Chapter 6: Understanding Motor Skill and Motor Ability
open skills
done in response to the environment, externally paced
response outcome
evaluate the result of a particular skilled action; reveal what happened not how it happened
validity
refers to measuring what you want to know
reliability
refers to the ability to obtain similar results over repeated testing
accuracy
refers to the level of precision or resolution
continuous skills
repetitive skills that have arbitrary beginning and endpoints
response production
reveal how a response was produced; measures how, or why a movement was done
serial skills
series of discrete movements done in order to produce a larger or compound motor skill
closed skills
act on the environment, self-paced
motor skills
actions that are purposeful and voluntary requiring body and limb movements to achieve a goal
abilities
attributes that provide the capacity to perform motor skills
constant error
average error over a given number of trials; reflects both magnitude and direction of error
absolute error
average over a given number of trials of the error absolute values; provides a measure of error magnitue only
physical proficiency abilities
based largely on physiological and anatomical characteristics; often highly modifiable through training
choice RT
have 2 or more stimuli, with each stimulus coupled to a specific response
discrete skills
have a clear beginning and endpoint
reaction time
measured as the time from stimulus onset to response onset
psychological abilities
motivation, desire, enthusiasm, concentration, self-efficacy, and confidence
complex RT
multiple stimuli and multiple responses
discrimination RT
multiple stimuli, but only one stimulus is relevant and only one response is coupled to that stimulus
simple RT
one stimulus paired with one response
psychomotor abilities
physical proficiency abilities that require much cognitive processing; hand-eye coordination
variable error
standard deviation of the group of error scores; evaluates the consistency of the responses
motor learning
study of how the brain plans, learns, and executes movements and those factors that influence those processes
classification of motor skills helps to...
teach motor skills, monitor progression through rehabilitation, prescribing training and exercise regimens, and research the abilities that underlie motor skills
talent identification
the practice of predicting future performance or the potential for performance, based on current abilities
coordination
the specific patterning of the body and limbs to the environment
motor time
time from EMG onset to response onset
movement time
time from response onset to response end
premotor time
time from stimulus onset to EMG onset
response time
time from stimulus onset to response end
gross motor skills
use large muscles, have little precision, involve whole-body or multi-limb movements
fine motor skills
use small muscles, have precision
error measurements
used to determine accuracy of response outcomes as well as response production measures
