Developmental contributions to human motor skill learning
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1
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Canada
Motor skills are ubiquitous in everyday life. While certain skills, such as walking, are largely innate, most, such as writing and playing the piano, are acquired through practice. In the past decade, numerous studies have investigated the behavioural and neural underpinnings of motor skill learning in adults; however, very little is known about how children acquire new motor skills. Recent evidence from paediatric structural neuroimaging research shows on-going changes in brain systems important for motor learning. Thus, maturational changes in the brain coincide with and likely underlie changes in motor abilities across development. This talk will consider two types of developmental contributions to skill learning. First, I will discuss recent work examining developmental changes in the ability to learn motor skills in school-age children. Overall, results showed a developmental progression in motor sequence learning within and across days of practice. Second, I will review a series of experiments examining the effect of early musical training (before age seven) on motor learning and performance later in life. The results of these experiments show that early-trained musicians show better sensorimotor synchronization than late-trained musicians matched for years of experience. Taken together, these studies suggest that there may be a sensitive period for motor learning in childhood, similar to that for language learning.
Conference:
Tuning the Brain for Music, Helsinki, Finland, 5 Feb - 6 Feb, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Key Note Talks
Citation:
Penhune
V
(2009). Developmental contributions to human motor skill learning.
Conference Abstract:
Tuning the Brain for Music.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.02.001
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Received:
23 Jan 2009;
Published Online:
23 Jan 2009.
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Correspondence:
Virginia Penhune, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Québec, Canada, University.penhunelab@gmail.com