Midterm #1 Flashcards
What is an ability?
A trait that:
- stable, enduring (can’t change or lose them)
- genetically-defined
- underlies skilled performance
- you cannot change through practice
Example of an ability
Keeping limbs steady, balance, walking, spacial awareness, height, visual ability
“Equipment” people inherit to perform real-world tasks
Motor Memory vs. Muscle memory
Muscles don’t remember things, CNS “recalls” similar/familiar programs so it’s easier to execute them
What are the components of motor behaviour
Motor control, motor learning, and motor development
What is Motor Control
How we produce movement into coordinated, useful responses
- Encompasses neural, physical, and behavioural aspects of movement, and everything about performing movement objectives/tasks
- Underlying mechanisms responsible for movement
- Sensorimotor system
Skill vs. Movement
A skill has a desired performance goal (ex. holding a handstand, jumping high), movements don’t have a desired goal (ex. wiggling a finger, idly kicking)
Skills require movement
What is Motor Learning
Improving motor control through practice
- (Re)Acquisition of motor skills
- Includes behavioural and neurological changes
- Relatively permanent change (“Use it or lose it”)
- You can measure only through observing their initial stable performance
Why is it Important to study behavioural aspect of motor control?
Because emotions and environmental factors change our capacity for motor control (confidence, perceived success, motivation, stress, etc.)
What are the 3 components of motor learning?
1) Acquisition - learning a skill and performing in different environments
2) Retention - Still having the skill after not practicing it for some time after the initial learning
3) Transfer - Being able to do a very similar task but still slightly different than the original (transferring the initial learned skill)
What is Motor Development?
Changes in behaviour because of maturation/growth
- It studies human development across the lifespan specifically related to either motor learning or control
Motor Development vs. Growth
Growth will happen regardless, motor development is not hormonally related and can occur with experience
What is Motor Skill?
Your capacity to do something with (proficiency)
- Maximum certainty (confidence)
- Minimum energy (easily)
- Minimum time (relatively quickly)
How proficient are you
OR
Your ability to do something in general
Can you do it
What is the Motor Cortex
Within cerebral cortex that plans, controls, and initiates voluntary movements
**DRAW DIAGRAM
What is Motor Performance?
The capacity to perform a motor skill/task
- Temporary and affected by other (temporary) factors
Motor Performance vs. Motor Learning
Motor performance is a way to track motor learning, and is done over many observations
- If motor performance is consistent = motor learning has occurred
Performance is a temporary assessment while learning is stable changes and involves transfer
3 Classifications of Things that Affect Skills
1) Organism’s state (mood, physiology, mental ability)
2) Task itself (Where, when, how)
3) Environmental (where, what other things do I need, predictability)
What is the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST)?
Classification system of things that affect skills
Components of the Organism level of classifying skills
Gross motor skills - Generally uses large, proximal muscles (ex. walking, running, jumping, kicking)
Fine motor skills - Generally uses small, distal muscles (ex. writing, curling toes, waving fingers, sewing)
Components of the Task level of classifying skills
Discrete Skill - has a distinct start and end point, pretty quick and defined task (ex. switching a light, jump, kick, throwing something)
Serial - In-between, a series of discreet skills strung together (ex. spiking a volleyball, hammering, gymnastics routine, assembly-line work)
Continuous - no defined beginning and end point, can go on for an undetermined amount of time
Components of the Environment level of classifying skills
Open skill - Unpredictable variables to take into account, you need to act according to the object’s actions and/or the environment, you have to make decisions (ex. throwing at a moving target with wind)
Closed skill - able to predictably execute movement repeatedly the same way, don’t have to account for unstable, changing factors, you are the only serious variable acting on the object, you have to focus on movement itself (dribbling a ball)
Motor vs. Cognitive Components and Relative importance
Motor - You need to focus on the execution of movement itself (Quality of MOVEMENT)
Cognitive - Selection of movement is more important, decision driven (Quality of DECISION)
Some tasks require either more motor or cognitive components, although both are necessary
What is an Experimental approach?
Think of a strict, sterile lab (closed environment) where individual differences don’t matter
- We are only focusing on manipulating the independent variable to measure dependent variable
- Leads to laws and principles
- Assumes lab findings (sample sizes) are applicable to real life (population)
- Describes average behaviour
What is a Differential approach?
Method to see differences in individuals’ abilities, and how they deviate from the average
- Specifically measures, describes, and relates differences between people
Experimental vs. Differential
Differential is preferred because clinicians and teachers use it, there is biological variability and this method takes it into account, however Experimental erases variability and the world doesn’t adhere to lab conditions
Differential is preferred even though we use laws from experimental
