The Participant-Observer: A Source of Invalidity in Measuring Motor Skills?

1977 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-80
Author(s):  
Margaret J. Safrit ◽  
Diane M. Korell ◽  
E. Dawn McDonald ◽  
Marilyn E. Yeates
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Incident Light ◽  
Test Validity ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Overarm Throw ◽  
Written Test ◽  
Participant Observer

Test validity can be defined as the accuracy of a test score. Artifacts, sources of error that affect validity, have been studied in both research design and written test frameworks but have received little attention in the context of tests of motor behavior in an educational setting. One potential source of invalidity in motor skill testing is the presence of participant-observers. The participant-observer effect is defined as the influence of the presence of other subjects who are waiting to be tested or who have already been tested on subjects who are being tested. This study was designed to measure the test performances of 175 college women with participant-observers present and with participant-observers absent. The test was an overarm throw for speed measured by an incident light velocimeter. The data were analyzed using 2 × 4 fixed-effects analysis of variance. The presence of other participant-observers did not elicit performance scores that were different from those of subjects tested alone. Thus testing subjects in groups where one member of the group is tested while the others observe did not adversely affect performance on the overarm throw compared with that of subjects tested alone.

The problem of studying motor skills in connection with the peculiarities of the body and psyche

1927 ◽  
Vol 23 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 735-740
Author(s):  
I. N. Zhilin
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
The Body ◽  
Motor Functions ◽  
Mental Structure ◽  
General Pathology ◽  
Mental Diseases

Kretschmer's doctrine of the correlation between physique and character overlooks a question that lies in the plane of similar correlations, namely, that of the correlation between motor functions and the mental structure of personality. This question attracts much attention these days and must occupy the most legitimate place among other problems included in the study of personality, both healthy and sick. In the latter case, it is worth remembering at least the instructions of Wernicke (2), who opined that "the general pathology of mental diseases consists in nothing else than in peculiarities of motor behavior".

scholarly journals An internal model approach for motor behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 356-371
Author(s):  
Cláudio M. F. Leite ◽  
Carlos E. Campos ◽  
Crislaine R. Couto ◽  
Herbert Ugrinowitsch
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
Internal Model ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
External World ◽  
Internal Models ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Internal Coherence ◽  
Motor Actions ◽  
Model Approach

Interacting with the environment requires a remarkable ability to control, learn, and adapt motor skills to ever-changing conditions. The intriguing complexity involved in the process of controlling, learning, and adapting motor skills has led to the development of many theoretical approaches to explain and investigate motor behavior. This paper will present a theoretical approach built upon the top-down mode of motor control that shows substantial internal coherence and has a large and growing body of empirical evidence: The Internal Models. The Internal Models are representations of the external world within the CNS, which learn to predict this external world, simulate behaviors based on sensory inputs, and transform these predictions into motor actions. We present the Internal Models’ background based on two main structures, Inverse and Forward models, explain how they work, and present some applicability.

Action, Movement, and Culture: Does Culture Shape Movement?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blandine Bril
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Critical Dimension ◽  
Metabolic Processes ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Physical Environments

What any traveler can definitely notice is the incredible diversity of everyday skills due to the cultural diversity of tools, raw materials, physical environments, or local postural habits that set up the conditions for performing tasks. Do cultural environments influence motor skills? Are there “motor styles” common to members of a given cultural group? Focusing on instrumental everyday actions from a functional perspective, we propose four cases to illustrate in detail cultural variations in motor behavior. The first example explores the movement repertoire of expert potters from two cultural backgrounds when asked to produce pots of the same shape. A second example analyzes how a dance figure based on the same mechanical principles gives rise to different cultural aesthetics. The third example questions the adaptation of metabolic processes while performing the same load-carrying task in various physical environments. The last example brings up the issue of cultural choices of working and resting postures. Each case refers to a critical dimension of what generates the cultural diversity of motor skills: operational equivalence of movements, variation in the “weighing” of the parameters of the action, adaptation of metabolic processes, and adaptive benefit of specific posture. We conclude that if the countless diversity of cultural contexts and tasks give rise to an enormous diversity of movements and postures, this diversity is anchored in the many degrees of freedom of the organism. It is this profusion of degrees of freedom that sustains the endless variations of cultural motor skills giving ways to infinite manners of using one’s own body.

