Advanced University Course in Advances in the Control of Human Movement
DURATION
4 Months
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
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EARLIEST START DATE
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TUITION FEES
EUR 299 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* price for non-resident non-community students is just approximate since then each academic rate is different.
Introduction
The Advanced University Course in Advances in the Control of Human Movement emerges against the backdrop of diverse disciplines delving into the study of human movement. Historically progressing in isolation, these disciplines have impeded a holistic comprehension of the intricacies of human movement control.
Notably, fields such as neurophysiology, neurology, and neuroscience have contributed significantly to unraveling the intricacies of the nervous system's operation and its pivotal function in human movement, concentrating largely on its regulatory mechanisms. Concurrently, psychology, characterized by its behavioral vantage point, has illuminated movement control from a pragmatic stance, affording insights at a more practical level.
It is not, however, until the appearance of a new scientific discipline, called Motor Control, where all the aforementioned sciences interact with each other to explore the regulation of movement in organisms that have a nervous system, giving rise to a "corpus" of unique knowledge and particular. Therefore, through Motor Control, basic and applied research in the area of movement control in biological systems is addressed and promoted (International Society of Motor Control).
This course addresses the advances in the control of human movement from the perspective of Motor Control. Although there will be a short introduction to each of the topics to guarantee the minimum knowledge necessary, we will mainly address the latest research and the principles to which it may give rise.
One of the main characteristics of the course is the critical approach to new scientific findings, promoting rigorous and critical thinking among students, essential in these times where the excess of unfiltered information is constant. This critical approach to the content taught is possible thanks to the more than 25 years of research experience in the field of Motor Control of the professor responsible for the course, who has developed numerous studies and projects on all the topics covered in this course.
Goals
Learn about recent advances in the scientific area of Motor Control and its contribution to the control of human movement.
Admissions
Curriculum
The control of human movement (Evolution of the field of study). Duration 6 hours
- Past, present, and Future We will address the scientific origins and the contribution of different scientific disciplines that have originated the discipline known as motor control, its current situation, and its possible future evolution.
- What is and what is not motor control? After defining what motor control is, we will learn about the main challenges motor control faces for an optimal understanding of human movement control.
- New measurement techniques/instruments We will learn about those neurophysiological techniques that allow us to explore the nervous system and provide us with very useful information on movement control by it. We will see and understand the operation of various techniques such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, tDCS or transcranial direct current stimulation, and surface and high-density electromyography among others.
Advances from psychology and computational models in movement control. Duration 10 hours
- Application of the Information Processing Model to movement control We will learn about the different perceptive, cognitive, and execution phases of voluntary movement and its implications.
- Reflex movements, automatic and non-automatic voluntary We will know the characteristics of these movements and the ability we have to influence and modify each one of them from our practice.
- Contributions of computational models of motor control We will learn about the great contribution of these models and their potential practical applications. We will address concepts such as prediction, efferent copying, sensory attenuation, internal models, and "motor primitives".
- Movement variability We will address the multiple dimensions of movement variability, from learning to motor performance.
- The focus of attention in learning and motor performance We will discuss whether we can really talk in terms of internal focus or external focus.
Advances in the neurophysiological control of human movement. Duration 14 hours
- The nervous system in the production of force We will understand the behavior of motor neurons and its variability depending not only on the force to be exerted but also on the context where that force must be exerted.
- Contribution of the neuromuscular spindles to movement control We will understand the applications of the stretch reflex to sports training such as plyometrics. We will understand how to measure the reflex using the H wave or Hoffmann reflex. We will talk about the tonic vibration reflex and its possible applications through local vibration vs. whole-body vibration.
- Contribution of the Golgi tendon organs to movement control We will understand the autogenic inhibition reflex and the questionable evidence about it.
- Proprioception and proprioceptive training We will define what proprioception is and from there make a new proposal for proprioceptive training based solely on the muscular sense.
- Reciprocal inhibition and agonist/antagonist coactivation We will understand the mechanisms for the increase and decrease of muscle stiffness and its role in the control of degrees of freedom, as well as other relevant functions.
- The function of the descending tracts in movement control We will understand the contribution to the voluntary, automatic, and postural movement of the main descending tracts (corticospinal, vestibulospinal, reticulospinal, and propriospinal) paying special attention to the startle reflex for the evaluation of the reticulospinal tract.
- Role of subcortical structures We will understand the role of the direct and indirect pathways of the basal ganglia in movement. We will talk about the multiple functions that the cerebellum has in movement control, from motor adaptation, motor tracking, triple activation, and temporary processing. We will extract numerous intervention strategies.
- Advances in the cortical control of movement We will address, among other topics, the mirror neuron system, observation in performance, and motor learning or training in imagination.
Formation activities
- Online expository master classes (30 hours)
- Online practical work (practices consisting of data analysis that the student will submit for evaluation are presented and explained (see next section)). (5 hours)
- Group tutorials (10 hours). Mandatory attendance at 50% of them (5 hours)
- Discussion Forum.
Evaluation systems. Justification and organization
The evaluation system will consist of:
Online practical work consists of the analysis of data provided by the teacher. These practices are listed below:
- Practice Hicks' law and Fitts' law
- Practice temporal variability in repetitive movements of the upper limb
- Practice the temporal variability of the gait
- Practice on force variability
- Practice motor adaptation
Theoretical exam type test on the contents
- Each practice will have a PASS/NO PASS evaluation. To pass the course, the student must obtain a PASS in the 5 practices and obtain a score of 5 out of 10 in the theoretical exam.