ReviewAnnual review of neuroscience2017
The Role of Variability in Motor Learning.
Review in Annual review of neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 241 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
241 citing papers in PubMed, 521 citations in OpenAlex.
- Immediate effects of upper cervical spinal manipulation on cervical sensorimotor control in individuals with chronic primary cervical pain: an exploratory randomized controlled trial.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2026Trial
- Haptic interaction with a human partner for ankle training in chronic stroke: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Trial
- Online stimulation of the prefrontal cortex during practice increases motor variability and modulates later cognitive transfer: a randomized, double-blinded and sham-controlled tDCS study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Non-invasive stimulation of the human striatum disrupts reinforcement learning of motor skills.Nature human behaviour · 2024Trial
- Moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise performed before motor practice attenuates offline implicit motor learning in stroke survivors but not age-matched neurotypical adults.Experimental brain research · 2023Trial
- Comparing the Effects of Differential Learning, Self-Controlled Feedback, and External Focus of Attention Training on Biomechanical Risk Factors of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in Athletes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with robotic training in incomplete spinal cord injury: a randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial.Spinal cord series and cases · 2021Trial
- Exploiting telerobotics for sensorimotor rehabilitation: a locomotor embodiment.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2021Trial
- Assistive algorithms influence neural representations in motor brain-computer interfaces.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Psychedelics do not always enhance cognitive flexibility: The potential role of time-varying effects on reward learning processes.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Mistakes matter, age doesn't: task outcome modulates implicit motor adaptation similarly in young and older adults.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Learning dynamically regulates stimulus discrimination of ventral striatal D1 receptor expressing neurons.Science advances · 2026Article
- The Tower Foraging Park: A paradigm for studying cognitive and motor processes underlying behavioral flexibility in freely moving mice.iScience · 2026Article
- Exploration-based feedback for BCI training: a case study with an adolescent with paraplegia.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Cell-Type-Selective Cortical Pathology and Functional Deficits in Synucleinopathy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Motor automaticity in natural keyboard typing.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Similar Sensorimotor Activations with and without Virtual Limbs During Action Execution and Observation in Neurorehabilitation Systems.Brain topography · 2026Article
- Observability constrains expertise-dependent kinematic readout in action prediction.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2026Article
- Reliability of force production based on the sense of effort at different force levels.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- Signal-Dependent Planning Noise Reduces Task Interference by Assisting in the Formation of Stable Motor Primitives in a Neural Network Model of Muscle Coordination Learning.Neural computation · 2026Article
181 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Trial-to-trial variability in the execution of movements and motor skills is ubiquitous and widely considered to be the unwanted consequence of a noisy nervous system. However, recent studies have suggested that motor variability may also be a feature of how sensorimotor systems operate and learn. This view, rooted in reinforcement learning theory, equates motor variability with purposeful exploration of motor space that, when coupled with reinforcement, can drive motor learning. Here we review studies that explore the relationship between motor variability and motor learning in both humans and animal models. We discuss neural circuit mechanisms that underlie the generation and regulation of motor variability and consider the implications that this work has for our understanding of motor learning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.