092 Effect of the dual orexin receptor antagonist (DORA) daridorexant on behaviour upon awakening in rats and dogs

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A38-A39
Author(s):  
Giorgio Bergamini ◽  
Catherine Roch ◽  
Sean Durkin ◽  
Michel Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Grip Strength ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Muscle Weakness ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Motor Impairment ◽  
Phase Behaviour ◽  
Fine Motor ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Time Point

Abstract Introduction The ability to be fast alert and to interact with the environment without motor impairment upon waking up, is a critical feature of natural sleep. DORAs represent a new class of insomnia medications that specifically inhibit the wake-promoting effects of orexin neuropeptides. Daridorexant is a potent and selective DORA under late stage development for the treatment of insomnia. Here, we assessed the impact of sleep-promoting doses of daridorexant on rats’ and dogs’ behaviour upon forced awakening. Zolpidem (a positive GABAA receptor modulator) was used as active comparator in rats because of its known negative impact on motor functions. Methods Rats were woken up at different time points after oral administration of daridorexant (10, 30, 100 mg/kg) or zolpidem (30, 100 mg/kg) during their inactive phase, and repeatedly subjected to two motor tasks: 1) the rotating rod test (lasting 120 sec, at each time point) assessing gross motor skills and coordination, and 2) the forepaw grip strength test assessing fine motor skills and muscle strength. Dogs were presented with food as an external, salient stimulus, three hours after administration of daridorexant in gelatin capsules (10, 30 or 90 mg/dog) during their active phase. Behaviour and signs of muscle weakness, after having woken up, were assessed by manual inspection of video recordings and concomitant electroencephalogram/electromyogram recordings. Results In both the rotarod and grip tests, daridorexant treatment had no effect on motor behavior at any dose or time point tested, while zolpidem significantly reduced the time spent on the rotarod and the grip strength in a dose and time-dependent manner (N=12/group; p<0.001;) (e.g. at 30 min post-dose, time spent on the rotarod was 84, 79–89 and 10–19 sec for vehicle, daridorexant and zolpidem, respectively). Dogs treated with daridorexant were able to wake up easily upon food presentation. They behaved and ate normally and did not show any signs of muscle weakness. Conclusion The type of sleep promoted by daridorexant is surmountable in rats and dogs and similar to physiological sleep. It allows animals to easily wake up, to behave normally without motor impairment and to respond efficiently to the environmental conditions. Support (if any) Funded by Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd

scholarly journals Gross motor skill evaluation in adolescents with Down syndrome

1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Leandro Celestino ◽  
Juliana Cazetta Pereira ◽  
Ana M. Forti Barela
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Gross Motor ◽  
Gross Motor Skills ◽  
Object Control ◽  
Intervention Protocol ◽  
Overhand Throwing ◽  
Skill Evaluation ◽  
Gross Motor Skill

The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of gross motor skills of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) older than 10 years of age. Nine individuals with DS between 14 and 20 years (17.89±2.20) were recruited from “Centro de Ação Social Espaço Livre”, São Paulo, SP. They were videotaped performing six locomotor skills (running, galloping, hoping, leaping, horizontal jumping, sliding) and six object control skills (striking a stationary ball, stationary dribbling, catching, kicking, overhand throwing, underhand rolling) on one occasion at the same place where they were recruited. All performed skills were analyzed by three trained evaluators according to specific criteria to determine their age equivalent for both locomotor and object control skills. All participants presented age equivalent under their chronological age for all skills. According to these results, we conclude that individuals with DS above 10 years old present a developmental delay on gross motor skills. We also suggest that future investigations take into account an intervention protocol to DS individuals older than 10 years of age in order to verify its effects of it on these individuals’ motor behavior.  

