1 HAYWOOD – FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
Defining motor development
Development
Development can be described by:
- A continuous process of change in functional capacity
o To live, move, work in the real world
- Related to (but not dependent on) age
o As age advances, development proceeds
- Involves sequential change
o One step leads to the next step
Definition of words
Motor development Development of movement abilities.
Motor learning Relatively permanent movement changes related to practice / experience.
Motor behaviour Motor development and motor learning both.
Motor control Neural, physical and behavioural aspects of movement.
Physical growth An increase in size or body mass.
Maturation - The process towards an optimal functional body system.
- The ability to reproduce.
Aging - The process of growing older.
- The process of changes that lead to a loss of adaptability / function.
Constraints
Newell’s Model
Individual constraints A person’s physical and mental characteristics
- Structural constaints - Related to body structure
- Functional constraints - Related to behavioural function
- Process - Processing the information (loop control)
- Strategy - Optimization procedures
Environmental constraints The world around us: physical and sociocultural
Task constraints The goal and rules of the task
‘’If any of these 3 factors change, the movement result change’’
Different research studies
How do we know that a change is age related and not a fluctuation of behaviour? One way to discern
development change is to observe individual’s movements and then compare it to others. There are
three types of research studies for those developmental changes:
---- Longitudinal Cross-sectional Mixed-longitudinal / sequential
Group Same group all the time Age group differences Age group differences, repeat it
with the same groups
Time Over a long time In a short time, one point Short time (one point), repeat it
over a long time
, 2 HAYWOOD – THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Maturational perspective (1930 – 1950)
This perspective is about the maturation of the CNS (= Central Nervous System). It is an internal
process driven by the genetic time clock. The environment can only speed or slow the process. The
motor development takes place in the infancy (milestone theory). When becoming an adolescent,
motor development doesn’t take place anymore. Basic motor skills would emerge automatically,
there was more hands-on therapy and special training wasn’t needed. There are two periods:
- Normative descriptive period
- Biomechanical descriptive period
Internal factors > External factors
Developmental direction
- Cranial caudal (= cephalocaudal direction)
- Central peripheral
- Proximal distal
- NOT: gross movements fine movements (depends on where the point of fiction is)
Information processing perspective (1960 – 1980)
This perspective emphasizes the environmental factors. A common used metaphor is ‘’the brain is
like a computer: taking information, processing it and outputting movement’’. It was like Skinner’s
behaviourism with a stimulus-response. In this perspective they are looking at the age difference.
Internal factors < External factors
Ecological perspective (1980 – today)
This perspective is about the interrelationships between individual, environment and task. It is like
the Newell’s Model. In this perspective motor development is seen as a skill transition. Thereby, the
internal factors are more than only the CNS that is used in the maturational perspective. There are
two types of approaches in the ecological perspective: dynamical system and perception-action.
Internal factors = External factors
Dynamical system approach
The interacting constraints in your body act together. If you can change one of them, the movement
may change. Rate limiters / controllers are individual constraints that hold back or slow down the
emergence of a motor skill. For example: when a baby doesn’t have enough leg strength, he isn’t
able to walk yet. This constraints holds him back from walking.
Perception-action approach
Combining the development of perception and the development of movement. The body changes
the perception will change the movement may change.
Affordance When you see an object, you directly see the function that the object
allows (based on your body and the object’s size and shape).
Body scaling Changing the dimension of the environment or object in relation to
your own constraints (length / weight).
Defining motor development
Development
Development can be described by:
- A continuous process of change in functional capacity
o To live, move, work in the real world
- Related to (but not dependent on) age
o As age advances, development proceeds
- Involves sequential change
o One step leads to the next step
Definition of words
Motor development Development of movement abilities.
Motor learning Relatively permanent movement changes related to practice / experience.
Motor behaviour Motor development and motor learning both.
Motor control Neural, physical and behavioural aspects of movement.
Physical growth An increase in size or body mass.
Maturation - The process towards an optimal functional body system.
- The ability to reproduce.
Aging - The process of growing older.
- The process of changes that lead to a loss of adaptability / function.
Constraints
Newell’s Model
Individual constraints A person’s physical and mental characteristics
- Structural constaints - Related to body structure
- Functional constraints - Related to behavioural function
- Process - Processing the information (loop control)
- Strategy - Optimization procedures
Environmental constraints The world around us: physical and sociocultural
Task constraints The goal and rules of the task
‘’If any of these 3 factors change, the movement result change’’
Different research studies
How do we know that a change is age related and not a fluctuation of behaviour? One way to discern
development change is to observe individual’s movements and then compare it to others. There are
three types of research studies for those developmental changes:
---- Longitudinal Cross-sectional Mixed-longitudinal / sequential
Group Same group all the time Age group differences Age group differences, repeat it
with the same groups
Time Over a long time In a short time, one point Short time (one point), repeat it
over a long time
, 2 HAYWOOD – THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Maturational perspective (1930 – 1950)
This perspective is about the maturation of the CNS (= Central Nervous System). It is an internal
process driven by the genetic time clock. The environment can only speed or slow the process. The
motor development takes place in the infancy (milestone theory). When becoming an adolescent,
motor development doesn’t take place anymore. Basic motor skills would emerge automatically,
there was more hands-on therapy and special training wasn’t needed. There are two periods:
- Normative descriptive period
- Biomechanical descriptive period
Internal factors > External factors
Developmental direction
- Cranial caudal (= cephalocaudal direction)
- Central peripheral
- Proximal distal
- NOT: gross movements fine movements (depends on where the point of fiction is)
Information processing perspective (1960 – 1980)
This perspective emphasizes the environmental factors. A common used metaphor is ‘’the brain is
like a computer: taking information, processing it and outputting movement’’. It was like Skinner’s
behaviourism with a stimulus-response. In this perspective they are looking at the age difference.
Internal factors < External factors
Ecological perspective (1980 – today)
This perspective is about the interrelationships between individual, environment and task. It is like
the Newell’s Model. In this perspective motor development is seen as a skill transition. Thereby, the
internal factors are more than only the CNS that is used in the maturational perspective. There are
two types of approaches in the ecological perspective: dynamical system and perception-action.
Internal factors = External factors
Dynamical system approach
The interacting constraints in your body act together. If you can change one of them, the movement
may change. Rate limiters / controllers are individual constraints that hold back or slow down the
emergence of a motor skill. For example: when a baby doesn’t have enough leg strength, he isn’t
able to walk yet. This constraints holds him back from walking.
Perception-action approach
Combining the development of perception and the development of movement. The body changes
the perception will change the movement may change.
Affordance When you see an object, you directly see the function that the object
allows (based on your body and the object’s size and shape).
Body scaling Changing the dimension of the environment or object in relation to
your own constraints (length / weight).
