Joseph Classen, Pr.
University of Leipzig, Germany
title: The short end and the long end of storing a motor skill.
Video of the event (restricted to Paris descartes members).
Neuroscience Seminar Series:
Friday, April 13th, 2018, 11:30 am, Salle des conférences (3rd Floor), Centre Universitaire des Saints-Pères, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006 Paris
abstract:
Focusing on evidence using brain stimulation techniques, Joseph Classen
will review how motor skills are acquired and stored over time. Motor training, resulting
in immediate performance gains, and consolidation, the process of rendering motor skills
resistant against perturbation can be differently affected by age and differently
modulated by brain stimulation techniques. Motor synergies may constitute structures
allowing for the efficient generation of flexible movements. They may also be viewed as
devices for the storage of skills acquired over long periods (years) of training. Recent
evidence suggests that motor synergies are formed bottom up, by the practice of
movements, According to this idea, synapses whose activity constitutes the common
building instruction of a movement repertoire may survive a ? Darwinian? process allowing
transition to late-phase potentiation. As the functional architecture of motor skill
acquisition begins to unfold, the challenge will be to translate the knowledge into novel
therapeutic strategies for treatment of neurological patients.
Those interested in meeting with the speaker please contact