KIN 312 Exam #1

KIN 312 Exam #1

What are the 3 characteristics of a motor skill?

Motor skills…

• Have an action goal

• Are performed voluntarily

• Require body/limb movements to achieve the action goal

Are all motor skills the same?

No

How can we differential motor skills?

By classifying motor skills.

Are movements and actions the same thing?

No

Action

A goal directed activity that includes body and/or limb movements.

What are examples of an actions?

Walking, throwing, prehension, sit-to-stand.

Movements

What body/limbs do when an action is performed.

True or False: movements can vary across performances or among people for the same action.

True

What are movements measured by?

Kinematics and kinetics

Why do we make distinctions between actions and movements?

• People initially learn actions

• People Adapt movements to achieve action goals

• Difference in means of measurements.

Why do we classify motor skills?

• To see the similarities and differences among skills

• To better understand skills working within various professions

• To have a basis for general conclusions about how humans perform and learn skills.

What are the two systems of motor skill classification?

The 1-D Classification System and 2-D Classification System

What are the 3 variables looked at in 1-D systems?

Size, Specificity, and Stability

1-D System: Size of Primary Muscles Required

Large Muscles vs. Small Muscles

1-D: Large Muscles

Gross Motor Skills

1-D: Small Muscles

Fine Motor Skills

Is running a gross or fine motor skill?

Gross Motor Skill

Is riding a bike a gross or fine motor skill?

Gross Motor Skill

1-D: Specificity of Movement Start and End Locations

Specified vs. Arbitrary

1-D: Specified

Discrete Motor Skill

1-D: Arbitrary

Continuous Motor Skill

Is jumping a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Discrete Motor Skill

Is throwing a ball a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Discrete Motor Skill

Is striking a key on the keyboard a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Discrete Motor Skill

Is checking a box with a pencil a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Discrete Motor Skill

Is walking a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Continuous Motor Skill

Is running a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Continuous Motor Skill

Is swimming a discrete or continuous motor skill?

Continuous Motor Skill

What type of motor skill is a mix of discrete and continuous motor skills?

Serial Motor Skills

Is the long jump a discrete or continuous motor skill?

It is a serial motor skill. It has elements of both.

True or False: For 1-D: Stability of the Environmental Context/Object, the environment that is moving must directly affect your movement.

True

1-D: Stability of The Environmental Context or Object

Stable/No Motion vs. In Motion

1-D: Stable/No Motion

Closed Motor Skill

1-D: In Motion

Open Motor Skill

Is writing on an exam and open or closed motor skill

Closed Motor Skill

Is driving on the freeway an open or closed motor skill?

Open Motor Skill

Is hitting a baseball an open or closed motor skill?

Open Motor Skill

Is making a free throw in basketball a open or closed motor skill?

Closed Motor Skill

What are the two main characteristics that are used in gentiles taxonomy?

Environment Characteristics and Action Function Characteristics

What are the 2 environment characteristics of Gentile’s taxonomy?

1. Regulatory Conditions - environment stable or in motion?

2. Regulatory Conditions - does it vary from trial to trial?

What are the 2 action function characteristics of Gentile’s taxonomy?

1. Body Transport - is the body maintaining position or in transport?

2. Object Manipulation - is an object being manipulated?

Complexity increases by the task or action involving:

1. Open Environment

2. Trial to trial variability

3. Object to Manipulate

4. Body Transport

What are 3 characteristics of Gentile’s Taxonomy?

1. Each category puts different demands on the performer

2. Taxonomy organizes motor skills on the basis of skill complexity.

3. Complexity increases by the task or action involved.

What is intertrial variability in Gentile’s Taxonomy?

A situation change from one trial to the next of the same action.

What are the 3 practical uses of Gentile’s Taxonomy?

1. Evaluates deficiencies in motor performance.

2. Serves as a systematic basis for the selection of progressions of functionally appropriate activities to overcome deficiencies.

3. Charts people’s progress. Can be used to develop profile of competency.

Easy & Difficult

Motor skill dynamics change but actions and movements do not change.

Simplicity/Complexity

Ask “how many movements?” Changes actions and movements.

Body Transport (Gentile’s Taxonomy)

Action goal involves moving the body from one location to another.

Body Stability (Gentile’s Taxonomy)

Action goal does not involve moving the body from one location to another.

True or False: Gentile’s Taxonomy identifies if body transport is present regardless if it is passive or active.

True

Motor Control

The study of postures and movements and the mechanisms that underlie them.

What are the two important questions to answer when defining motor control?

1. What is being controlled?

2. How is it being controlled?

Why do we need to know about theories of motor control?

Theories guide how we perform, rehabilitate, and teach.

Helps teach new motor skills, design treatment strategies in clinical settings, and train athletes/teach coaches.

What are the two types of motor control?

Open-loop and close-loop control.

Open-loop control

• No sensory feedback required during the action.

• Movements are short in duration.

• Cannot adjust movement from sensory info after the movement has started.

• Motor program contains all the information needed to carry out the action the movement.

Is hitting a baseball with a bat an example of a open-loop or closed-loop type of motor control?

Open-loop

Closed-Loop Control

• Movements are slow in duration.

• Typically require precision and different events.

• Continually registering and evaluating accuracy of movement.

Reflex Theory

Events in the environment trigger a chain of events that are responsible for movement (response).

What are the 2 approaches of Reflex Theory?

