Lecture 1
Classification Systems of Motor Skills
Open/Closed
Open involves a very dynamic environment with changing factors that will impact a movement or action
Closed is a controlled and unchanging environment that doesn’t impact a movement or action
Gross/Fine
Gross uses a very broad amount of movement or muscles, large movement
Fine is very small, precise movement
Discrete/Serial/Continuous
Discrete is a single motion or action with a distinct beginning and end
Serial is repeating the same motion over and over or performing several discrete motions together
Continuous is a movement that doesn’t have a defined end point, it can essentially go on forever
Motor/Cognitive
Motor is more physical action, more movement and doesn’t involve thinking
Cognitive involves a great thought process and mental decisions instead of just acting
Characteristics of Skilled Performance
Certainty of goal achievement
Minimum energy expenditure
Minimum movement time
Patterns/Curves of Motor Skill Learning
Linear
Means that will every trial or day of learning a new skill, someone gains the exact same amount of skill each time. Very rare, most people don’t learn this way.
Negatively Accelerating
A very rapid rate of growth or development of a skill in early trials but then improvement begins to plateau and level off. Improvement rate decreases in time.
Positively Accelerating
Very slow learning in initial stages, in later trials much greater improvement and skill development is more rapid. Improvement rate increases with time.
S-shaped
Very fast early growth in early trials, then development tapers off slightly and plateaus, then after more trials skill improvement begins to increase much more in later trials.
Lecture 2
Differences Between Individuals in Motor Abilities
Describing and explaining individual differences in motor performance
Concept of Correlations
Correlation –The measure of the degree of association between two variables. Ex: Height and Weight
Scatter plots are very good ways to show a correlation
Direction
A correlation is positive or negative
Positive is when one variable increases, so does the other
Negative is when one variable increases, the other decreases
Strength
Refers to how close to straight line the units of data fall
“Perfect” correlation is a straight line = Perfect prediction
For every one unit of increase in one variable, there is on unit increase in the second
The more deviation from a straight line, or the larger the envelope, the less correlation between the two variables
The less deviation from a straight line, or smaller the envelope, the greater the correlation between the variables.
Strength and Direction of correlation are independent of each other
Alternative Ways to Show Correlation
Mathematically or statistically calculate a correlation coefficient
Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient
Abbreviated – r=
Ranges from -1.0 - +1.0
“Perfect Correlation” = -1 or +1
Calculation of R^2
If R = .4, then R^2 = .16
16% of variability between two different variables
Significance of R^2 depends on the situation.
Causality
Cannot be inferred from correlations
Just because two things are strongly positively correlated does not mean that one causes the other to occur, can be coincidence
Differences in Motor Ability
A general trait or capacity of an individual
Relatively enduring characteristic
Can serve as on determinant of his/her achievement potential in particular motor/sport/physical activities
Essentially, someone can be predetermined to be gifted or succeed at certain tasks just because of genetics
Theory of “Singular Global Ability”
Hypothesis/Theory: There is one general ability that underlies all motor sport skills
If you have good general ability, you can become skilled at any sport or motor skill.
Groupings of Abilities
Simple Classification System
Perceptual-Motor: 10+ separate abilities; reaction time, response time, speed of
