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Understanding Motor Behavior and Skills

The document discusses the goals and significance of studying motor behavior, including how motor skills are learned, controlled, and developed throughout the lifespan. It highlights the importance of motor learning, motor control, and motor development, as well as the role of practice and feedback in skill acquisition. Additionally, it covers research methods and areas of study related to motor behavior, emphasizing the application of this knowledge in various professional fields.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
28 views26 pages

Understanding Motor Behavior and Skills

The document discusses the goals and significance of studying motor behavior, including how motor skills are learned, controlled, and developed throughout the lifespan. It highlights the importance of motor learning, motor control, and motor development, as well as the role of practice and feedback in skill acquisition. Additionally, it covers research methods and areas of study related to motor behavior, emphasizing the application of this knowledge in various professional fields.

Uploaded by

apchappie808
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Motor Behavior

Chapter 6
Goals of Motor Behavior

To understand how motor skills are learned,


how processes such as _________ and
_______ improve learning and performance
of skills, and how response selection and
execution become more efficient and
effective
To understand how motor skills are ________,
how the neuromuscular system functions to
coordinate the muscles and limbs for body
movement, and how ____________ and
__________ factors affect mechanisms of
response selection and ___________
To understand how the learning and control
of motor skills change across the life span,
improving in youth and deteriorating with
aging
Why Use Motor
Behavior?
• The study of how motor skills are learned,
controlled, and developed across the life span
• Applications often focus on what, how, and how
much to practice
• Guides us in providing better situations for
learning and practice, including the selection of
effective _____ and _________.
• Valuable to performers and those who teach
motor skills (e.g., physical education teachers,
adapted physical educators, gerontologists,
physical therapists, and coaches)
[Link] _________ (acquisition of skilled movements as a result of practice)
[Link] control (the ______, _______, and __________aspects of
Subdisciplines of movement)
Motor Behavior [Link] development (__________ view of motor learning and motor
control across a _____ ______)
Contrasting
Motor Learning
& Motor Control
• Shift from learning a skill versus
“automatic” skill
• Motor control essential for every
movement—from poorly skilled
to well skilled
• Motor learning responsible for
shift to well skilled

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.


Motor Development
Fine vs. Gross Motor Skills

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.


Motor Movements
Beyond Sport
• Babies learning to use a fork and spoon
• Dentists learning to control drill while looking in a mirror
• Surgeons controlling a scalpel; microsurgeons using laser
• Children learning to ride a bicycle or to roller skate
• Teenagers learning to drive
• Dancers performing choreographed movements
• Pilots learning to control an airplane
• Children learning to control a pencil or type on a keyboard

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.


A Clinical
Perspective...
• Adapted Movement Educators,
PT, OT, and ATs use gross and
fine motor skills with
____________ to improve
certain movements.
Research Methods for Motor
Behavior
• Types of studies (experimental designs)
• ________ group
• Within group
• _________ (participants receive no treatment)
• Studying the early stages of learning (novel tasks)
• Studying expert performers
• Measuring movements (___________)
• Movement task characteristics (__________ vs. _________)
• Measuring learning and transfer (__________ and ________)
Novel Learning
Tasks
• Ensure that no participant has tried the task before.
• Tasks tend to be simple.
• Allows us to study improvement and how
movements are learned.
• However, limits what researcher can learn; this
approach studies outcome of the movement (the
product) rather than nature of the movement (the
process).
• _______ learning experiments are not helpful for
physical activity tasks in which performers have had
many trials.
Studying
Expert
Performers
• What do expert performers do during
practice and competition? How does it
differ from novices?
• Decision making
• Skill
• Game-performance variables
• ____________ and skills of sport are often
highly specific to that sport.
• Information helps us understand how
learning occurs across many other skills.
Information
Processing
• Concept formed to help scientists
understand how the central nervous
system works.
• Conceptualizes brain as a computer,
master controller.
• Commands sent from brain through
_______ _______, which reduces
complexity of information for the muscles
and muscle groups.
• Goal of motor behavior is to explain
response selection and response
execution.
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Feedback
• ___________ -sensory information from performer's own sensory
system (sight, hearing, smell, proprioception) -normally occurs when
individuals produce movement
• Extrinsic feedback: Knowledge of results (the _______) and
knowledge of performance (how well the performer played)
• Ex: Watching performance on video, listening to coach's comments, final
score in a game)
Motor Learning
• Goal: Understanding the role of practice, feedback (intrinsic and
extrinsic), and individual differences
• Before practice: goal setting, instructions, modeling, and mental
practice
• For effective learning, extrinsic feedback should be corrective, be
something the learner could not gather on his/her own, be provided
on about ½ of the trials, and be followed by time to make
corrections.
• Skill acquisition variables versus performance variables
Motor Control

• Motor programs are proposed ___________mechanisms that allow movements to be


controlled.

• As motor programs are developed, they become more automatic, allowing the
performer to concentrate on how to use the movement in performance situations. This
perspective is also called schema theory.

• Dynamical systems theory has challenged the motor program theory. Dynamical
systems theorists believe that a more direct link (coordinated structure) exists between
perception and action, bypassing the need for motor programs.

• Importance of motor control is clear for professionals in physical education, physical


therapy, or athletic training.

