The role of motor function variability in learning

According to researchers from Harvard, errors caused by motor function variability play a critical role in learning. This study is led by Maurice Smith, the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Bence Ölveczky, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences. The researchers believe that the key feature of the nervous system is motor function variability which helps to better perform certain actions. The results are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. “In general, we think that most tasks are best performed with high precision” Smith said. “It`s clear that as you practice a task, and go from a novice to someone who is more accomplished, your variability goes down and your performance goes up”. The group of researchers examined birds and how they learn singing. They discovered that birds learning to sing a song have high variability. The variability was also analyzed in humans and it`s proven that those with high variability performed better.