1. Neurophysiological

2. Behavioral

Behavioral approach of Reflex Theory

Linking of individual movements into a chain of behavior created movement actions.

Neurophysiological approach of Reflex Theory

Chaining is due to reflex circuits; motor system creates movement from sensory input from skin, muscles, and joints (passive individual).

Theories falling under Hierarchical Theory:

Schema Theory

Theories falling under Ecological Theory:

• Dynamic Pattern Theory

• Perception-Action Theory

Hierarchical Theories

Movement planning and execution are controlled by the highest centers of the central nervous system.

Who proposed Schema Theory?

Schmidt

Schema Theory

• Describes how we create postures and execute actions.

• Continues to be a very influential theory today.

• The key mechanism for motor control.

• Explains idea of the “General Motor Program” (GMP)

Talks about how motor control is learned through experiencing many different tasks throughout life. Either by practicing said task or dealing with it on a consistent basis.

According to Schema Theory, what is a General Motor Program (GMP)?

An abstract memory representation of a class of actions that have common invariant characteristics. It is a planned movement that is thought about before being performed.

Serves as the basis for generating movement commands prior to and during the performance of an action and the different events.

General Motor Program

Invariant characteristics of a General Motor Program?

1. Relative Timing Structure.

2. Relative Force Structure.

3. Sequence of events of the action.

What happens if any of the invariant characters of a GMP become variant?

Then you have more than 1 GMP.

What are parameters in Schema Theory?

What can change from one performance to another when the same GMP is involved.

What are the four parameters of a GMP?

1. Overall time of the action.

2. Overall force used to produce the action.

3. Muscles involved in performing the action.

4. Size of the action.

What did the Shaprio et al. study find?

It found that walking and running had a different relative timing structure, and concluded that they are two different GMPs. Walking at different speeds however was just one GMP since the overall time of the action just changed and not the relative timing structure.

Dynamical systems

A complex system that produ8ces changes in behavior patterns during a period of time - often in a nonlinear manner.

Dynamic Pattern Theory

A theory concerned with identifying the physical laws that govern the changes in behavior patterns produced by a complex system. Focuses on how we learn and change our movement based on our environment or state. Ex: Reducing your speed on a task because it is uncomfortable/unfamiliar.

Dynamics

Changes in behavior during a period of time.

Dynamical Pattern Theory is characterized by 2 concepts:

Stability and Attractor States

Stability

A preferred state that exhibits invariance; a stable system will return to it’s state of stability after it is disrupted or perturbed. Instability can occur between phase transitions.

Attractor state

A stable and steady state of the motor control system that leads to behavior according to preferred coordination states.

A coordinated movement pattern is a ________ rather than a state specified by memory representation.

preferred state

What are the characteristics of an attractor state?

1. Identified by order parameters (relative phase).

2. Order parameters are influenced by control parameters (e.g. speed).

3. Minimum trial to trial variability.

4. Stability.

5. Energy efficient.

True or False: In Dynamical Pattern Theory, changes from one state to another is non-linear.

True

Perception-Action Theory

Describes how actions are performed depends on our perceptions of the environment. Ex: The height of an object in our pathway. Stairs or wall influence action.

What are the 2 methods that determine which motor control theory is correct?

1. Sheridian’s “Characteristic of Human Movement” - Removes Reflex Theory

2. Degrees of Freedom

What is Sheridian’s “Characteristic of Human Movement?”

An method of assessing the correctness of theories of motor control.

• Flexibility - Recruiting different muscles & joints to achieve the same action.

• Uniqueness - no two movements are ever performed the same way.

• Consistency - temporal and spatial characteristics remain stable from 1 performance to another.

• Modifiability - modify movement while being executed.

Which motor control theory is correct? What was the conclusion?

Nobody can agree whether the ecological or dynamical theories are correct. The correct answer is likely a combination of both ecological and hierarchical.

Flexibility

Recruiting different muscles & joints to achieve the same action.

Uniqueness

No two movements are ever performed the same way.

Consistency

Temporal and spatial characteristics remain stable from 1 performance to another.

Modifiability

Modify movement while being executed.

Degrees of Freedom

Independent components of a complex system.

Degree of Freedom Problem

How does the NS control the many different limbs and joints to enable a person to perform an action as intended.

How does Ecological Theory answer the degrees of freedom problem?

• Individuals constrain muscles and joints in a manner that is appropriate for the intended action

• Muscle response structures/coordinative synergies are learned or genetic

How does GMP answer the degrees of freedom problem?

• GMP Explanation: GMP indicates….

  • which muscle will be activated.

  • the duration.

  • the amount of force.

  • sequencing.

Ability

A general trait or capacity of the individual that is relatively enduring characteristic which serves as a determinant of a person’s potential for the performance of specific skills.

Motor Ability

An ability that is specifically related to the performance of a motor skill.

General Motor Ability Hypothesis

Many different motor abilities that exist in an individual are highly related and can be characterized in terms of a singular, global motor ability.

Little Support for this Hypothesis. Concept of “athleticism.”

General Motor Abilities Vs. Specific Motor Abilities

Are motor abilities highly related to one another or are they independent?

Specific Motor Abilities Hypothesis

Many motor abilities an individual possesses are relatively independent.

Supported by Franklin Henry (1961).

A forefather of Kinesiology and supporter of the Specific Motor Ability hypothesis.

Franklin Henry (1961)