Motor Learning Model

A common misconception within motor learning is that teachers simply need to find the best learners in order to succeed. Often, society blames the condition of a team on the learners when it is not always their fault. Teachers may be on a search for an ‘all-around athlete’ to minimize the faults and eliminate a team’s shortcomings because it was once to have been said that an ‘all-around athlete’ is able to do anything that you may ask of them. Perfection in the sports and exercise science world has become a well-known myth. Furthermore, a perfect form, environment, and athlete cease to exist in both the sports community and world as a whole. Although some stigmas remain, key-figures in the exercise science and motor learning area are working …show more content…
Newell’s model addresses the primary constraints acting upon an individual at all times. These constraints involve the individual’s structural and functional restrictions, environmental restrictions, and task restrictions. There are far too many constraints acting upon an individual at every moment, that may differ from time to time, thus making perfection impossible. It becomes impractical to believe that a human being exists that is capable of performing any task, at any time, for any amount of time. Following this further, through the concept of transfer of learning, it is evident that knowing more than one skill (particularly sports skills) is extraordinarily difficult due to the negative transfer of one skill to another. There are far too many variations from one sport to another, an athlete who knows all the technicalities and details of each sports task well enough to complete them themselves is nonexistent. If they did, they might confuse what they know from a previous sport and apply it to a new sport in a way that could negatively affect their …show more content…
Muscle memory is arguably one of the largest misconceptions within the area of motor learning and exercise science. It is a common belief of the public that an individual’s muscles have the capability of remembering and storing information that was once acted out. The most frequently used example of ‘muscle memory’ is the seeming impossibility of forgetting how to ride a bicycle. Once this physical activity/movement is learned it seems as though it cannot be forgotten, despite the number of years that pass without practicing the specific physical activity. However, thanks to the discovery of memory drums and the memory drum theory by Henry and Rogers, it is clear that memories are not stored in an individual’s muscles. All information that is learned, whether it is physical or intellectual information, it is stored in memory drums inside of an individual’s nervous system. Continually, it is known that muscles do not contain the neurons and neurotransmitters that are required to make and store memories. At first glance, this misconception may appear reasonable, but at a closer look, it becomes obvious that it is illogical. Moreover, it is an individual's brain remembering how to do specific physical movements and not the individual’s muscles. The reason people will be able to remember how to participate in activities, complete movements, and solve problems in the future is because of their long-term memory and the vast memory storage available in a healthy human