Open research questions in Motor Control and Adaptation

What the literature leaves open

• The extent to which task performance on a functional fine motor test depends on motor ability has not been established nor quantified. Existing performance-based assessments of cognition and daily functioning do not consider nor dissociate the extent of motor impairment. There is a need for a more efficient approach to assessing multiple domains in older adults.

  Average performance and performance variability on a brief functional fine motor test reflect distinct behavioral constructs in aging · 2026 · DOI

• The Thousand Brains Theory did not address several prominent long-range connection types in the neocortex. The theory did not explain how the cortex learns compositional objects. The theory did not explain how information is converted from an egocentric perspective to an allocentric perspective.

  The Thousand Brains Theory 2.0: An Extension for the Long-Range Connections of the Neocortical Heterarchy · 2026 · DOI

• Further research is needed to fully understand the relationship between mean trial time and trial time variability and motor function, - Studies should investigate the use of the functional fine motor test in older adults with cognitive impairment, - Research should examine the test-retest reliability of the functional fine motor test

  Average performance and performance variability on a brief functional fine motor test reflect distinct behavioral constructs in aging · 2026 · DOI

• The published drop does not reappear in our tests, although smaller gains or losses in success rate remain uncertain.

  The Latent That Never Was: A Forensic Re-run of the CVAE Ablation in Action Chunking Transformers · 2026

• Both can reverse which policy scores higher, but the published drop's cause remains unknown.

  The Latent That Never Was: A Forensic Re-run of the CVAE Ablation in Action Chunking Transformers · 2026

• Evidence for proactive deficits in Parkinsons disease (PD) is inconsistent, and the neurophysiological underpinnings remain poorly understood.

  Reactive Compensation for Proactive Deficits in Parkinsons Disease · 2026 · DOI

• While various compatibilities are known to influence performance, their interactions remain poorly understood.

  Compatibility Effects With Simple Lever Tools: A Replication and Extension Beyond Simple Button Responses · 2026 · DOI

• We argue that future research should focus on inter-individual variance and adopt real-time, multimodal measures to reveal mechanisms underlying high-order action planning.

  Beyond reach and grasp: the development of high-order planning for manual actions in typically developing children · 2026 · DOI

• However, the relative effectiveness of different strategies during early learning and dual-task conditions remains insufficiently clarified.

  2D Kinematic Profiles and Acute Motor Learning Strategies in Overhead Throwing Performance under Single- and Dual-Task Conditions · 2026 · DOI

• Late P180 changes may be related to performance change across different retention intervals, but whether they reflect time-dependent consolidation processes remains to be established.

  Associations between pre-to-post TMS-evoked potential changes and motor sequence learning across retention intervals · 2026 · DOI

• Motor sequence learning involves practice-related changes in behavior and neural activity, yet the neurophysiological markers associated with later retention remain unclear.

  Associations between pre-to-post TMS-evoked potential changes and motor sequence learning across retention intervals · 2026 · DOI

• How do ihfants come to coordinate and control their movements? De- velopmentalists studying motor behavior and skill acquisition have an- swered this question from two widely accepted viewpoints. First are the traditional neural-ma&~-ationist theories of the early workers such as Ge- sell, McGraw, Shirley, Bayley, Ames, and Halverson. The ontogeny of behavior was seen by these workers to be an intrinsic property of the organism, with maturation leading to an unfolding of predetermined pat- terns, supported, but not fundamentally altered by the environment. Im- plicit in this approach was that functional behavior emerged as the nervous system matured, and especially, that more complex behavior re- flected the agencies of increasingly higher centers of the brain. More con- temporary views of action development may be conveniently labeled cognitive theories because of their emphases on the formation of progres- termed “schemata” sively higher level plans for behavior, variously (Mounoud & Vinter, 1982), “pro- (Piaget, 1952), “representations” grammes” (Bruner, 1970), “skill sets” (Fischer, 1980) or “subroutines” (Connolly, 1970). Skills are thus hierarchically assembled, increasingly abstract symbols for behavior. While contemporary cognitive models allow for a much more specific and integrative function for the environment (cf. Fischer, 1980; Mounoud & Vinter, 1981), both neural-maturationists and cognitive approaches are essentially prescriptive theories. That is, they emphasize the develop- ment of the plans, instructions, and commands for movement that exist (Zim- the behavior. Such theories have been called structural before merman & Whitehurst, 1979) or C-models (for competence) (Kaye, 1979), because they are concerned with the formal properties of skill or knowledge. Performance or behavior is of less interest than the logical programs presumed to underly performance. The present approach is more in the tradition of functional theories (Zimmerman & Whitehurst, 1979) or P-models (for process) (Kaye, 1979) of development. That is, we do not assume that, in either movement or the behavior are the behavior. development, the plans or the programfor (cf. Pattee, 1977; Kelso & Tuller, in press), a

  Self-organizing systems and infant motor development · 1987 · DOI

• There is a lack of research on serial dependence in sensorimotor control. The study addresses this gap by investigating how serial effects influence interceptive actions, specifically goal-directed hand movements.

  Serial dependence in goal-directed interceptive hand movements · 2026 · DOI

• future research to confirm the findings, - recognizing motor control as thermodynamic entropy management could offer new perspectives on health, disease and the fundamental organization of biological systems

  Thermodynamic entropy management in human motor control across circadian and thermal challenges · 2026 · DOI

• DexHoldem is intentionally scoped to a controlled Texas Hold'em tabletop setup with a fixed ShadowHand-UR platform. The policy evaluation measures performance under a standardized real-world interface, but it does not establish cross-embodiment transfer, robustness to substantially different table geometries, or general dexterity over arbitrary objects. The dataset remains small relative to the data scale used by modern pretrained robot policies.

