Motor Behavior Chapter 6

What are the three main classification characteristics?

-Movement Precision

-Environment Stability

-Movement Continuity

Movement precision

-Fine versus gross

Environmental stability 

-Open versus closed 

Movement continuity 

-Discrete, serial, continuous

Gross motor skills

-Use large muscle groups and have little precision

-Whole body movements and multiple limb segments 

What is an example of gross motor skills?

-Walking, running, jumping

Fine motor skills

-Small muscles and generally precise

What is an example of fine motor skills?

-Writing, sewing, musical instruments

Closed Skills

-Preformed in an environment that is stable and predictable

What is an example of closed skills?

-Bowling

Open Skills 

-Preformed in a changing and unpredictable environment 

What is an example of open skills?

-Basketball

In a closed skill environment, the regulatory conditions

are?

-Relatively stable

In an open skill environment, the regulatory conditions

may be?

-Relatively stable or entirely unstable

Motor skills are commonly learned first in a?

-Closed environment

Functional training

- Taking skills and abilities developed in a closed environment and adapting them to an open environment

For closed skills, emphasis is placed on?

-Consistency and mastery of performance

For open skills, emphasis is often placed on?

-Adaptability and flexibility of techniques and decision-making that are necessary to accommodate changing situations

Discrete skills

-A clear beginning and endpoint, such as a finger snap or punch.

• Can also be gross or fine 

Serial skills

-A series of discrete movements done in order to produce a larger or compound motor skill

• Playing the piano or typing 

Continuous skills

-Repetitive skills such as swimming and running that have arbitrary beginning and endpoints.

Why is measuring motor skill performance important?

-Can determine the type of motor skill and its constituent

components

-Measure the quality of performance

Criterion measure

-The appropriate and valid performance measure

Validity

-The measurement is actually measuring what you want to know

Reliability

-The results can be repeatable

Response Outcome

-Measures evaluate the result of a particular skill.

• These measures reveal what happened, not how it

happened

• Example: speed, time, accuracy, and direction

Response Production

-Reveals how a response was produced

• Measures how, or even why, a movement was done

• Example: kinematic measurements of displacement,

  velocity, and acceleration, and kinetic measures of

  force and torque

• Provides targets for intervention

Measuring Information Processing

-Assess the cognitive aspects of movement

• Are often more complex and less user-friendly than

measures for the biomechanical or physiological

components

The most common measurement of cognitive performance or information processing is the?

-Reaction time 

Reaction time

-Measured as the time from a stimulus to the onset of a response

Simple RT

-Involves one stimulus paired with one response.

Complex RT

-Involves multiple stimuli and multiple responses.

Choice RT

-Paradigms have two or more stimuli, with each stimulus coupled to a specific response

Discrimination RT

-Paradigms have multiple stimuli, but only one stimulus is relevant and only one

response is coupled to that stimulus

Measuring Error

-Used to determine the accuracy of response outcomes as well as response production measures, both of which can include spatial (in space) or temporal (in time) errors

Constant error

-The average error over a given number of trials.

• Reflects both magnitude and direction of error

• Provides a bias or tendency in the performance

Absolute error

-The average over a given number of trials of the error absolute values.

• Provides a measure of error magnitude only

Variable error

- The standard deviation of the group of error scores.

• Evaluates the consistency of the responses and not

the amount of error per se

Abilities

-Different skill sets and proficiencies, which enable people to solve problems and overcome challenges in vastly different ways

Physical proficiency abilities

-Based largely on physiological and anatomical characteristics

• Often highly modifiable through training

• Includes muscle strength, muscle mass, flexibility,

  maximal oxygen uptake and metabolic properties

• Includes those that are static: muscle fiber type, height, lung size

Psychological abilities

-Difficult to measure and identify compared to other ability types

• Include motivation, desire, and enthusiasm, concentration, self-efficacy and

confidence, task-related information processing, and hardiness

Psychomotor abilities

-Physical proficiency abilities that require much cognitive processing.

• Includes hand–eye coordination and manual dexterity capabilities, reaction time, and decision making for motor actions.

Talent identification

The practice of predicting future performance or the potential for performance, based on current abilities