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