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MOTOR‐UNIT TRAINING AND INFLUENCE OF MANUAL SKILL
Author(s) -
Scully Hugh E.,
Basmajian John V.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1969.tb02864.x
Subject(s) - psychology , motor skill , motor unit , physical medicine and rehabilitation , dreyfus model of skill acquisition , control (management) , motor learning , motor control , training (meteorology) , developmental psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , neuroscience , medicine , economics , economic growth , physics , meteorology
Employing the recently devised technique of training conscious control over individual motor units of skeletal muscles, the influence of prior manual skills was tested in 29 young adults. Twenty‐five subjects succeeded with a median training‐time of 20 minutes. The manually skilled took longer to train single motor units than the less skilled (at the .05 level of significance). The initial period of time to isolate a single motor unit is shorter than to train it to react on command. The technique offers a novel and useful method of testing the acquisition of a fundamental motor skill and factors which influence it. Further exploration is justified because trained motor units are now being harnessed to drive myoelectrical man–machine cybernetic devices.