Chapter 1 The Classification of Motor Skills Concept: Motor skills can be classified into general categories

1. . Chapter 1 The Classification of Motor Skills Concept: Motor skills can be classified into general categories

2. The Study of Motor Skills: Motor Learning, Control, and Development • Motor skills require body, head, and/or limb movement to achieve its goal • Motor learning involves the study of: • Acquisition of new skills • Performance enhancement of well-learned skills • Reacquisition of skills following injury, disease, etc.

3. The study of motor skills:(cont.) • Motor control involves the study of: • How the neuromuscular system functions to enable coordinated movement • While learning a new skill • While performing a well-learned skill • Motor development involves the study of: • Human development from infancy to old age • Issues related to either motor learning or motor control

4. University of Delaware Motor-Control Research Christopher Knight

5. Development of upper limb proprioceptiveaccuracy in children and adolescentsDaniel J. Goble a, Colleen A. Lewis a,b,Edward A. Hurvitz b, Susan H. Brown

7. Terms Related to Motor Skills: Skills, Actions, and Movement • Skills - Tasks or activities that have specific goals to achieve (action goals) • Motor skills vs. cognitive skills • “Actions” – Term often used as synonymous with the term “motor skills” • Movements – Behavioral characteristics of a specific limb or a combination of limbs

8. One-DimensionClassification Systems • Categorize skills according to one common characteristic • Divided into two categories, each representing extreme ends of a continuum

9. One-DimensionClassification Systems, cont’d Three motor skill classifications that use one-dimension approaches [see Figure 1.2]: • Size of primary musculature required • Specificity of where actions begin or end • Stability of the environment context

10. Size of PrimaryMusculature Required • The benefit of a continuum approach to skill classification • Some motor skills involve both types to achieve the action goal and would be located between the two points

11. 2. Specificity of Where Actions Begin or End • Two main categories: • Discrete motor skills - specified beginning and end points, usually require a simple movement • e.g. flipping a light switch • Continuous motor skills- arbitrary beginning and end points; usually involve repetitive movements • e.g. steering a car • Combination category: Serial motor skills • Involve a continuous series of discrete skills • e.g. shifting gears in a stick shift automobile

12. 3. Stability of the Environmental Context • Two main concepts: • Closed motor skills – involve a stationary supporting surface, object, and/or other people; performer determines when to begin the action • e.g. picking up a cup while seated at a table • Open motor skill – involve supporting surface, object, and/or other people in motion; environment features determines when to begin the action • e.g. catching a thrown ball

13. A Two-Dimension Classification System Gentile’s Taxonomy of Motor Skills (Table 1.1) Taxonomy - A classification system organized according to relationships among the component characteristics of what is being classified

14. Gentile’s Two-Dimensions Taxonomy, cont’d • Two-dimensions of the taxonomy: • Environmental context • Function of the action 1.Environmental context • Two characteristics • Regulatory conditions • Characteristics of environment that control the movement characteristics of an action • Intertrial variability • Whether the regulatory conditions are the same or different from one performance attempt to another

15. Gentile’s Two-Dimensions Taxonomy, cont’d • Function of the action • Two characteristics • Body orientation • Does the skill require the person to move from one location to another or to stay in the same location • body stability, - maintain same location • body transport – change location (actively or passively) • Object manipulation

17. Summary of the 2 Dimensions 4 characteristics can describe any motor skill: 2 Environmental context characteristics 1. Are the regulatory conditions stationary or in motion?   2. Do the regulatory conditions change from trial to trial? 2 Action function characteristics 1. Does the action goal require maintaining the body in the same location or transporting the body from one place to another?   2. Is an object manipulated?

18. The 16 Skill Categories • The interaction of the four environmental context characteristics and the four action function characteristics creates 16 skill categories • Table 1.1 shows Gentile’s original presentation of the taxonomy along with two examples of skill in each category

19. Characteristics of Gentile’s Taxonomy • Each category puts different demands on the performer • Skill complexity basis for taxonomy organization • From simplest [#1A] diagonally to most complex [#4D] • Complexity increases when a motor skill involves one or more of the following: • Open environment • Trial-to-trial variability • Object to manipulate • Body transport

20. Practical Uses of Gentile’s Taxonomy • Guide for evaluating motor performance capabilities, limitations, and deficiencies • Systematic basis for selecting progressions of functionally appropriate activities to • increase performance capabilities • overcome performance deficiencies • Chart person’s progress – developing a profile of competencies