title: The simplest motor skill: mechanisms and applications of reflex operant conditioning.
abstract: Operant conditioning protocols can change spinal reflexes gradually, which are the simplest behaviors. This article summarizes the evidence supporting two propositions: that these protocols provide excellent models for defining the substrates of learning and that they can induce and guide plasticity to help restore skills, such as locomotion, that have been impaired by spinal cord injury or other disorders.
authors: 1Helen Hayes Hospital, NYS Department of Health, West Haverstraw; 2Wadsworth Center, NYS Department of Health, Albany; 3Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Columbia University, New York; and 4Department of Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York, Albany, NY.
authors: Aiko K
authors: AK
authors: Thompson
authors: Jonathan R
authors: JR
authors: Wolpaw
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D006181:H-Reflex / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D012018:Reflex; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation