Kinesiology and Motor Control Lab
Research
Cognitive Processes and Motor Performance
In modern society, humans of all genders and ages engage deeply in physical and sport activities, the practices grounded in innate human need for movement and play. These activities provide a joyful source of entertainment, but also engender perceptual-cognitive-motor experiences that promote the development of new skills and behavioral changes. This line of research focuses on the study of cognitive motor processes and their potential adaptations induced by physical activity and sport. A deep scientific knowledge on this field might have implications not only for talent identification and development in sport but also for specific disciplines to be introduced as potential intervention for young and elderly populations with cognitive deficits.
Translation of motor skills acquisition to sport performance
Sport Science scholars strain to find ways to objectively assess motor performance and implement effective methodologies to train and improve motor performance. Within this line of research, our aim is to establish a methodological framework which implements the theoretical paradigms of motor skills learning with sports/physical training, towards a more efficient way to assess and enhance motor performances. Ultimately, we seek to devise novel concepts and strategies to educators, teachers, coaches, and field experts to effectively fulfill their work.
Individual differences in motor control
A major difficulty in the study of motor control is that of individual differences. Though it may seem obvious that two individuals are different, studying what renders them different, considering the sheer amount of potential sources, is by far much more complex. We use simple tasks and a fragmented approach for examining what kind of differences ensue at a basic level, thus allowing for categorization of possible execution mechanisms and learning strategies. Read more...
Timing and rhythmic movements control
In the world of excellence performance, the seeking of timing abilities can be explicit goal of practice schedules intended to achieve athletic or artistic perfection. We aim to understand the mechanisms that underlie the control of the rhythmic voluntary movement, and how environmental stimuli, produce functional adaptations in the systems enrolled to control and stabilize sensorimotor coordination. In particular, we investigate whether and how timing mechanisms for the production of rhythmic movements are manipulable by environmental stimuli. Read more...
