Chapter 2; Theory 1 and 2 Flashcards
What are the three different theories/perspectives of motor development?
Maturational, information processing, and ecological (dynamical and perception) perspectives.
When and who led the maturational perceptive
Arnold Gese in the 1930s
What do Maturationists believe?
Maturationists believe that genetics are the dominant reason for motor development, and that the environment has little effect
Driven by the maturation of the central nervous system
internal , innate, driven by our biological clocks
Gesell explains maturation as a process of interan; (genetic) factors rather than external (environmental) factors
Co-twin control strategy:
Gesell et al. (1927) - identical twins T and C 46 weeks old
Twin T = trained dai;y in climbing stairs
Twin C = no training
Measured by how fast each twin could climb stairs
One twin received environmental training
One twin did not (control)
To explore how the ehnahnced environment affects development
At 56 weeks and again 3 years later, their performance on the staircase was “amazingly alike”
Here maturation perspective holds true
Myrtle McGraw (1935)
Growth: A study of Johnny and Jimmy (twins)
Johnny - challenging environments and tasks
Jimmy - control
Johnny did excel in some motor tasks
Major limitation twins were fraternal
True or False: The maturationists perspective suggests that motor skills will emerge auto maticuacally, regardless of differing environments
True
Beliefs from the maturation theory are: (4)
Basic motor skills will emerge automatically
There is not need for special training
Mild deprivation does not arrest development
The nervous system is most important
Who used the information processing perspective?
Used among developmental psychologists, motor learning scientists that specialized in PE during the 1970s and 80s
how does the information processing perspective work?
Sensory input, unattended information is lost and some goes to short term memory (maintain rehearsal and then encoded for long term memory and also degraded info) in long term some info will be lost over time
What is selective processing
Selective processing (what’s important to us) to help remember things in the future
What is key to taking things from short term to long term
Repetition
What is the ecological perspective?
This perspective ties together the individual, the environment,, and the task
Must consider the interaction of all constraints
I.e body type, motivation, temp, and equipment size
To fully understand a motor skill as kicking
Internal and external constraints
Two branches
Dynamical systems approach
Perception Action approach
dynamical systems approach
The dynamical systems approach suggests that our coordination and behavior is softly assembled, not hardwired, that enable us to walk when we need to
Researchers from the University of Connecticut in the psychology department had uncertainties about the information processing perspective
They suggested that the organization of physical and chemical systems is what constraints behavior
The body’s structure removes some of the movement choices that the CNS might have to make
Perception Action approach
The second branch of the ecological perspective
JJ Gibson (1966, 1979)
Close interrelationship between perceptual and motor systems
These systems evolve together, cannot study perception independent of movement if our finding are to be ecologically valid (applicable to the real world)
Hence we can not study the individual without accounting for the environment
Affordances
What is affordance?
the function that an environmental object provides to an individual
When we look at an object we perceive what its function that it will allow: by it size texture other
