TY - JOUR
T1 - Experts, but not novices, exhibit StartReact indicating experts use the reticulospinal system more than novices
AU - Bartels, Brandon M.
AU - Quezada, Maria Jose
AU - Ravichandran, Vengateswaran J.
AU - Honeycutt, Claire F.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Arizona State University Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative Arizona State, and University Grand Challenge Scholars Program.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Motor skill acquisition utilizes a wide array of neural structures; however, few articles evaluate how the relative contributions of these structures shift over the course of learning. Recent evidence from rodents and songbirds suggests there is a transfer from cortical to subcortical structures following intense, repetitive training. Evidence from humans indicate that the reticulospinal system is modulated over the course of skill acquisition and may be a subcortical facilitator of learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate how reticulospinal contributions are modulated by task expertise. Reticulospinal contributions were assessed using StartReact (SR). We hypothesized that expert typists would show SR during an individuated, keystroke task but SR would be absent in novices. Expert (75.2 ± 9.8 WPM) and novice typists (41.6 ± 8.2 WPM) were evaluated during an individuated, keystroke movements. In experts, SR was present but was absent in novices. Together, these results suggest that experts use reticulospinal contributions more for movement than novices indicating that the reticular formation becomes increasingly important for movement execution in highly trained, skilled tasks even those that require individuated movement of the fingers.
AB - Motor skill acquisition utilizes a wide array of neural structures; however, few articles evaluate how the relative contributions of these structures shift over the course of learning. Recent evidence from rodents and songbirds suggests there is a transfer from cortical to subcortical structures following intense, repetitive training. Evidence from humans indicate that the reticulospinal system is modulated over the course of skill acquisition and may be a subcortical facilitator of learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate how reticulospinal contributions are modulated by task expertise. Reticulospinal contributions were assessed using StartReact (SR). We hypothesized that expert typists would show SR during an individuated, keystroke task but SR would be absent in novices. Expert (75.2 ± 9.8 WPM) and novice typists (41.6 ± 8.2 WPM) were evaluated during an individuated, keystroke movements. In experts, SR was present but was absent in novices. Together, these results suggest that experts use reticulospinal contributions more for movement than novices indicating that the reticular formation becomes increasingly important for movement execution in highly trained, skilled tasks even those that require individuated movement of the fingers.
KW - Motor learning
KW - StartReact
KW - startle
KW - typing
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U2 - 10.1080/00222895.2020.1732860
DO - 10.1080/00222895.2020.1732860
M3 - Article
C2 - 32107985
AN - SCOPUS:85080117839
SN - 0022-2895
VL - 53
SP - 128
EP - 134
JO - Journal of motor behavior
JF - Journal of motor behavior
IS - 1
ER -