Authors:

Mary Gach

Date Created:

Not specified

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About Paper:

Motor automaticity is a motor behavior that can happen without having to think about the movement being generated. Motor behavior can be executed through repetitive actions to a point where less movement variance will be seen and movement will gradually get generated faster. There are properties of movement, like variability and speed, that can allow us to determine if an individual's behavior is more automatic or executively controlled. It's possible that motor automaticity and reduced motor variation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) results from the inhibitory influence of GABA in the thalamus. We hypothesize thalamic GABA reduces variability and produces automaticity, based on evidence the thalamus regulates habit formation and motor variability. To assess this relationship, we are comparing individual differences in the performance of a behavioral typing task with GABA levels in the thalamus measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). We predict individuals with more thalamic GABA content will exhibit lower motor variation and greater automaticity in behavioral typing task performance. These data will be useful insight into the later stages of life, rather the early developmental skills that are more primarily focused on. By looking at data in older individuals, we are able to understand more about how to improve our motor skills as we age and typing is a good example to look at because it's often a skill we learn later in life than other motor skills.

Source:

University of Oregon / 2023

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Co-authors:

Mary Gach