Motor Learning Research from Two Different Approaches

Abstract

There are two theoretical approaches to motor learning: the information processing approach and the dynamical systems approach. In the former, an individual is regarded as a computer that processes information from the environment and produces motor output under the proposition that motor output variability reflects noise in the neural system. Thus, motor learning is a process of reducing such noise by refining the motor program, which leads to the stabilization of the movement trajectory. On the other hand, the dynamical systems approach considers human coordinated movement as self-organized phenomena arising from the interplay of various movement system components. The existence of an intrinsically ordered coordination pattern before motor learning takes place suggests that motor learning is the passage from one organized state to another organized state, rather than from disorder to order. The practice methods derived from these theories and suggestions for future research are discussed.