Motor Control
PEP 510
Instructor: Dr. Clark Dickin
Office: PEB 108
Office Hours: M & W 9:30-10:30 am, or by appointment.
Class Time and Location: Monday & Wednesday 3:30 - 4:45 pm PEB 200
Text: There is no official text for this class, instead there will be a series of readings made available either through the class webpage, via email, through the library, or in class. When the articles are in an electronic format there will be password needed in order to open the file. The password for the documents will be given in class.
Course Description:
This course will follow a lecture format in addition to student presentations on selected topics and will be supplemented by demonstrations throughout the semester. The objectives for this course are as follows:
To gain an understanding of the anatomical organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems.
To explore the neural processes underlying the control of posture and limb movement.
To explore the functional roles of selected structures of the central and peripheral nervous systems involved in motor control.
To gain an understanding of the various theoretical perspectives regarding the control of voluntary movement.
Text Reading and Journal Reading: You will be responsible for the assigned readings for each week of the class. It is expected that each student will read the assigned readings prior to the next class meeting and participate in the lecture.
Attendance at Lectures: Students are strongly encouraged to attend lectures as you will be responsible for all the information, lecture content, assignments, and schedule changes presented during lectures. You will be expected to participate in discussion sessions. If you cannot attend a lecture make certain you get the information presented in class from a classmate.
Chapter/Article Presentation: Each student will be required to find two current journal articles (2004 present) based on one of the topic areas listed in the syllabus. This article will need to given to the instructor so that it can be placed on the web for all students to access at least one week prior to class. Additionally the article will need to be approved by the instructor prior to it being used in class. On the day that the topic will be discussed you will present to the class an overview of the research article. To help focus the presentation students will be required to meet with the instructor prior to the date of their presentation. The presentation will need to be about 20-30 minutes, to be followed by a discussion that will be lead by the presenter with the help of the instructor when necessary. In order to help facilitate class discussion, the presenter will be required to generate at least 3 questions based on the material presented. These should be questions that the presenter feels are important or areas that might be a little unclear. Presenters are also encouraged to be creative in their presentation and if possible generate an activity that will bring home the point in the readings that were assigned. Again, meet with the instructor to work out the details of the presentation and to clarify any areas of confusion you might have. (One of these articles can be an article that you might use for the next section)
Assignment/Research Presentation: Students will be required to critique 3 articles throughout the course of the semester. The articles will need to come from refereed journals and be in the area of motor control. Students are encouraged to find articles that are of interest to them and follow a related theme (e.g., locomotion, posture, movement mechanics of a particular movement, neurophysiological measures during motor actions ). From the articles reviewed each student will present a research presentation discussing the overall findings of the three studies and summarizing what the research has found.
Article Critique Instructions
Critiques are not to exceed four double-spaced, typed pages and should include the following:
1. Article Abstract/Summary (30% of critique grade)
This section of the critique should resemble that of an abstract for the article. Your abstract should be original and not a rewording of the abstract from the article. This should include an indication of the need for the study, the research question, procedures used, a summary of findings and conclusions. This section should be brief and should not exceed 400 words.
2. Article Critique (70% of critique grade)
This is your opportunity to be the reviewer for the manuscript. You will need to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the project. Issues that could be addressed include: Was the need for the study clearly identified and justified? Is the research of theoretical significance? Were all of the research questions answered and was the study setup to enable the authors to address their question (i.e., although the goal was to assess a given question the researchers may not have the facilities, number of subjects, number of trials needed to address the question appropriately)? Does the discussion provide a strong interpretation of the results and is their interpretation convincing? Based on what you know and have read are there other interpretations that could be made for these findings? Overall, does the study contribute new information to the area such that our knowledge of the topic is advanced by this study? What might be the next step future studies?
3. Cumulative Critique (Only for the final paper)
This assignment is asking you to combine the findings from the three articles critiqued throughout the semester. Your paper should bring together the three papers and discuss the common thread(s) that the papers focused on e.g., if they all measured gait using different methodologies you could discuss the purpose of the studies, what the findings mean, and what they do to advance our knowledge in the area of gait.
Article Presentation
From the three articles that you critiqued over the semester develop a 15-20 minute presentation that will be given to the class during the final class period: (You can somewhat approach this as if you were the researcher and conducted the three studies and you are presenting the findings of your recent works.)
a. develop a 10-20 minute presentation (with 3-5 minutes for questions) that will be given to the class during the last class period;
b. the presentation will consist of an introduction to the area of interest, and outline how or why this area is important to study;
c. next, you will need to present the basic questions being addressed by the articles. When outlining the questions also include "very briefly" how the questions were addressed (participants, instrumentation, basic procedures if appropriate). Do not spend an inordinate amount of time on this section as the other parts of the presentation are more important;
d. next present the findings of the studies, what the findings contribute to the area, and possible future directions of research;
e. you will need to hand in a copy of the papers you are presenting along with the completed cumulative critique.
Evaluation:
· Lecture/Presentation/Discussion questions 15%
· Assignment/Research Presentation 35%
Three critiques (5% each) 15%
Cumulative Critique 10%
Presentation 10%
· Mid-Term Exam 25%
· Final Exam (See time below) 25%
Final Grades: The following grading system will be used based on the total grades of the assignments listed above:
A 90 - 100% B 80 - 89% C 70 79% D 60 69% F <60%
Make-up Policy: Make-up exam/presentation will be given only with a university approved excuse. Professors must be informed BEFORE the scheduled dates. If discussions are missed due to a university approved absence, another comparable assignment will be given to make-up the grade.
Late Policy: Assignments will be marked off 10% (one letter grade) for each day that they are late. This includes ALL written assignments, and the final project.
Students with disabilities: Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations. Students should present appropriate verification from Disabled Student Services, Dean of Students Office. No requirement exists that accommodations be made prior to completion of this approved University process.
COURSE OUTLINE (Subject to Change)
Syllabus, Intro to Motor Control
Jan 26 & 28 Physiological Basics of Movement
Feb 2 & 4 Physiological Foundations - Systems Perspective
Critique #1 Due Feb 4th.
Feb 9 & 11 Motor units & Musculo-skeletal system: Organization and Properties:
Latash Ch4, Latash Ch6, Rodgers Ch5
Feb 18 & 23 Sensory system spindles, Golgi tendon organs, reflexes, central pattern generators
Feb 25-Mar 4 Theories of Motor Control
Critique #2 Due Feb 23th (Send electronically)
March 11 Mid-Term Exam
March 23 & 25 Experimental Approaches to the Study of Motor Control ^ ^
Critique #3 Due March 25th
Mar 30 & Apr 1 Sensory system Fine motor control and object manipulation ^ ^
April 6-13 Sense of Balance & Postural Control ^ ^ ^ Next week ^
Posture and Balance Testing In Lab
April 15 - 22 Higher Order Control: motor cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellar contributions to the control of voluntary movements among non-pathological and pathological population ^ (reread pp. 62-65 from earlier reading) ^ Mauricio #2
April 27 May 4 The Aging Motor System ^ Graham#2 Sara#2
May 6th Student Presentations
FINAL EXAM
Fri. May. 15
3:00 5:00 pm