EXS205: ACQUISITION OF SKILLS AND MOTOR CONTROL LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION, SKILL CLASSIFICATIONS AND MEASUREMENT OF MOTOR SKILLS What is the discipline of motor control concerned with? - Performance - Learning - Retention of motor skills What are the four sub-categories of Motor Control? - Neuropsychological - Motor Development - Motor Learning - Cognitive Science How is knowledge about motor control gained? Knowledge about motor control is gained indirectly through observed behaviour. What is the aim of neuropsychological science? Neuropsychological science is looking at the central nervous system and what part of the brain is active while you are performing a movement. What is another term for neuropsychological science? Neuropsychological science is also referred to as neuromotor science. What is the aim of motor development science? Motor development science is about how motor skills change across the lifespan from birth to adulthood. This includes reflexive movements, conscious control and how motor development might regress in older age. What is a subcategory of motor development science? Fundamental motor skills science is a key subcategory of motor development science. What is the aim of cognitive science? Cognitive science provides theoretical models and theories that explain motor performance and learning. What is the aim of motor learning science? The aim of motor learning science is to apply practice, instruction, scheduling of practice and ques that are required for learning. What is sport expertise? Sport expertise is a term used to differentiate between the novice and the experts across the skill continuum. What factors do and what factors don t differentiate these people and their level of expertise. What is skill acquisition? Skill acquisition is what you can do to facilitate learning and what you can do to improve someone s skill level. How do allied health professionals apply knowledge and tools? Allied health professionals apply knowledge and tools for rehabilitation. What does the term common coding mean? Common coding is where perception and action are linked together. If you train perception you should have benefited action because they are linked together. How do community health and well-being professionals apply knowledge and tools? Community health and wellbeing professionals apply knowledge and tools to improve functional motor skills. This includes not giving too many verbal ques and too much explicit information to elderly patients who are experiencing trips and falls. Too much information causes them to reinvest their internal movement coordination pattern and don t perform the movement in a fluent automatic way. How do sports professionals apply knowledge and tools? Sports professionals apply knowledge and tools to junior to elite levels. Looks into what the effects of specialising a child early could have on their learning. How do disabled sport and exercise professionals apply knowledge and tools? Disabled sport and exercise professionals apply knowledge and tools to junior to elite levels. Do you always need motor practice or could perceptual practice be enough for someone with a prosthetic limb. How do teaching professionals apply knowledge and tools? Teaching professionals apply knowledge and tools to the structure of the learning environment. Do children need the skill to be broken down into smaller pieces or can they learn the same as an adult. What is a skill? Skill is a task that has a specific goal to achieve. (Action goal)
What are motor skills? Motor skills have a voluntary motor component where there in body movement such as body, head, and/ or limb movement to achieve its goal. Provide an example of involuntary movements. Reflexes are involuntary movements. What causes involuntary movements? The spinal cord causes involuntary movements as they are urgent motor movements. What are actions? Actions are goal-oriented activities that consist of body and/ or limb movements. What do common motor skills share? Common motor skills share actions which need to be learned. What are movements? Movements are behavioural characteristics of a specific limb or a combination of limbs using coordination patterns. List 3 reasons for distinguishing movement from motor skills. - People learn motor skills - People adapt movement characteristics to achieve a common goal - People evaluate motor skills and movements with different types of measures What is the One-Dimension classification system? The One-Dimension classification system identifies motor skill characteristics that are similar to those of other motor skills. The One-Dimension classification system is divided into two categories, each representing extreme ends of a continuum. List the two categories within the One-Dimension classification system. - Gross motor skills - Fine motor skills What are gross motor skills? Gross motor skills require the use of large musculature to achieve the goal of the skill, i.e., walking, jumping. What are fine motor skills? Fine motor skills require control of small muscles to achieve the goal of the skill. Fine motor skills typically involve eye-hand coordination and require a high degree of precision of hand and finger movement. i.e., hand/ eye coordination. What skills would be located in the middle of the One-Dimension classification system? Some motor skills involve both types (gross and fine motor skills) to achieve the action goal and would be located between the two points. What is a discrete motor skill? A discrete motor skill has defined beginning and end points, usually requiring a simple movement such as flipping a light switch. Discrete motor skills are one-movement skills and usually require a simple movement. What is a continuous motor skill? A continuous motor skill has arbitrary beginning and end points. Continuous motor skills involve repetitive movements such as steering a car. What is a serial motor skill? A serial motor skill involves a series of discrete skills such as driving a manual car. What are closed motor skills? Closed motor skills are motor skills performed in a stable or predictable environment where the performer determines when to begin the action such as picking up a cup while seated. What are open motor skills? Open motor skills are motor skills involving a non-stable, unpredictable environment where an object or environmental context is in motion and determines when to begin the action such as running a race with other runners.