Chapter 2

Chapter 3Motor Abilities how come you make that look so easy?Is there such a thing as a motor moron?

TerminologyAbility: A general trait or capacity of an individual that helps determine a persons achievement potential for the performance of specific skills p.16

Individual difference variablesFrom this point of viewPeoples potential for success is at least partly determined by whether or not they possess certain key abilitiesThis can explain why 2 people given similar amounts of training perform so differently

Individual difference variables2 hypotheses:General motor abilities hypothesisMotor abilities are highly related to one anotherIf youre good at one skill, youre good at allSpecific motor abilities hypothesisMotor abilities are relatively independent of each otherSuccess with each skill dependent on possession of the abilities supporting that skill

Individual difference variables2 hypotheses:General motor abilities hypothesisLowHighHigh

LowPerformance on task BPerformance on task A

Individual difference variables2 hypotheses:Specific motor abilities hypothesisLowHighHigh

LowPerformance on task BPerformance on task A

Individual difference variables2 hypotheses:Which one is best?Drowatzky & Zuccato (see p.18, table 2.1):6 balance tasks, all performed by same set of peoplePerformance on tasks unrelated to each otherThese kinds of findings tend to support which hypothesis?

Individual difference variablesThe all-around athleteIf abilities are independent, how can we explain the fact that some people seem to be good at everything they turn their hands to?

Identifying motor abilitiesThis is pretty important, if we are to critique the idea of abilitiesThe notion of abilities is based mostly on research from the latter half of the 20th century (Fleishman & Quaintance, 1984)The studies went something like this

Identifying motor abilitiesWhat is the research supposed to examine?EG: This graph shows fictional data for the amount of variation in performance of 4 skills that is explained by each of 3 abilities

Identifying motor abilitiesTake Fleishman (1957) as an example:Take a large number of people (200)Have them perform a large number of motor tasks (18)Group the tasks into factors, according to how performance varies on each task (so people tending to perform well at one task perform well at others loading on the same factor)The idea is to identify as few factors as possible to account for as much variation in performance on the tasks as possibleWe can get an idea of this by looking at the factor table

Factor Matrix (from Fleishman, 1957) partially reproduced for instructional purposesVariableFactorsIIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIX1. Instrument comprehension.18.22.132. Reaction time.60-.15-.033. Rate of movement.43.19-.064. Pattern comprehension.12.66.075. Mechanical principles.03.53.526. General principles.05.19.657. Speed of identification.27.44.178. Visual pursuit.14.23.059. Complex coordination trials 1-5.05.35.2610. Complex coordination trials 12-16.23.16.2111. Complex coordination trials 49-53.42.13.2212. Complex coordination trials 60-64.43.12.2013. Rotary pursuit.28.15.1514. Plane control.16.07.2815. Kinesthetic coordination-.01-.16.2816. Unidimensional matching.14.16.1417. Two-handed matching.16.21.1518. Discrimination reaction time.28.24.20The idea is to name the factors according to what types of task load on themThese are the only tasks to load on factor IV. The factor was called Mechanical ExperienceIf tasks like ball bouncing, juggling, & catching all loaded together, we might use a label like eye-hand coordination to name the factor

Identifying motor abilitiesThe actual factors Fleishman came up with are listed on pp. 43-45 of your textThe important idea to grasp is that these factors all explained some variation in performance of a number of motor tasksThe actual list compiled will be dependent on the tasks used to compile it

Other types of abilitiesAckerman (1988)General intelligencePerceptual speedPsychomotorDecreasing reliance on cognitionThis is the one weve been discussing

Another interpretation...Can we apply a different interpretation to the emergence of separable abilities?Probably: Imagine that you begin life with a set of potentials for certain behaviorsImportantly, the limits of these potentials are not set at birthCertain things about you do seem built into your DNA, but even things like body size are just potentialsThe potentials for motor skills could be modeled as basins of attraction for those behaviors, like this

Practice makes perfect?As soon as you begin to experience the world physically, you will change the depth and form of these basins of attractionContinued experience results in continued changes to the basins, and therefore continued changes of our potential behaviors.

Practice makes perfect?There is also a tendency for positive feedbackThe fact that we will tend to gravitate towards things that we can already doSo early experience (and success) at something will tend to result in greater practice, and more successOver time, the experience accumulated is enormous, and the basins become quite resistant to change (stable)Hence they have become what we understand as abilities

Practice makes perfect?So what does that imply about abilities?They existBut they are not a sign of natural talentTalent is anything but natural its hard graft and determined practiceSo what does that mean for educators?

Practice makes perfect?Ultimately, that could lead to some pretty complex inter-relationships among tasks and capabilities to perform/learn themFor instance