Post on 28-Dec-2015
chapter
1
Fundamental Concepts
Characteristics of Motor Development
• Change in movement behavior• Continuous• Age-related• Sequential• Underlying process(es)
Related Areas of Study
• Motor learning: relatively permanent gains in motor skill capability associated with practice or experience
• Motor control: the neural, physical, and behavioral aspects of movement
(Schmidt & Lee, 1999)
Related Terms• Physical growth: quantitative increase in
size or body mass (Timiras, 1972)
• Physical maturation: qualitative advance in biological makeup– Cell, organ, or system advancement in biochemical
composition (Teeple, 1978)
• Aging: process occurring with the passage of time, leading to loss of adaptability or full function and eventually to death (Spirduso, 1995)
Constraints
• Limit or discourage certain movements at the same time that they permit or encourage other movements
• “Shape” movement
Newell’s Model of Constraints
Individual Constraints
• Exist within the body• Structural constraints: related to the body’s
structure– Height– Muscle mass
• Functional constraints: related to behavioral function– Attention– Motivation
Environmental Constraints
• Exist outside the body (properties of the world around us)
• Global, not task specific• Physical
– Gravity– Surfaces
• Sociocultural– Gender roles
Task Constraints
• External to the body
• Related specifically to tasks or skills– Goal of task– Rules guiding task performance – Equipment
Research Study Designs Typical in Development
• Longitudinal– An individual or a group is observed over
time.– They can require lengthy observation time.
• Cross-Sectional– Individuals or groups of different ages are
observed for short period of time.– Change is inferred, not actually observed.
• Sequential, or Mixed Longitudinal– Involves mini-longitudinal studies with
overlapping ages.
13 14 15 16 17 18
Measurement of interest
Research Study Designs Typical in Development
• Longitudinal– An individual or a group is observed over
time.– They can require lengthy observation time.
• Cross-Sectional– Individuals or groups of different ages are
observed.– Change is inferred, not actually observed.
• Sequential, or Mixed Longitudinal– Involves mini-longitudinal studies with
overlapping ages.
13 14 15 16 17 18
Measurement of interest
A Model of Sequential Research Design
A Paradox in Development
• Universality– Individuals in a species show great similarity
in their development.
• Variability– Individual differences exist.
chapter
2
Theoretical Perspectives in Motor Development
Ecological Perspective
• Basic tenet: interrelationship of individual, environment, and task drives development– Importance of multiple systems
• Decisions of the higher brain centers are reduced because perception of the environment is direct and muscle can self-assemble into functional groups.
• Two branches exist:– Dynamic systems – Perception–action
Dynamic Systems
• Theory advocated in the early 1980s by Peter Kugler, Scott Kelso, and Michael Turvey, among others.
• Body systems spontaneously self-organize.
• Body systems, performer’s environment, and task demands interact.
(continued)
Dynamic Systems (continued)
• Some systems may develop more slowly than others in the young or degrade more rapidly in the old and thus control the rate of development or change.– Rate limiter – an individual constraint that “limits the
rate” at which a motor skill is achieved
• Qualitative and discontinuous change is characteristic of development.
• Change occurs across the life span.
Dynamic Systems: Graphing Change
Adapted from Thelen, Ulrich, & Jensen, 1989
Perception–Action
• Theory based on the 1960s and 1970s writing of J.J. Gibson.
• An affordance is the function an environmental object provides to an individual.– Characteristics define objects’ meanings.– Object functions are based on individuals’
intrinsic dimensions (body scaled) rather than extrinsic, objective dimensions.