Several studies have shown an improvement in the performance of motor skills following imagined performance of the skill, or "mental practice." One unresolved issue has centered on whether the effect being observed is in fact a practice effect. As one alternative, the effect may be a simple instance of planning when to use a skill, or…

This paper reviews psychological literature concerned with aging, and includes brief reviews of (a) motor skill work, (b) the phenomena of "slowing," (c) social psychological findings, (d) sensation and perception, and (e) selected learning characteristics. The following teaching and learning strategies were elicited from this study: (a)…

Examined with 23 children (7-10 years old) with minimal brain dysfunction was the relation of handedness functions to early and diffuse brain damage. Ss and a group of 25 controls were given the Harris Tests for Lateral Dominance and the Halstead Finger Oscillation test. Results indicated a lowered performance level for both right and left hands…

Researchers have found that the elderly are as capable of learning motor skills as younger persons but perform better under some conditions than others. For example, the elderly learn and perform motor skills more efficiently when there is additional time to respond to stimulus. Tasks which are self-regulated rather than directed by an external…

Literature examining elements influencing the production of consistent human movement is reviewed in this paper. The review is limited to theoretical papers and research studies on sport-related tasks that utilize actual representations of movement, e.g., film, electromyogram, or videotape; rather than movement only implied from goal attainment,…

A systematic three-level ("Level 3") approach to research in the motor behavior area was used to investigate the influence of varying degrees of contextual interference in the acquisition of volleyball serving skills. One hundred and twenty-eight middle school subjects learned three volleyball serves during a 3-week long unit in a physical…

This study investigated the effects of a creative movement program on the motor creativity of Taiwanese preschool children, hypothesizing that there would be no significant different in motor creativity between children participating in the creative movement program and those participating in a control group. The intervention group completed a…

Guidelines are presented to special educators and adapted physical educators for assessing the psychomotor development of severely handicapped students. The importance of determining whether there is an abnormality in central nervous system development is emphasized. Assessment information is presented for 15 topic areas: reflex analysis, muscle…

Although children are not miniature adults, they are often treated as such when participating in many youth sport activities. Young athletes, for example, are generally expected to participate in sporting events with equipment that has been designed for adults. What effect might scaling down such equipment have on the young child's performance?…

Previous research has found that males perform better than females on the pursuit rotor. To examine whether males and females with different sex role orientations would perform differently on a motor task, 120 students (classified as androgynous, traditional sex role, cross-sexed, or undifferentiated, based on scores on the Personal Attributes…

The fundamental purposes of this study were to develop mastery tests in the cognitive and psychomotor domains for skin and scuba diving and to establish validity and reliability for the tests. A table of specifications was developed for each domain, and a pilot study refined the initial test batteries into their final form. In the main study,…

This paper describes motor development and movement skills and lists activities appropriate for kindergarten students. Locomotor, stability, and manipulative skills are defined and stick figure drawings are presented of kindergarten-level exercises. Games for enhancing locomotor and manipulative skills are described. "Stunts" and other activities…

Oxendine (1970) hypothesized that the arousal-performance relationship varies across tasks, such that gross motor activities will require high arousal for optimal performance while fine motor activities will be facilitated by low arousal, but adversely affected by high arousal. Although the effects of preparatory arousal on strength performance…

The author describes how intellectual and academic strengths develop in young children and how children's daily behavior can reveal the presence of extraordinary capability. The relationships between the emergence of advanced intellectual skills and development of physical and social competencies are discussed. The implications of children's…

Research on three types of visual symbols is discussed in terms of the implications of the findings for instructional developers. The research in question focused on which of three symbol stimuli--concept-related graphic, arbitrary graphic, or verbal label--would most rapidly bring a psychomotor response under control and would maintain control…