Posted by: () on Tue Oct 7 19:17:53 2003

The concepts of open-loop and closed-loop motor control are simply theories. Each of them lies on either end of a continuum. Current research (2003) offers that motor learning / control lies somewhere in the middle, but this is very difficult to test for in experiments because it's difficult to identify the point at which a subject changes from not using feedback to not using feedback when the experiment isn't geared towards substantiating the claims made in open or closed loop theories. So who cares? Well the concepts behind Motor Program Theory have some problems. Firstly, it assumes that you have the capacity to store billions of motor programs. And secondly, it poorly addresses how those motor programs are created in the first place. Generalized Motor Program theory accounts for those problems and assumes that basic motor programs can be adapted depending on the circumstances. If this is the case, (remember that this is just another theory) then there's an assumption of some plasticity.

Right now I'm in the midst of conducting a research experiment on specificity of practice, but I was discussing the notion of completely unlearning a skill and attempting to reacquire it with one of my colleagues today and, time permitting, I'll do some research on the idea, and may end up running a full experiment in the near future.