Kines 360: Theories and History of Motor Development (Exam 1)

What disciplines do the theories of motor development have roots in?

• Experimental psychology

• Developmental psychology

• Embryology

• Biology

Describe the maturational perspective

• Focuses on genetics and heredity

• Motor development is driven by the maturation of systems (nature)

  • Internal/innate process driven by a biological time clock

  • Specifically, the CNS

• The environment has minimal influence

• Qualitative (STAGES of development)

Describe the long lasting beliefs from maturation theory

• Basic motor skills emerge automatically

• There is no need for special training

• Mild deprivation does not arrest development

• The nervous system is the most important

Descriptive methodology

A characteristic of the maturational perspective, using both normative and biomechanical ideas.

Normative descriptive methodology

Use of quantitative scores (from standardized tests and norms) to describe children’s average performance. Focuses on the product rather than the process.

Biomechanical descriptive methodology

Use of biomechanical descriptions of movement patterns in fundamental skills

Describe the information processing perspective:

• Describes the behavioral and environmental factors of development

• Motor development is driven by external processes

  • Anthropometry and body mass

    • Weight, movement

    • Physical development and coordination

  • Musculoskeletal system factors

    • Biomechanical characteristics, proportionality, skeletal alignment, muscle alignment

  • Cultural differences

    • Regions, cultural practices

• The brain acts like a computer! Feedback loop!

What is perceptual motor development?

• A subfield within the information-processing perspective

• Describes the process of integrating sensory info (perception) with body movement (motor skills) to interact effectively with the environment

• Earlier work studied learning disabilities with a delay in perceptual motor development

Describe the ecological perspective.

• Life span process; development is driven by the interrelationship of individual, environment, and task

• The neural system is one of MULTIPLE SYSTEMS responsible for action

• Two branches: dynamical systems, and perception-action

Dynamical systems

Branch of the ecological perspective that claims:

• The self organization of physical and chemical systems constrains behavior

• Some systems are rate limiters, and may develop more slowly than others

• Development is qualitative and discontinuous change

• Change occurs across the lifespan

Perception-action

Branch of the ecological perspective that claims:

• Action is not only a response to perception, but it also generates it

• Characteristics define objects’ meaning

Affordance

Human function, where, when a person looks at an object, they directly perceive the function the object will allow (ex. a horizontal surface affords a human to sit, a vertical surface does not)

Body scaling

The process of changing the dimensions of the environment, or object, in relation to the structural constraints of a performer (ex. an individual perceiving if they will be able to walk up the stairs two at a time)