with skill consolidation.

This shows a drawing of a person playing piano

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·July 20, 2022·5 min read

Brain Stimulation Improves Motor Skill Learning at Older Age

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation applied to the motor cortex can help improve age-related impairments in learning new motor skills.

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·May 23, 2022·1 min read

Physical Consequences Improve Motor Learning

Physical consequences such as accidental slipping help improve and prolong motor learning, a new study reports.

This shows a drawing of a mouse on a wheel and a print out of brain waves

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·March 22, 2021·6 min read

Researchers Close in on Root of Slow Motor Learning in Autism

Motor learning deficits associated with autism may be the result of reduced levels of noradrenaline release in the primary motor cortex.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 4, 2020·4 min read

Exercise boosts motor skill learning via changes in brain’s transmitters

Neurons in the caudal pedunculopontine nucleus, an area of the brain that regulates motor coordination, switch neurotransmitters from acetylcholine to GABA as a result of exercise. The switch appears to provide feedback control that regulates motor coordination and skill learning.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 2, 2020·4 min read

Some learning is a whole-brain affair

Motor learning induces widespread cortical synaptic potentiation by increasing the trafficking of AMPAR into dendritic spines.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·July 5, 2017·3 min read

Writing in Rhythm

A new study focuses on how children learn to write. Quantifying pen movements revealed a process of learning distinct temporal patterns of movement that differentiate a set of features for each symbol.