UNDERSTANDING

MOVEMENT
LESSON 1
Movement a critical aspect of
life. Agree or disagree?
Movement take in many forms

1. Genetically defined simple to

2. Learned complex
How can knowledge and information
about movement be acquired?

Behavioral Emphasizing Potential

level of movements Application
analysis

-cognitive -interaction - Movement

- Human processing between capabilities
concepts environment and - Injuries
motor system
-deeper when - Treatments
combined with -how a skill affects - Artistic
biomechanics and and affected by the performances
neuropsychology environment
Neurophysiology

Movement
Learning

Psychology
 Early Research
-Woodworth (1899)- who sought to identify some of the fundamental
principles of rapid arm and hand movements
-Hollingworth (1909), uncovered principles about visual-motor
performance
-Thorndike (1914), who was concerned with processes underlying the
learning
of skills and other behaviors.
 His "Law of Effect," which continues to have its influences in psychology,
states that responses that are rewarded tend to be repeated. Responses that
are not followed by a reward tend not to be repeated.
 Thorndike was also a pioneer in the area of individual differences, in which the
focus is on the differences among individuals surrounding practice.
 An interest in factors associated with growth, maturation, and motor
performance began to surface; and studies by Bayley (1935),
Espenschade (1940), McGraw (1935, 1939), and Shirley (1931) led the way
to the formation of the subarea called motor development
 The characteristics and contraction properties of muscle tissue were a topic
of early study by Blix (1892-1895) and Weber (1846) who identified “spring-
like” properties of muscle.
 But what led to the development of various electrophysiological methods was
the discovery by Fritsch and Hitzig (1870) that the brain is electrically
excitable.
 These methods gave rise to studies by Ferrier (1888) on the responses in the
brain’s cortex to movements
 Beevor and Horsely (1887, 1890) on sensory and motor areas of the brain.
 Sherrington is credited with the creation of a number of classical
concepts of motor control, most of which influence thinking today.
For example, he first talked of reciprocal innervation, the idea that
when the flexors of a joint are activated, the extensors tend to be
automatically deactivated, and vice versa.
 Also, Sherrington coined the term final common path, which referred
to the notion that influences from reflexes and sensory sources, as
well as from “command” sources in the brain, eventually converge at
spinal levels to produce the final set of commands delivered to the
muscles.
 Herrick (1924) proposed numerous hypotheses about the functions of
the cerebellum.
How did Bernstein contribute to
the study of motor learning?
 Nikolai Bernstein (1897-1966)

• Degrees of freedom
problem
• Concerns the problem of
learning a new movement
pattern
• The elegance of
movement is seen when
skill develops and
coincides with the
“release” and
“exploitation” of the
degrees of freedom.
What are the major findings
of researches after the World
War II?
Post-war Research

 World War II -had major effects on motor skills research.

 For pilot training, which resulted in the creation of the U.S. Army Air
Force’s Psycho-Motor Testing Program, initiated by Arthur Melton in the
early stages of the war.
 Selection of pilot and other military personnel.
 gunnery, physical training in the heat and cold, vehicle control, and
many other issues related to combat performance
 Researchers began to realize that training—not selection—was perhaps
more important to the development of proficient pilots.
 Much attention was directed toward procedures for teaching motor
skills, the transfer of motor skills from one activity to another, and the
retention of skills
Major Influences of the Post-war Period

 Fleishman’s work on individual differences and abilities

 Resulted to additional funding (training programs and additional
psychologist)
 various theories of learning, most notably that of Hull (1943)
 explain how fatigue and recovery processes combined to determine
the learning of motor skills, and many scientists worked with motor
tasks to test Hull’s predictions.
 Craik (1948), who proposed that we consider the brain as a kind
of computer in which information is received, processed, and
then output to the environment in the form of overt actions of the
limbs.
 Edwin A. Fleishman
How perceptual motor abilities could be used
in the prediction of success in piloting and in
many other occupations.

how individual differences Retention of complex

could be used in the study of perceptual-motor skills
learning

developed methods for

combination analyzing the ability
of abilities involved in learning requirements of jobs
such skills changes at different
stages of skill acquisition.
Paul M. Fitts
(1912-1965) activities of daily living,
especially for equipment design

perceptual-motor learning,
suggesting that learning involves a
progression through various stages

Spatial compatibility between

work-space displays and the
controls
activities of daily living, especially for
equipment design
Franklin M. Henry (1904-1993)

psychological techniques, laboratory tasks, and

careful measurement

“memory drum theory,”

controversial idea that individuals possess many

independent abilities
Jack A. Adams (1922-2010)

“A Closed-
Loop Theory of Motor Learning”

His early work on psychological warm-up

effects as a source of memory decrement in
practice; led to one of the very first of many
investigations on short-term memory for
movement information

effects of modeling and observational learning

Steve Keele (1940-2005)

motor program and the

role of vision in movement regulation.

His later research interests included important

contributions to our understanding of individual
differences, timing, and sequence learning.
H.T.A. (John) Whiting (1929-2001)

traditional psychological techniques to the study of

human motor control in the performance of sport
tasks

His research on catching performance was the first to

demonstrate that continuous vision of a ball in
flight is not necessary in order to support accurate
performance
Esther Thelen (1941-2004)
infant development, and particularly so the research on
complex movement and behaviour development

suggesting that movements are largely determined as

emergent behaviors.

viewed action as a process by which infants learn to solve

problems
Motor Control and Learning Research
Today

research is being conducted by researchers who

have a greater diversity and breadth of knowledge
than ever before
more research in the area of motor control and
learning is being published now than ever before
Studies of the specific brain mechanisms involved in
the performance
behavioral studies of motor control and learning
strictly oriented toward neuroscience
 • Increased
Analyzed in capacity
Stored
a matter of RESULT • High quality
electronically
minutes • Grown rate
 access to
information is
faster, easier,
and more
convenient than
ever.

ADVANCEMENT
OF
TECHNOLOGY

Electronic
made journals are
databases now more
easy to prevalent
access than print
1. Answer the following:
a. How does a behavioral level of analysis of motor control and learning
differ from biomechanical and neurophysiological levels of analysis?
b. If you could interview one of the people featured in the highlight boxes
(Bernstein, Fleishman, Fitts, Henry, Adams, Keele, Whiting, Thelen), what
would you ask them about motor control and learning?
c. What has the proliferation in publication outlets contributed to our
current understanding of research in motor control and learning?
2. Find a research article authored by any of the eight people listed in
question 1b. Are the findings of that research article still relevant today?