Motor Task Mechanisms: Classification, Control, and Performance Feedback

Motor Task Analysis and Neuromuscular Mechanisms

Shared Requirements of Motor Tasks

Motor tasks require a highly coordinated neuromuscular effort, adjusting movement to a specific technical model performance. Therefore, all tasks share a high standard of enforcement mechanism.

Four Key Mechanisms of Motor Performance

1. Decision-Memory: The individual selects the motor response based on related past experiences.
2. Neuromuscular Control: The subject performs an automatic check on their muscles.
3. Understanding Implementation (Kinesthetic Feedback): Motion generates impulses originating in sensory organs of a kinesthetic nature. These are perceived by the individual, providing an internal representation of the results.
4. Knowledge of Results (External Feedback): The movement has an external result that the individual perceives through the peripheral senses.

The Execution Feedback Loop

The flow of information during execution follows this sequence:

Environment → Knowledge of Result → Perceptual Mechanism → Decision Mechanism → Movement → Effector → Result of Execution → Knowledge of Execution.

Mechanism Implementation Requirements

All motor tasks lead to the mechanism of implementation. However, not all motor tasks have a significant component of the mechanism of perception (regarding environmental information) or the decision mechanism (regarding the possibility of choice). Motor tasks should always be analyzed in terms of their learning requirements.

Classification of Motor Tasks

Tasks are classified based on the source of regulation and environmental stability:

• Tasks of External Regulation: These are predominantly perceptual and open tasks (e.g., team sports).
• Tasks of Self-Regulation: These are predominantly closed tasks (e.g., gymnastics).
• Tasks of Mixed Regulation: These tasks incorporate, to a greater or lesser extent, characteristics of both external and self-regulation (e.g., cross-country skiing, chess).

Learning Requirements and Adaptation

Developing Selective Focus and Anticipation

Through learning, the individual must be able to identify the characteristics of the environment. This requires developing a selective focus and the ability to anticipate the action itself. Anticipation originates in the interception of the right perceptual stimuli in the environment, which influences the resulting action.

Factors Determining Task Variability

We differentiate tasks based on several factors related to decision-making and environmental uncertainty:

• Number of Decisions: Tasks can involve a small number of decisions (if movements are known in advance, e.g., shot put) or a large number of decisions (e.g., football game).
• Number of Alternatives/Purpose: We differentiate between single-purpose tasks and tasks with multiple purposes.
• Level of Uncertainty: Variability comes from the environment in which the action takes place. Decision factors differentiate between variable or fixed environments.

Outcomes of Efficient Movement

Efficient movements are characterized by:

• Greater mechanical efficiency.
• Increased ability to adapt.
• A proper relationship between speed, accuracy, form, and resilience.