Performance and Simulated Performance Test Results as a Function of Instruction by Still and Motion Visuals

1981 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Unna H. Jeon ◽  
Robert K. Branson
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Performance Tests ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Simulated Performance ◽  
Instructional Objectives ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Written Test ◽  
Better Than

This study evaluates the effectiveness of three different media in teaching a specific motor skill. Validated lessons utilizing three different media — motion/sound, slide/sound, and story boards — were used to teach basic manipulations of the M203 Grenade Launcher. Written and performance tests, derived directly from the instructional objectives, were used to evaluate the learning. As evaluated by the performance test, learners using motion film performed significantly better than those using either slides or workbooks, and required significantly less time. Written tests, however, failed to detect this difference. These results suggest that much previous research comparing media may have been inconclusive due to defects in experimental design, such as using a written test to measure motor skills taught by visual media.

scholarly journals Instrumentos para evaluar las habilidades motoras en niños con Trastorno del Espectro Autista entre 5 y 12 años: Revisión Sistemática (Instruments to assess motor skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder between 5 and 12 years old: Systematic Revi

Retos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 286-295
Author(s):  
Miriam Mariño Sánchez ◽  
Javier Rico Díaz ◽  
José Eugenio Rodríguez Fernández ◽  
Lucía Peixoto Pino
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
School Context ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Psychomotor Development ◽  
Motor Deficits ◽  
Revisión Sistemática ◽  
Starting Point

La actividad física es un elemento determinante en el desarrollo integral de la población. Por lo general, el alumnado con TEA es físicamente inactivo como consecuencia, entre otros aspectos, de los déficits motrices existentes, lo que acaba perjudicando su desarrollo psicomotor. El objetivo de esta revisión sistemática es identificar y analizar los principales instrumentos utilizados para evaluar la motricidad en niños de entre cinco y 12 años diagnosticados con TEA. Se han revisado artículos publicados entre los años 2015 y 2020, disponibles en cinco bases de datos electrónicas: PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, SPORTDiscus y PubMed, siguiendo las pautas de la declaración PRISMA para revisiones sistemáticas. Tras la aplicación del método de búsqueda y de los criterios de inclusión determinados, se analizaron en detalle un total de 10 documentos, en los que se refleja que los instrumentos más utilizados para evaluar el comportamiento motor de niños con autismo han sido las baterías o test, siendo la Batería MACB-2 la más completa entre las que mejor se podrían adaptar para su uso en el contexto escolar. Se sugiere la elaboración de pictogramas que faciliten la comprensión de las pruebas por parte de los niños con TEA. Dada la importancia de mejorar sus habilidades motoras para facilitarles la práctica físico-deportiva, resulta determinante profundizar en el estudio de métodos de evaluación de su nivel motriz como punto de partida y de seguimiento para implementar intervenciones eficaces para esta población en el ámbito escolar. Abstract. Physical activity is a determining element in the integral development of the population. In general, students with ASD are physically inactive consequently, among other things, of existing motor deficits, which ends up impairing their psychomotor development. The objective of this systematic review is to identify and analyze the main instruments used to assess motor skills in boys and girls between five and 12 years old diagnosed with ASD. Articles published between 2015 and 2020, available in five electronic databases: PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, SPORTDiscus and PubMed, have been reviewed, following the guidelines of the PRISMA statement for systematic reviews PRISMA methodology. After applying the search method and the determined inclusion criteria, a total of 10 documents were analyzed in detail, in which it’s reflected that the instruments most used to evaluate the motor behavior of boys and girls with autism have been batteries or test, being the MABC-2 Battery the most complete among those that could best be adapted for use in the school context. The development of pictograms is suggested to facilitate the understanding of the tests by boys and girls with ASD. It’s important to improve their motor skills to facilitate physical-sporting practice, so it’s essential to study in depth the methods to assess their motor level as a starting point and follow-up to implement effective interventions for this population in the school environment.

scholarly journals Testing Writing on Computers

1997 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Russell ◽  
Walt Haney
Keyword(s):  
Test Validity ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
School Students ◽  
Mode Of Administration ◽  
Community Interest ◽  
Paper And Pencil ◽  
Written Test