• Motor control often is not intuitive; easily misunderstood.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.


Motor Control
Areas of Study
• ___________ ____ __________: Coordination of movement (there
are multiple ways for humans or animals to perform a movement in
order to achieve the same goal- Ex: Multiple elbow rotations and
muscles involved are degrees of freedom in movement coordination)
• Motor equivalency- Ability to use different movements produced by
different parts of the body to perform a task under different
conditions
• Serial order of movements: Sequencing and timing of movement
behaviors
• __________integration during movement- integrating visual input
into organized collection of surfaces and objects
• Skill _________
Pop Quiz
Question 1
Motor learning and motor control, which share a common
goal of understanding human movement, are areas of
research within the subdiscipline of _____________.
a. motor behavior
b. exercise physiology
c. personal training
d. kinesiology
Question 2

Understanding how the brain and nervous system


adjust during childhood and as we get older is a key
area of research in:
a. Motor behavior
b. Movement
c. Motor Growth
d. Motor Development
Question 3
In order to study how beginners learn new motor skills, motor
behaviorists create simple and ____________ tasks for use in
experiments.
a. familiar
b. fun
c. novel
Question 4
• Researchers who study how motor skills are
acquired must also study how well skills are
____________ and how they transfer to other
situations.
a. executed
b. retained
c. learned
d. trained

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.


Question 5

Difficult to observe and measure,


motor learning is a relatively
permanent internal state that requires
__________ to occur.
a. Skill
b. Practice
c. Perseverance
d. Conditioning
Question 6
• Feedback supplied by another
person (coach, teacher, or
trainer) about the outcome of a
movement is called
____________.
a. Execution
b. Positive
c. Knowledge of results
d. Knowledge of performance

Common questions

Powered by AI

Movement coordination involves using different strategies to achieve the same motor goals, with various combinations of joint rotations and muscle efforts. Motor equivalency allows the execution of similar motor tasks using different body parts or strategies under changing conditions. Both concepts highlight the flexibility and adaptability of the motor system, ensuring successful task completion regardless of minor disruptions in conditions or bodily constraints .

Motor skills improve through processes like feedback and practice by making movements more efficient and effective. Practice allows performers to refine their movements to become more automatic, reducing cognitive load. Feedback, both intrinsic and extrinsic, provides performers with critical information about their actions, enabling them to make necessary adjustments. Extrinsic feedback should be corrective and provided only when necessary, as it helps learners to process and incorporate new information into their skill repertoire, thus enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of motor skill performance .

Motor behaviorists utilize varied practice sessions to enrich the learners' experiences, allowing skills to generalize across contexts. Strategically provided feedback helps reinforce key components of the skill, guiding adaptations to new situations. The focus on underlying principles rather than specific actions promotes the acquisition of adaptable, transferrable motor skills that can be applied in diverse activities and environments .

Novel learning tasks help control prior knowledge effects, allowing researchers to observe the pure process of skill acquisition. However, the simplicity of these tasks limits the richness of data researchers can collect, focusing more on the outcome rather than the nature of the movement. This simplification may result in overlooking complex cognitive and biomechanical processes involved in learning advanced motor skills, consequently influencing the generalizability of findings to real-world contexts .

Intrinsic feedback originates from the performer's sensory system, providing immediate data about movement execution that helps in self-regulation. Extrinsic feedback, meanwhile, provides external insights into performance, such as outcome success (knowledge of results) and movement quality (knowledge of performance). Optimal use involves providing extrinsic feedback selectively to supplement intrinsic feedback, offering information the learner cannot autonomously discern, and allowing time for corrections to enhance motor learning .

Motor programs theory posits that pre-structured commands in the brain control movement sequences, allowing movements to become automatic. This suggests practice should focus on refining these programs for smoother execution. Conversely, dynamical systems theory argues for a direct perception-action linkage without pre-set programs, emphasizing adaptability and environmental interaction. Practically, motor programs focus on rehearsed skills, while dynamical systems encourage flexible strategy adaptation during performance .

Motor learning refers to the process of acquiring skilled movements through practice, responsible for advancing from novice to well-skilled status. In contrast, motor control deals with the neurological, physical, and behavioral aspects of movement, essential for performing any movement, whether skilled or unskilled. Both are interconnected as motor learning leads to superior motor control by refining and automating movements, allowing for more focus on performance applications rather than movement execution .

Information processing in motor behavior is likened to a computer system where the brain, as a master controller, sends commands to the muscles, simplifying and structuring complex information for execution. This analogy helps in conceptualizing how humans plan, execute, and adjust their movements in a systematic and predictable manner, facilitating analyses of learning processes and improvement strategies in motor skills .

Fine motor skills involve precise movements using smaller muscle groups, such as writing or typing, requiring higher coordination and timing. Gross motor skills utilize larger muscle groups for broader movements, like running or jumping, often demanding strength and endurance. Both types develop through practice and are essential in different aspects of daily life and professional activities, illustrating the comprehensive nature of motor skill development .

Motor learning and control improve during youth as cognitive and physical capacities develop, facilitating skill acquisition and performance. With aging, these abilities typically deteriorate due to declines in physiological and neural functions, affecting response time and precision. Consequently, children typically show rapid skill acquisition, while older individuals may require adaptations in practice and learning strategies to maintain skills .

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