Adaptation Paths to Novel Motor Tasks Are Shaped by Prior Structure Learning: Findings support hypothesis that related motor skills are acquired faster by learning the dynamic and kinematic relationships

Dmitry Kobak and Carsten Mehring from the Bernstein Center Freiburg and Imperial College London report in the Journal of Neuroscience how this reduction of the dimensionality of the learning problem also leads to a bias in subsequent movements that reflects the movement structure that has already been learned. The findings show that this bias does not only affect voluntary movements but also quick, involuntary reflexes; demonstrating that the brain implements abstract learning principles also in low-level motor control.

Dmitry Kobak has produced a short film describing the method and some of the results. The full article can be read at the website of the Journal of Neuroscience.
 

Original article (subscription required):

Dmitry Kobak and Carsten Mehring (2012) Adaptation Paths to Novel Motor Tasks Are Shaped by Prior Structure Learning. J. Neurosci. 32(29): 9898-9908; doi: 10.1523/​JNEUROSCI.0958-12.2012