Computer use has grown rapidly during the past decade. Within the educational community, interest in authentic assessment has also increased. To enhance the authenticity of tests of writing, as well as of other knowledge and skills, some assessments require students to respond in written form via paper-and-pencil. However, as increasing numbers of students grow accustomed to writing on computers, these assessments may yield underestimates of students' writing abilities. This article presents the findings of a small study examining the effect that mode of administration -- computer versus paper-and-pencil -- has on middle school students' performance on multiple-choice and written test questions. Findings show that, though multiple-choice test results do not differ much by mode of administration, for students accustomed to writing on computer, responses written on computer are substantially higher than those written by hand (effect size of 0.9 and relative success rates of 67% versus 30%). Implications are discussed in terms of both future research and test validity.

Validation of a Backswing Developmental Sequence for the Overarm Throw for Force

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Bradley Beseler ◽  
Kathleen Williams ◽  
Mandy S. Plumb
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Dominant Hand ◽  
Developmental Sequence ◽  
Fundamental Motor Skills ◽  
Initial Validation ◽  
Developmental Sequences ◽  
Overarm Throw ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Different Levels

Background: Roberton’s movement components are used to assess fundamental motor skills as segmental developmental sequences. In 1991, Haywood, Williams and VanSant determined that original developmental sequences proposed for the backswing levels of the overarm throw did not encompass all ages. Their study of older throwers identified two new qualitatively different levels, with half the participants categorized at two new levels. This investigation extended the initial validation across a wider age range. Method: Two hundred and twenty-eight primary, high school, university students, and adults were instructed to make five throws for maximum force using their dominant hand. Throws were recorded with side and rear cameras synchronized for analysis. Prelongitudinal screening was used to analyze the Haywood et al. revisions of the Langendorfer developmental sequence. Results: Five of the six levels of Haywood’s sequence were suitable for assessing throwers 8 years of age through to adulthood. More study is needed of one less advanced pattern. Lower level throws corresponded to lower velocities; higher level throws were faster, suggesting the sequence was properly ordered. More males than females were classified at higher levels, demonstrating typical gender differences. Discussion: The categories hypothesized for the backswing action of the overarm throw were valid descriptors of differences observed across ages, from childhood to adulthood. Additional study of Levels 3 and 4 is warranted to clarify their order.

scholarly journals The effects of using virtual reality in the rehabilitation of stroke patients: Systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
Letícia De S. Vidal ◽  
Lilian Maria M. C. De Oliveira ◽  
Tassiane Maria A. Pereira ◽  
Janaína De M. Silva
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Treatment Seeking ◽  
Fine Motor ◽  
Upper Limbs ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Functional Rehabilitation

Introdution: Stroke causes several alterations, the morefrequent are motor, physical and psychological. Since rehabilitationtakes time and can become monotonous, the useof virtual reality can act as a stimulating way to involve thepatient in the treatment, seeking to develop its functionality.Objective: The objective of this study was to verify in theavailable literature the effects of using virtual reality in thetreatment of the sequelae of the Stroke, to gain functionalityin the upper limbs. Methods: This literature review was basedon the PICO strategy, carried out in the databases Lílacs,Pubmed, Scielo and PEDro, using the keywords “physiotherapyAND virtual reality OR exergame OR exergaming ANDstroke AND upper limbs”. Complete articles were published inEnglish, Portuguese and Spanish, available and dated between2015 and 2020, excluding those that were review articles,incomplete and that did not address the topic. Results: As aresult, the search found 1,035 articles, of which only 14 metthe imposed criteria. Most studies have shown that the useof virtual reality through games has proved to be an efficientresource in the functional rehabilitation of patients withstroke. Presenting itself as a competent complementary tophysiotherapeutic treatment in improving fine motor skills,motor behavior of the limbs and cognitive performance,these gains directly influenced the gain in functionality ofthe samples. Conclusion: The use of virtual reality is useful toassist in the treatment and reduction of sequelae in the upperlimbs of patients with stroke, as it promotes greater functionalgain, range of motion and improves the dexterity of both themost and the least compromised hand.

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