Undergraduate Motor Learning

Emily H. Wughalter, Ed.D.Revised Spring 2010

A taxonomy is a classification system. In our class we learned a system for classifying motor tasks proposed by Ann Gentile (1972, 1975, 1987, 2001).

A variable is something defined by an experimenter and is measured along some dimension, including: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio measurement.

Open skills Closed skills Manipulation of objects Adaptive movements Intertrial variability Motor patterns

Weave in known information with the information contained in the literature available

Summarize the work of the researchers, including: hypotheses, methods, results, and conclusions

Omit quotes as much as possible Use the word participants instead of subjects Do not use text messaging terms in formal

writing

Do not state an article title in the context of an essay, e.g., Brady in his article (1996) “Anticipation of coincidence, gender, and sports classification”published in Perceptual and Motor Skills, found no

gender effects on coincidence anticipation performance.

Use spell-check and a grammar checker if available

Omit the verb to prove in scholarly writing, e.g., Brady proved that gender does not affect coincidence

anticipation performance

Omit contractions in scholarly writing, e.g., Brady didn’t prove that gender affects coincidence

anticipation performance. Attempt to omit passive writing styles, e.g.,

It has been shown that gender has no effect on coincidence anticipation timing.

Omit personal pronouns in formal writing, e.g., I thought Brady did a great job on his publication in

gender and coincidence anticipation.

Attempt to reduce reliance on secondary reference materials Brady referred to the work of Wughalter and found she

discovered differences in males and females.

Affect is ordinarily used as a verb and effect is ordinarily used as a noun

Paragraphs???? Introduction and conclusion paragraphs Use past tense when referring to the

literature

USE NEUTRAL LANGUAGE PLEASE

No gender bias No race bias

No ethnic bias No bias at all!

Format and Grammatical Format and Grammatical IssuesIssues

““The first article I read dealt with The first article I read dealt with …”.…”.

““The second of my articles dealt The second of my articles dealt with…”.with…”.

““Darden did some research…”.Darden did some research…”.– Why not use Why not use – Darden conducted research….Darden conducted research….

Eliminate words like believe and Eliminate words like believe and feelfeel

Agreement of Subject/Object and Agreement of Subject/Object and Subject/VerbSubject/Verb

APA stands for the American Psychological Association. The APA is now up to Version 6 92010) of its format manual. Please be sure to use the most current manual for developing papers.

Example 1 - Reference in textIn their study, Cooper and Rothstein (1982) found videotape replay was an effective source of external feedback for open and closed environments.

Example 2 - Reference in parenthesesVideotape replay has been found to be an effective source of external feedback

(Cooper & Rothstein, 1982).

For direct quotes:Cooper and Rothstein (1982) found “…

that both the groundstrokes and the serve were learned best under PEIF” (p. 198).

“… Both the groundstrokes and the serve were learned best under PEIF” (Cooper & Rothstein, 1982, p. 198).

Format and Grammatical Format and Grammatical IssuesIssues

Eliminate the adjective “HUGE”Eliminate the adjective “HUGE” Beware of plagiarismBeware of plagiarism

Should open skills be changed to closed skills during practice?

Brady, F. (1996). Anticipation of coincidence, gender, and sports classification. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 82, 227-239.

Cooper, L. K., & Rothstein, A. L. (1982). Video replay and the learning skills in open and closed environments. Research Quarterly for Exercise

and Sport, 52, 191-199.

Darling, W. G., & Cooke, J. D. (1987). Changes in the variability of movement trajectories with practice. Journal of Motor Behavior, 19, 3.

Eidson, T. A., & Stadulis, R. E. (1991). Effects of variability of practice on the transfer

and performance of open and closed skills. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly,

8, 342-356.

Gentile, A. M. (1972). A working model of skill acquisition with application to teaching. Quest, 17, 3-23.

Hautala, R. M., Conn, J. H. (1993). A test of Magill’s closed to open continuum for skill development. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 77, 219-226.

Highlen, P., & Bennett, B. (1983). Elite divers and wrestlers: A comparison between open- and closed-skill athletes. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5, 390-409.

Jarus, T., Wughalter, E. H., & Gianutsos, J. (1997). Effects of contextual interference and conditions of movement task on acquisition, retention, and transfer of motor skills by women. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 84, 179-183.

Liu, W.H. (1996). Review of recent Chinese research on field dependence- independence in high-level athletes. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 83, 1187- 1193.

Mc Loed, B. (1983). Field dependence as a factor in sports with preponderance of open or closed skills. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 60, 369-370.

Mount, J. (1996). Effect of practice of a throwing skill in one body position on performance of the skill in an alternate position. Perceptual and Motor Skills, , 723-732.

Mulholland, R., & McNeill, A. (1989). Heart rate responses of profoundly retarded, multiply handicapped children during closed-skill fine motor and open-

skill gross motor activities. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 6 (1), 68-78.

Poulton, E. G. (1957). Range effects in experiments on people. American Journal of

Psychology, 88, 3-32.

Riach, C. L., & Hayes, K. C. (1990). Anticipatory postural control in children. Journal of Motor Behavior, 22, 250-266.

Rothstein, A., & Wughalter, E. H. (1987). Basic stuff series 1: Motor Learning. Reston, VA: AAHPERD.

Sherwood, D. E., & Weeks, D. L. (1994). A comparison of knowledge of results

scheduling methods for promoting motor skill acquisition and retention.

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 65, 136-142.

Wrisberg, C. A., & Anshel, M. H. (1993). A field test of the activity set hypothesis for warm-up decrement in an open skill. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, ,

Yazdy. O. (1998). Speed of information in sport: closed vs open skills. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 19, 281-

295.