Fundamental Concepts

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chapter 1

• Fundamental Concepts

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Characteristics of Motor Development

• Change in movement behavior
• Continuous
• Age-related
• Sequential
• Underlying process(es)

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Related Areas of Study

• Motor learning relatively permanent gains in
  motor skill capability associated with practice
  or experience
• Motor control the neural, physical, and
  behavioral aspects of movement

(Schmidt Lee, 1999)
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Related Terms

• Physical growth quantitative increase in size or
  body mass (Timiras, 1972)
• Physical maturation qualitative advance in
  biological makeup
• Cell, organ, or system advancement in biochemical
  composition (Teeple, 1978)
• Aging process occurring with the passage of
  time, leading to loss of adaptability or full
  function and eventually to death (Spirduso, 1995)

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Constraints

• Limit or discourage certain movements at the same
  time that they permit or encourage other
  movements
• Shape movement

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Newells Model of Constraints
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Individual Constraints

• Exist within the body
• Structural constraints related to the bodys
  structure
• Height
• Muscle mass
• Functional constraints related to behavioral
  function
• Attention
• Motivation

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Environmental Constraints

• Exist outside the body (properties of the world
  around us)
• Global, not task specific
• Physical
• Gravity
• Surfaces
• Sociocultural
• Gender roles

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Task Constraints

• External to the body
• Related specifically to tasks or skills
• Goal of task
• Rules guiding task performance
• Equipment

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Research Study Designs Typical in Development

• Longitudinal
• An individual or a group is observed over time.
• They can require lengthy observation time.
• Cross-Sectional
• Individuals or groups of different ages are
  observed for short period of time.
• Change is inferred, not actually observed.
• Sequential, or Mixed Longitudinal
• Involves mini-longitudinal studies with
  overlapping ages.

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Research Study Designs Typical in Development

• Longitudinal
• An individual or a group is observed over time.
• They can require lengthy observation time.
• Cross-Sectional
• Individuals or groups of different ages are
  observed.
• Change is inferred, not actually observed.
• Sequential, or Mixed Longitudinal
• Involves mini-longitudinal studies with
  overlapping ages.

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A Model of Sequential Research Design
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A Paradox in Development

• Universality
• Individuals in a species show great similarity in
  their development.
• Variability
• Individual differences exist.

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chapter 2

• Theoretical Perspectives in Motor Development

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Ecological Perspective

• Basic tenet interrelationship of individual,
  environment, and task drives development
• Importance of multiple systems
• Decisions of the higher brain centers are reduced
  because perception of the environment is direct
  and muscle can self-assemble into functional
  groups.
• Two branches exist
• Dynamic systems
• Perceptionaction

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Dynamic Systems

• Theory advocated in the early 1980s by Peter
  Kugler, Scott Kelso, and Michael Turvey, among
  others.
• Body systems spontaneously self-organize.
• Body systems, performers environment, and task
  demands interact.
• (continued)

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Dynamic Systems (continued)

• Some systems may develop more slowly than others
  in the young or degrade more rapidly in the old
  and thus control the rate of development or
  change.
• Rate limiter an individual constraint that
  limits the rate at which a motor skill is
  achieved
• Qualitative and discontinuous change is
  characteristic of development.
• Change occurs across the life span.

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Dynamic Systems Graphing Change
Adapted from Thelen, Ulrich, Jensen, 1989
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PerceptionAction

• Theory based on the 1960s and 1970s writing of
  J.J. Gibson.
• An affordance is the function an environmental
  object provides to an individual.
• Characteristics define objects meanings.
• Object functions are based on individuals
  intrinsic dimensions (body scaled) rather than
  extrinsic, objective dimensions.