How does expertise develop in motor skills? Through research conducted on a challenging task--balancing a stick on the fingertip--some of the secrets of motor expertise have been discovered. One of these secrets makes use of random movements of the fingertip: random hand movements are able to correct a the wobble of a balanced stick far faster than reaction time would allow. A second secret is to decrease the role of conscious effort in making corrective movements, analogous to the waiter's trick of not looking at a bowl of soup while carrying it on a tray.
With support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Milton brings together an international team of scientists to work with undergraduate students to advance our understanding of expertise development in stick balancing. The investigators focus on this task for three main reasons: 1) stick balancing is sufficiently difficult to allow identification of levels of expertise; 2) it is sufficiently constrained to permit careful comparisons between observation and prediction; and 3) expertise can be dramatically increased with just a few days of intensive practice. These properties of stick balancing make it possible to carefully examine a variety of relationships, for example, between skill-related changes in balancing limb kinematics and changes in stick movements. The research project is designed to both excite and motivate students, while at the same time teach them to work effectively in international teams. Because proper balance control is essential for the expert performance of many motor tasks, it is anticipated that studies of stick balancing will translate into the design of more effective teaching, coaching and neuro-rehabilitative strategies for motor control.
