baseworks glossary old

Baseworks Glossary

Activation The intentional command sent by the brain to continuously send electrical impulses to specific muscles, such as when we “activate a muscle” or use “active stretching.”

Adaptation Either the process or result of becoming better suited to changes in environmental conditions, depending on context.

Adaptive Learning In motor learning contexts, the acquisition of new relationships between well-learned movements or new spatial goals. (Note: The term may also describe customized learning content in other educational contexts.)

Awareness The state of noticing or the ability to notice a particular sensory event, whether external or internal.

Body Awareness The state or ability to notice particular sensory signals from within your body, subdivided into interoceptive, proprioceptive, and spatial awarenesses.

Cerebellum A brain region containing roughly 50% of all brain neurons, crucial for precision, coordination, and correct timing of movements.

Coordination Motor coordination—the combination of several body movements resulting in an intended action.

Distributed Activation A Baseworks Movement Principle meaning the whole body is kept in a state of low-intensity activation while performing increasingly complex movements.

Endorphins Chemicals produced in the body mainly in response to pain and stress, creating pain-reduction and euphoria effects. Released during aerobic and strenuous exercise.

Fight-or-Flight Response The physiological response to an attack or perceived threat, associated with sympathetic nervous system activation and quick energy mobilization.

HPA Axis Hypothalamus, Pituitary, and Adrenal glands—the main players in the stress response. Not to be confused with the sympathetic nervous system.

Interoceptive Awareness The awareness of internal body state signals, providing information about cardiorespiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems, including pain.

Micro Movements A Baseworks Key Principles term referring to subtle, almost invisible movements of any body part, including spinal undulations.

Motor Skills/Control Motor skill is a learned ability to cause an intended movement outcome; motor control is the brain’s process of activating muscles to cause limb movement according to intention.

Movement Vocabulary The arsenal or library of movements readily performed, conceptually “stored” in the Motor Cortex.

Neuroplasticity The brain’s ability to change, rewire, and grow new connections between brain cells.

Parasympathetic Nervous System One of two branches of the autonomic nervous system, associated with “rest and digest” states.

Primary Motor Cortex / M1 The brain area containing a “motor map” of the body and the main contributor to generating neural impulses controlling movement execution.

Proprioceptive Awareness The awareness of proprioceptive sensory signals providing the sense of body position and movement.

Skill Acquisition The process of acquiring a new skill.

Spatial Awareness The state or ability to feel how different body parts are arranged in space and the body’s position in relation to other objects.

Sympathetic Nervous System One of two branches of the autonomic nervous system, associated with fight-or-flight reaction and energy expenditure.