Monkey See, Monkey Imagine, Monkey Do: Mechanisms of Motor Learning

Can we get better at physical skills by simply imagining practicing, or even just by watching someone else practice? According to the research, it turns out that we can! Actual physical movement and an imagined simulation of that movement activate the brain in quite similar ways, and both also exhibit neural crossover with the ways the brain is activated while simply observing someone else move.

This talk will highlight the current knowledge base of motor learning mechanisms and the details of how these different types of practice equivalently and/or divergently drive motor performance improvement. Correspondingly, we will dive into the results and implications of AnnaMae's own research, evaluating the relative impacts of these three practice methods in the learning of a novel dart-throwing skill, placed in the context of intermanual transfer (whereby unimanual training to one side of the body can result in measurable concurrent improvement on the contralateral side). 

Come join us to find out what’s happening in the movement centres of your brain when you’re not even moving, and about the different ways you can learn and hone a skill.

AnnaMae Pond (she/her) is an MSc student in the School of Kinesiology at UBC, primarily conducting research in the area of motor learning and performance. She holds a BA in psychology with a neuroscience concentration from Roosevelt University in Chicago, where her interest in the science of human movement and motor laterality began. Ani’s passions for motor behaviour research span from sport performance contexts to rehabilitation applications, particularly hemiparesis. Outside of academia, Ani loves music and all manner of creative expression, earnest human connection, and marveling at the endless wonders of life.