Past events: Katja Kornysheva. Beyond the motor engram: Neural control of skilled actions

What: Beyond the motor engram: Neural control of skilled actions

Where: BCBL Auditorium and Auditorium zoom room (If you would like to attend to this meeting reserve at info@bcbl.eu)

Who: Katja Kornysheva. PhD, FHEA; Associate Professor in Human Neuroscience; School of Psychology; University of Birmingham

When:  Wednesday,  Nov 20th, 12pm/noon

The acquisition of motor skills is often conceptualized as a transition from associative to motor reference frames, resulting in the formation of holistic movement representations. This view implies that skilled actions are retrieved as pre-programmed trajectories. However, I will propose a fundamentally different perspective. Even highly practiced, seemingly automatic movements, such as typing or handwriting, are not executed as pre-stored motor programs. Instead, they are dynamically assembled from smaller components, with regions traditionally associated with declarative memory playing a role in action planniang. This hierarchical control mechanism provides the flexibility necessary for adapting skilled actions to changing task demands, challenges the notion of a rigid motor repertoire and has implications for understanding and treating movement disorders.