Chapter 2 Methodologies in Motor Development Power Point

Maturational Perspective = Nature

Motor development driven by maturation of CNS

Advancement of CNS triggers new skills

Minimal, temporary influence of environment

Normative Period (Product) Pre 1970

Use of quantitative scores to describe children’s average performance. Concerned with norms, standardized test, and outcomes.

Biomechanical Period (Process) Post 1970

Use of biomechanical descriptions of movement patterns in fundamental skills. Concerned with the process, or underlying mechanisms of change, and not simply the outcome.

Information Processing Perspective = Nurture

Brain acts like a computer

Passive human responds to environmental stimuli

Young adults studied first as basis of comparison for children and older adults

Dominant in experimental psychology, developmental psychology, and motor learning

Skinner’s Behaviorism

Actions are shaped solely on reward and punishment

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Humans are active information processors and think about the relationship between their behavior and its consequences

Suggests that people learn new behaviors by observing and imitating others

Ecological Perspective = Nature + Nurture

Development driven by interrelationships of individual, environment, and task

`Contribution of constraints not necessarily equal

Two Branches (Dynamical systems) (Perception (action))

Affordance

Is the function an environmental object provides to an individual

Perception-Action

Theory is based on the work of Gibson (60’s and 70’s)

Perception is the act of attaching meaning to something

Essential and intricately linked to movement

We must perceive the size of objects and determine how to adjust our grip to manipulate them

We also perceive through our senses (vision, hearing, kinesthesis)

Dynamical Systems

Theory was advocated in early 1980s by Kugler, Kelso, and Turvey

Body systems spontaneously self-organize

Body systems, performer’s environment, and task demands interact

Rate Limiter

Individual constraint or system that holds back/slows emergence of motor skill

Constraints Model, Newell

Movement is constrained by boundaries that limit movement possibilities. These boundaries are termed constraints. People choose movement patterns based on the interaction of themselves, the task, and the environmental constraints.

Structural Constraints

Includes physical characteristics such as gender, height, weight, and body makeup

Functional Constraints

Includes psychological and cognitive variables such as motivation, arousal, and intellect

Environmental Constraints

Constraints that are external to the mover such as weather, temperature, lighting, floor surface

Task Constraints

Includes the goals of the movement, rules and equipment