The Neuroscience of Baseworks

Enhancing Movement through Perceptual Skills

Baseworks – A Perceptual Approach to Movement Education

Baseworks is a sensorimotor training system developed through a unique, decade-long iterative refinement process involving thousands of learners with a goal to reduce the ambiguity of movement instruction and help people, irrespective of their training background, develop movement skills in a safe and effective way.

While most movement education focuses on visible outcomes like strength, flexibility, and techniques, Baseworks targets the hidden sensory processes that underpin motor learning, offering a novel lens for both movement education and neuroscience research.

86% of interviewed practitioners mention improved “body awareness” as one of the most important outcomes of the training, followed by conventional fitness gains (strength, flexibility, etc) but in a more comfortable way than elsewhere, improvements in other movement systems, stress-regulation, and self-acceptance.
With potential applications in areas such as movement education, neurorehabilitation, and workplace wellness, it also acts as a unique naturalistic model for studying motor learning and perceptual processes.

Table of Contents

Why Perceptual Skills Matter

Perceptual skills (e.g., conscious awareness of muscular sensations or spatial positioning) are critical for motor learning but underexplored in conventional movement education (Proske & Gandevia, 2012), which often suffers from ambiguous goal-setting, leading to misinterpretation (motor equivalence problem; Bernstein, 1967). Moreover, instructor-learner communication relies on uneven understanding of movement (Rizolatti et al., 2009). As a result, learners with “low body awareness” (LBA) (a recognizable term in movement education settings) struggle to interpret and execute instructions, creating learning bottlenecks and are more susceptible to injuries.

Baseworks offers a practical solution to these problems, developed through a process of iterative refinement focused on “communicability” of movement instructions. Baseworks addresses these issues through precise, sensory-focused cues, an instructional algorithm that aligns with sensorimotor control architecture, and a focus on targeting perceptual skills, from interoceptive awareness–a concept that has steadily been gaining attention over the past decades (Price & Hooven, 2018)–to “muscular mechanosensation,” which is, while supported as a concept by existing research, falls into a blindspot between the “conscious” skin-based exteroception and “unconscious” muscle-based proprioception (Delhaye et al., 2018).

Neuroscientific Foundations

The Baseworks framework distinguishes between macro movements (moving a point from A to B) and micro movements (“moving” a point from A to A) and can be described as 6 principles, which can be applied to common movements, exercises, or bodily positions. The instructions follow a structured approach that guides real-time self-monitoring during movement. The principles are:

  • Distributed Activation (DA)
  • Micro Movements (MM)
  • Gridlines & Symmetry (GS)
  • Fixing-Separating-Isolating (FSA)
  • Natural Breathing (NB)
  • Intensity Modification (IM)

This is how we see Baseworks mechanisms in action:

  • Explicit positional (GS, FSA) and sensory (DA,MM,NB,IM) cues reduce ambiguity of movement (Wolpert et al., 2011).
  • The logic of movement progression (FSA) is designed to align with the body’s natural building blocks for motor learning (Mussa-Ivaldi & Bizzi, 2000), eventually leading to a shared understanding of movement goals (Rizolatti et al., 2009), enhancing imitation in other movement modalities.
    Spatial and joint-specific focus (GS,FSA) refines frontoparietal action maps (Cisek, 2007).
  • Precise instructions (FSA,GS) favor BG-based sequence learning over cortical habits (Ashby et al., 2010).
  • Increased sensorimotor discrimination (DA,MM) amplifies WHERE stream mismatch signals (Grossberg, 2017), reducing the need for external feedback (Fitts & Posner, 1967).
  • Self-monitoring (the instructional algorithm) and interoceptive cues (NB,IM) train self-monitoring skills and interoceptive awareness (Price et al., 2018), contributing to well-being.
  • Shared spatial reference frames (GS,FSA) enhance affordance perception, potentially contributing to aesthetic spatial experiences (Gallese & Di Dio, 2012).

To date, few studies have explored how conscious muscle sensations (muscular mechanosensation) contribute to motor learning or well-being, making Baseworks a unique model for investigation.

Applications & Outcomes

At its core, Baseworks is designed to meet anyone at their current level of physical fitness, emotional state, and understanding of movement. Therefore, it can be used by virtually anyone, from individuals with reduced mobility to movement professionals and elite athletes.

The following outcomes of Baseworks training are what most Baseworks practitioner report as the most salient (based on the analysis of interviews and various forms of feedback:

  • Developing “body awareness” (86%)
    Improved performance in other physical modalities
  • Conventional fitness gains (strength, flexibility, balance, posture) but in a more safe and comfortable way than elsewhere
  • Better recovery, working with injuries, and prolonging athletic career
  • The experience of learning, realizing things, being more mindful
  • Stress regulation, self-regulation skills, self-acceptance, self-esteem
  • Enhanced aesthetic perception
    Improvements in conditions such as anorexia and autism

With its unique training approach, Baseworks could be potentially used in a variety of settings, from movement education to neurorehabilitation and workplace wellness.

Collaborate with Baseworks

We have collaborated and shared our ideas and know-hows with educators, clinicians, motion capture specialists, musicians, artists, and other multidisciplinary specialists. We are always open to new collaborations that could contribute to society, local communities, and fundamental research.

We are particularly interested in collaborating with

  • researchers, clinicians, and organizations for studies using neuroimaging (fMRI/EEG)
  • motion capture specialists
  • representatives of any organization that might be interested in adapting Baseworks for their unique environment and needs

Our web-based app allows for scalable and flexible remote training, data tracking, enabling rigorous study designs (e.g., double-blind protocols).

If you would like to work with us or have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

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