Twenty days of complex motor skill training in adult rats was previously demonstrated to rehabilitate motor performance deficits induced by binge alcohol exposure in neonatal rats. This follow-up study evaluated morphological plasticity in the paramedian lobule of the cerebellum (PML) using the same treatment and training regimens. On postnatal days (PD) 4-9, female Long-Evans rats were given e...

Simulation-based training is a promising instructional approach for training military and civilian medical first responders such as EMTs. There is a need for first responder training in cognitively-based skills such as situation assessment and decision making. We are developing a training program for first responders that uses mannequin-based simulation technology effectively to fill this train...

This study evaluates the contributions of age, growth, skeletal maturation, playing position and training to longitudinal changes in functional and skill performance in male youth soccer. Players were annually followed over 5 years (n = 83, 4.4 measurements per player). Composite scores for functional and skill domains were calculated to provide an overall estimate of performance. Players were ...

Current educational interventions and training courses in microsurgery are often predicated on theories of skill acquisition and development that follow a 'practice makes perfect' model. Given the changing landscape of surgical training and advances in educational theories related to skill development, research is needed to assess current training tools in microsurgery education and devise alte...

We examined the effects of three different training conditions, all of which involve the motor system, on kindergarteners' mental transformation skill. We focused on three main questions. First, we asked whether training that involves making a motor movement that is relevant to the mental transformation-either concretely through action (action training) or more abstractly through gestural movem...

We introduce skill chaining, a skill discovery method for reinforcement learning agents in continuous domains. Skill chaining produces chains of skills leading to an end-of-task reward. We demonstrate experimentally that skill chaining is able to create appropriate skills in a challenging continuous domain and that doing so results in performance gains.

Current concerns over reforming engineering education have focused attention on helping students develop skills and an adaptive expertise. Phenomenological guidelines for instruction along these lines can be understood as arising out of an emerging theory of thinking and learning built on results in the neural, cognitive, and behavioral sciences. We outline this framework and consider some of i...

BACKGROUND When learning multiple tasks, blocked or random training schedules may be used. We assessed the effects of blocked and random schedules on the acquisition and retention of laparoscopic skills. METHODS Thirty-six laparoscopic novices were randomized to practice laparoscopic tasks using blocked, random, or no additional training. Participants performed immediate post-tests, followed ...

This paper shows a distributed simulation framework for tactical training in networked virtual environment. The existing military training simulation systems are mostly full simulated systems operating on single platform. They are to train individual’s operation skill, but don’t support team level tactical training. In order to train team level combat and command skill in dynamic battlefield, t...

Rehabilitation of patients after the brain injury requires employing of all available mechanisms of neuroplasticity. To achieve it, the voluntary activation of brain systems that are involved in the signal processing, represents the most effective tool. The control of balance is a complex neuronal mechanism based on unconditioned and conditioned reflexes, as well as on the actual cognitive proc...