Motor Skills

Continuous Motor Skill

Swimming is an example of this type of motor skill as it requires the individual to repeatedly use the same movements.

Motor Skill: Defined

The ability to make the purposeful movements that are necessary to complete or master a prescribed task

Motor Skill: Explained

A skill associated with muscle activity. Skills performed in sport form a continuum from fine to gross motor skills. Some sports scientists object to the prefix 'motor' being used on its own because it implies the skill is largely a motor reflex. They prefer to use terms, such as perceptual motor skill, psychomotor skill, or sensorimotor skill because such terms emphasize the mental components of movement skills. A skilled movement can be defined as a product of four different elements: force, velocity, accuracy, and purposefulness. In a skilful performance, all four elements must be performed at the same time in exactly the right combination and amount.

Complex Motor Skill

These are a combination of Fine and Gross Motor Skills. i.e. Medical Rescue

Gross Motor Skill

These involve the use of large and numerous muscles and do not require as much movement precision as fine motor skills do. Included in this category are actions such as walking, jumping and throwing.

Fine Motor Skill

These require greater control of the small muscles and greater precision. Handwriting, typing, drawing etc.

Discrete Motor Skill

These skills have a definite beginning and end. These Motor skills include turning on the kettle, threading a needle etc.

Open Motor Skill

This occurs when a skill is performed in a non-stable environment, where the object or context changes during the performance of the skill. An example is driving a car.

Closed Motor Skill

This occurs when a skill is performed in a stable or predictable environment. An example is Playing Darts.

Serial Motor Skill

When a few discrete motor skills are put together in a sequence this type of motor skill occurs. For instance, playing the piano uses these type of motor skills as the pianist may need to strike specific keys for a certain period of time in a particular order to play a songs repeated versus.