Chapter 4THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO STUDYING MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Jill Whitall

Made by Wang Yan

§4.1 Historical Overview

§4.2 Precursor Period

§4.3 Maturational Period

§4.4 Normative/Descriptive

§4.5 Information-Processing

§4.6 Dynamic Systems

§4.7 Developmental Neuroscience

§4.8 Summary

Motor Development Consists of t

wo Aspects

One aspect is the observed changes in motor behavior itself.

The second aspect ,and to many the more important, is the process and cause of those changes in motor skill.

§4.1 Historical Overview

Four time periods Precursor (1787-1928) Maturational (1928-1947) Normative/Descriptive (1947-1970) Process-oriented (1970-1989)

Six time periods Precursor (1787-1928) Maturational (1928-1947) Normative/Descriptive (1947-1970 Information-Processing (1970-1982) Dynamic Systems (1982- about 2000) Developmental Neuroscience (about 2000-

present).

§4.2 Precursor Period (1787-1928)

Theory “baby biographies” “The mind of the child” (Preyer, 1909a,

1909b) “A biographical sketch of an infant” (Darwin,

1877) No specific theoretical approach to

studying motor development

Implications for current research on motor development

This period demonstrates the use of longitudinal observation and description as a scientific method.

To see the behaviors in a longitudinal context.

Example: To begin a study of a particular aspect of motor development with the use of longitudinal case studies.

Implications for current practice from the study of motor development

Use longitudinal observation to help a person learn a new skill or improve an old skill.

§4.3 Maturational Period

the real beginnings of the study of motor development

neuro-maturational Maturationis

As with the previous period, the scientists of this period were not so much interested in motor development itself as with what studying motor development could say about the process and causes of development in general.

scientific method still involved longitudinal observation and description

the beginnings of an experimental approach to studying motor development were present

Implications for current research on motor development

two main methods of studying motor development:descriptionthe co-twin experimental method

(more sparingly )

Implications for current practice from the study of motor development

For those individuals who are concerned with motor development as a profession, for example, a teacher, therapist or pediatrician, the implications of holding a strict maturationist viewpoint are worrying.

Bayley Scales

§4.4 Normative/Descriptive Period

scholars of physical education

“Development of motor coordination in boys and girls”

focus on the product of motor development rather than the underlying processes

study at one period of time rather than across time

two main types of studies One type studied the changing motor

performance of skills across age how the motor skill is produced from a

biomechanical perspective perceptual-motor development

intervention methodology

Implications for current research on motor development

the growing recognition of an interactionist perspective

the cost-effectiveness and fault of cross-sectional

Implications for practice from the study of motor development

First the studies of motor performance outcomes were reflected in an impetus to get standardized tests of physical fitness and motor skills that provides teachers with benchmarks on which to judge the motor development of their students.

§4.5 Information Processing Period

an explosion of interest in motor development

“Mechanisms of Motor Skill Development” a computer model of the brain children’s perceptual-cognitive processes

the information processing paradigm differed from previous experimental designs in two ways First, while the cross-sectional design

remained, age was no longer the main independent variable

The second change in experimental design was a focus on simple movements

Researchers who were not influenced by the information processing approach, continued to concentrate on studying developmental sequences with a more overt interactionist perspective.

Attention

Reaction-choice

Perception

Memory

Feedback

Movement progress

Input Output

Implications for current research on motor development

focus on underlying processes that change across age, as opposed to describing how the motor skills themselves change is the main legacy of this period.

Implications for practice from the study of motor development

children are slow processors of information

the change from younger to older children is not always a linear

the methods of teaching new motor skills to younger children need to take into account these information processing differences and alter teaching based on

§4.6 Dynamic Systems Period a new theoretical perspective for

understanding motor development founded on “principles drawn from philosophy, biology, engineering science and, in particular, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the ecological approach to perception and action”

instead of considering the CNS to be the most important contributer to movement, the influence of other organismic or task/environmental constraints is recognized.

non-linear limit-cycle oscillators Two other complementary conceptual

contributions to the dynamic systems approach came from a unique 10-day conference the concept of constraints a “rate-limiting” constraint

This new conceptualization of the control and development of motor behavior led to profoundly different kinds of experiments

Implications for current research on motor development

The focus from underlying processes to underlying

principles of change. three additional study designs expert-novice design age-constant design developmental age design

Implications for practice from the study of motor development

traditional teaching methods such as showing or telling a child to change their pattern of coordination may not be as effective as changing a task parameter or the environmental set up.

§4.7 Developmental Motor Neuroscience Period

This period was recently proposed as a post-dynamics systems period

two complementary and parallel trends occurring: neuro-functional assessment proposing models

Non-invasive methods of investigating brain function

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, TMS functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging,

fMRI Electroencephalography, EEG

The concepts and methodology of computational neuroscientists

model motor control through a combination of engineering and neuroanatomical principles

less used in practice

§4.8 SUMMARY

reviewed the major theoretical approaches

each succeeding theory did not replace the previous one, they are built on top of one another

most methods have not been dropped along the way and are still in use today as alternative designs.

the important to note the difference between a true “developmental” question and an “age-comparison” question.

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