This is the final project of the course "Understanding the brain: Neurobiology of everyday life." (Courcera) I'd like to consider involvement some of mental processes such as memory, attention, thinking, in the creation and improvement of motor skills. I apologize for my English. I am working to improve it.

1. Neurobiology: some tips
of mountain biking ride
UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN: THE
NEUROBIOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
Inna Ivanova

2. Introduction
For my final project I'd like to consider the relationship of
physiology and sports psychology. Consider the involvement
of mental processes such as memory, attention, thinking, in
the creation and improvement of motor skills for example,
mountain biking.
When learning sport skills in childhood, shift gradually from
simple to complex for many years of practice, many
important moments absorbed intuitively. When you are going
to learn a new type of motor activity during adulthood, you
need to consciously organize your mental processes to
achieve success.
In this essay, I examine in terms of neurobiology are some tips
from the book «Mastering Mountain Bike Skills» by Brian
Lopes and Lee McCormack. I use this book to improve my
skills of mountain biking. This book was written for adults
who want to learn mountain biking . (I’m have only Russian
edition this book, so I’m sorry, I can not give the exact
quotes)

3. Parts of the nervous system that are
active in my examples.
 Afferent pathways
 Perception (vision)

4. Afferent pathways
In the nervous system, afferent neurons (otherwise known
as sensory, receptor neurons, and afferent axons),
carry nerve impulses from receptors or sense
organs toward the central nervous system.
This term can also be used to
describe relative connections
between structures. Afferent
neurons communicate with
specialized interneurons. The
opposite activity of direction or
flow is efferent.

5. Afferent pathways
First, that you can note from the book,
mountain biking require much attention
to afferent pathways - both from
external organs of perception, and the
inside of the body.

6. Authors mentioned, that a basic skill for safety
riding is to direct most of your weight on the
pedals. This requires information from the
muscles and joints – are you standing on the
pedals, or have you push on the wheel too
hard.
As conditions on your way
are constantly changing,
you need to follow them
all the time. As a result,
training and
reinforcement, it should
be a skill.

7. It’s involves and emotional state – when you feel
anxiety, get angry or frustrate, it can hurts your
coordination, and conversely, anxiety may mean that
your performance is poor, and you are not ready to
tasks.
The authors tell: "Never ride, then you feel fear, anxiety
or constraint. Then easier and more relaxed you feel,
the easier your body, mind and bike can handle any
situation. If a strong tension man is apt to lose his
mind, forget about their skills and cease to control the
bike. "

8. One of the ways to reduce stress, which the authors
suggest, is to smile. And it's really useful advice.
When you smile deliberately, the brain's motor
system stimulates the associated feeling of joy and it
helps decrease stress. So, if you feel tension, you
can try relax with smiling, for instant, and if it do not
improve your coordination, come back to more simple
tasks.
Picture from http://www.humanillnesses.com/

9. Perception (vision)
Visual perception is the ability to interpret
the surrounding environment by
processing information that is contained
in visible light. The resulting perception is
also known as eyesight, sight,
or vision (adjectival form: visual, optical,
or ocular).
The various physiological components
involved in vision are referred to
collectively as the visual system, and
are the focus of much research
inpsychology, cognitive
science, neuroscience, and molecular
biology.
Picture from http://www.display-central.com//

10. Learning how to see
Learning how to see
significant in such
activities. Thus
bicycle speed
higher than the
speed of a
pedestrian, it is
important to learn
to look as far as
possible. Picture from http://www.twincities.com/

11. Gaze into the distance reduces the sensation of speed
and the rider feels more relaxed and confident. Also,
when you used to notice obstacles, you have more
time to prepare to overcome it. Greater importance
becomes peripheral vision. As you concentrate on a
far point in front, near objects are in the field of
peripheral vision, and it is more profitable than to look
directly under the wheels, and wonder each new
obstacle. This allows the experience and skills to
work not only intentionally, but intuitively. You can not
consciously make decisions, and just instantly see
the correct trajectory.

12. Managing your attention can have a
significant impact on the bike riding. For
example, do not need to stare at the
terrible stones, because it will lead to a
clash with them. Brain perceives them
as a target. Look ahead, and then the
goal will to avoid crashing into the
rocks, and pass them.

13. In childhood we have to learn how to
hook up, the signals that we're getting
from the retina, into meaningful
perceptions. And when we ride a
mountain bike we have to learn
recognize the most important stimulus
for the riding.

14. «Experienced riders know what to
look for - lumps, cliffs and trees.
Beginners often
distracted not the
most important thing
- the type of gravel,
narrow gauge, or
small forest
animals.»

15. The course helped me to better analyze
the events and phenomena around me
through expressive examples, clear
demonstrations and contagious
enthusiasm Professor Mason.

16. Bibliography
 «Mastering Mountain Bike Skills» by
Brian Lopes and Lee McCormack
 wikipedia.org