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Cited by 675

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 13 of the 13 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability

Open access
Wu, Howard G, Miyamoto, Yohsuke R, Castro, Luis Nicolas Gonzalez, Ölveczky, Bence P, Smith, Maurice A·2014·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

Individual differences in motor learning ability are widely acknowledged, yet little is known about the factors that underlie them. Here we explore whether movement-to-movement variability in motor output, a ubiquitous if often unwanted characteristic of motor performance, predicts motor learning ability. Surprisingly, we found that higher levels of task-relevant motor variability predicted faster learning both across individuals and across tasks in two different paradigms, one relying on reward-based learning to shape specific arm movement trajectories and the other relying on error-based learning to adapt movements in novel physical environments. We proceeded to show that training can reshape the temporal structure of motor variability, aligning it with the trained task to improve learning. These results provide experimental support for the importance of action exploration, a key idea from reinforcement learning theory, showing that motor variability facilitates motor learning in humans and that our nervous systems actively regulate it to improve learning.

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Metadata

Authors
Wu, H. G., Miyamoto, Y. R., Castro, L. N. G., Ölveczky, B. P., & Smith, M. A.
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2014-01-12
Volume
17
Issue
2
Pages
312-321
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W2021742495
Cited by
675
References
13
FWCI
26.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/nn.3616
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Wu, H. G., Miyamoto, Y. R., Castro, L. N. G., Ölveczky, B. P., & Smith, M. A. (2014). Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability. Nature Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3616

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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