  DexHoldem: Playing Texas Hold'em with Dexterous Embodied System · 2026

• Reducing the cost of faithful evaluation of DexHoldem while preserving the benchmark's real-contact policy signal is an important direction for future work. Developing more advanced dexterous manipulation policies and agentic perception models is a potential future research direction.

  DexHoldem: Playing Texas Hold'em with Dexterous Embodied System · 2026

• Internal forward models predict the sensory consequences of motor commands; however, whether the anticipated availability of post-action feedback contributes to the precision of the action itself remains unknown.

  Anticipated Loss of Action Consequences Disrupts Motor Execution in Skilled Basketball Shooting · 2026 · DOI

• Further studies could investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the functional organization of subzones in the forelimb representations. The development of new treatments for motor disorders could be informed by the findings of this study. Future research could explore the applications of the results in brain-machine interfaces and prosthetic limbs.

  The Spatiotemporal Organization of Motor Cortex Activity Supporting Manual Dexterity · 2026 · DOI

• The neural basis of movement has remained a complex and significant subject of investigation in neuroscience. The localization of motor function in cortex is not fully understood. The study aims to address the gap in understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of M1 activity.

  The Spatiotemporal Organization of Motor Cortex Activity Supporting Manual Dexterity · 2026 · DOI

• Future studies can investigate the effectiveness of different training methods for improving hand-eye coordination and reaction ability in wicket keepers. Research can also explore the relationship between these abilities and other factors, such as age, experience, and playing level.

  Study of Hand-Eye Coordination and Reaction Ability of Wicket Keepers · 2026 · DOI

• The study uses a simplified musculoskeletal model, - The study does not account for individual variations in neuromuscular function, - The study is limited to simulated data

  Predictive simulations of elevating and lowering strategies in human stumble recovery · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of effective methods for studying stumble recovery, - Empirical methods are limited by injury risks and constraints on natural movement

  Predictive simulations of elevating and lowering strategies in human stumble recovery · 2026 · DOI

• The study faced challenges in terms of small sample size and limited age range. The study also faced challenges in terms of measuring cognitive, motor, and psycho-emotional functions in patients with Parkinson's disease.

  The Effect of Dynamic and Constant Fast-Precise Movement Learning on the Psycho-Emotional State, Motor and Cognitive Functions of Patients With Parkinson’s Disease · 2026 · DOI

• The effectiveness of dynamic learning in Parkinson's disease remains debated. There is a need to investigate the effects of dynamic and constant learning of fast and precise arm movements on cognitive, motor, and psycho-emotional functions in patients with Parkinson's disease.

  The Effect of Dynamic and Constant Fast-Precise Movement Learning on the Psycho-Emotional State, Motor and Cognitive Functions of Patients With Parkinson’s Disease · 2026 · DOI

• Future studies can investigate the use of real-time feedback in different motor learning tasks. Future studies can explore the use of different types of feedback, such as auditory or haptic feedback. Future studies can investigate the effectiveness of real-time feedback in different populations, such as older adults or individuals with motor impairments.

  Real-time feedback in video-based motor learning: A pilot study exploring innovative training methods · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Motor Control and Adaptation

• An Internal Model for Sensorimotor Integration · Science · 1995 · 2,831 citations
• Neuronal Population Coding of Movement Direction · Science · 1986 · 2,353 citations
• A schema theory of discrete motor skill learning. · Psychological Review · 1975 · 2,230 citations
• Postural orientation and equilibrium: what do we need to know about neural control of balance to prevent falls? · Age and Ageing · 2006 · 2,087 citations
• EXPERT AND EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE: Evidence of Maximal Adaptation to Task Constraints · Annual Review of Psychology · 1996 · 1,428 citations
• Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition. · American Psychologist · 1994 · 1,269 citations
• Motor-output variability: A theory for the accuracy of rapid motor acts. · Psychological Review · 1979 · 1,200 citations
• Optimality in human motor performance: Ideal control of rapid aimed movements. · Psychological Review · 1988 · 1,069 citations
• Knowledge of results and motor learning: A review and critical reappraisal. · Psychological Bulletin · 1984 · 1,068 citations
• Supplementary motor area structure and function: Review and hypotheses · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · 1985 · 939 citations

Most recent work

• Evidence of an optimal error rate for motor skill learning · bioRxiv · 2026
• Motor prediction reduces beta-band power and enhances cerebellar-somatosensory connectivity before self-touch to enable its attenuation · bioRxiv · 2026
• Action Progress Provides an Abstract Coordinate for Motor Memory · bioRxiv · 2026
• Stability of movement by a multi-element system: drifts and random walk within and orthogonal to the uncontrolled manifold during multi-finger force production · Experimental Brain Research · 2026
• Dissociating the behavioral and computational features of implicit motor learning and explicit perturbation detection · bioRxiv · 2026
• SMA beta bursts reveal distinct mechanisms of anticipatory motor control in children · bioRxiv · 2026
• New Neural Controller Generalises Modular Control Across Lower-Limb Tasks Using Internal Models · bioRxiv · 2026
• Temporally aligned sensory history restores Markov-blanket function in delayed sensorimotor systems · Biosystems · 2026
• Temporal predictions as motor readouts of sensory predictions · Current Biology · 2026
• Early skill learning is shaped by the offline emergence of expert synergies · Current Biology · 2026

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