Motor Control and Learning
EXSS2025
This unit of study provides students with a broad overview of motor control and learning with the aim of stimulating students to think about the mechanisms of normal human movement. Both a behavioural and a neurophysiological approach are taken to the acquisition and execution of skilled motor actions. The behavioural approach is directed at the structures and processes underlying movement without considering their physical basis, while the neurophysiological approach is directed at the neuromuscular machinery and the functional neural connections that govern movement. The unit consists of 3 modules. The first module examines the information processing and energetic capacities of the learner that underpin motor performance; that is, characteristics of the perceptual-motor system such as memory, attention, reaction time, speed-accuracy trade-off, force control, economy of energy, coordination, automaticity, lateralisation, arousal and stress, and expertise. The second module examines features of the learning environment that can be manipulated to promote motor learning such as goals, motivation, instruction, practice conditions and feedback. The third module examines applications to teaching motor skills, coaching and rehabilitation and includes a group project in which a motor skill is trained, thereby enabling students to apply the principles of motor control and learning that they have learned.
Unit of study details
Unit of study level: Intermediate
Credit points: 6
Commencing semesters: 1, 2
Further unit of study information
Unit of study handbook: EXSS2025
Costs and scholarships information: Costs and Scholarships
Final dates to withdraw from units of study: Census Dates
Available for study abroad and exchange: Yes