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ddl's picture

Differences in Motor Function

The discussion about the differences in motor skills for certain functions between different groups of people (old vs. young, male vs. female, practiced vs. unpracticed) raises several questions for me.  We’ve already discussed how our behavior is most likely linked to the structure and signaling between the various neurons within our nervous systems.  If this is the case, in terms of explaining these perceived behavioral differences, are there specific identifiable trends within the structure of two people’s nervous systems who perform a given activity in the same way as one another?  Do things such as age specific structural tendencies within the nervous system exist which cause certain groups of individuals to generally excel more so than others at different activities?  Presumably, such structural patterns should underlie/account for varying observable degrees of efficiency with regards to the execution of motor function activity.  Also, on a related note, do those individuals who are more practiced with certain activities develop more efficient neuronal pathways for that activity in similar ways which separate them from those who are less trained to perform such tasks?   Or is it the case that the patterns of interconnectivity and amount of their neurons within these individual nervous systems exhibit no distinguishable similarities?

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