Fundamentals of Motor Behavior »

Jeffrey T. Fairbrother is an associate professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on motor learning and control and a graduate course on expert performance in sports. His research focuses on the effects that factors related to the performance setting (such as practice schedules) have on the performance and learning of motor skills. He established a collaborative agreement with the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine to investigate the effectiveness of self-controlled feedback on marksmanship training. In addition to his laboratory-based research, his scholarly publications include an article on the forensic analysis of a collapsed portable playpen that killed a child and an article on the take-off maneuver in the sport of surfing. Dr. Fairbrother is an active member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, and he chaired the Motor Learning/Control Program Committee for their 2006 annual meeting. He also serves as a section editor in motor learning and control for Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.

Dr. Fairbrother earned a PhD in movement science with a specialization in motor behavior from FloridaState University, an MS in physical education from CaliforniaPolytechnicStateUniversity, and a BA in English form the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Fundamentals of Motor Behavior provides students with an excellent introductory-level look at the opportunities in the exciting area of motor behavior.

Series Preface ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

Part I Welcome to Motor Behavior 1

Chapter 1 What Is Motor Behavior? 3

Research 5

Practical Application 6

Three Subdisciplines 7

A Brief History of Motor Behavior 12

Related Fields of Study 15

The Short of It 17

Chapter 2 What Can I Do With Motor Behavior? 19

Academic Path 22

Professional Paths 24

Side Paths 28

The Short of It 32

Part II Building Blocks of Motor Behavior 33

Taking a Systematic Approach 34

Accounting for the Person, the Task, and the Performance Setting 35

Information Processing 37

Chapter 3 Observing Behavior 39

Closed and Open Skills 41

Discrete, Serial, and Continuous Skills 45

Observation: A Critical Key to Understanding Motor Behavior 47

The Short of It 51

Chapter 4 Understanding How We Control Movements 53

Sources of Sensory Information 54

Continuous Control 58

No-Feedback Control 60

Combining Continuous and No-Feedback Control 62

The Short of It 62

Chapter 5 Understanding How We Learn Motor Skills 63

Theories of How We Learn 64

Ways We Learn Motor Skills 66

Transfer 72

Feedback 73

The Short of It 78

Chapter 6 Capabilities and Limitations 79

Information Processing 81

Reacting Faster: Ways to Reduce the Time Spent on Information Processing 86

How We Pay Attention 90

What We Pay Attention to Makes a Difference 91

Arousal and Performance 92

Speed--Accuracy Trade-Offs 94

Abilities and Skills 95

The Short of It 97

Chapter 7 Setting Practice Procedures 99

Constant and Varied Practice 101

Blocked and Random Practice 104

Practice Distribution 106

Deciding How to Design Practice 109

The Short of It 111

Chapter 8 Putting It All Together: The Motor Skill Learning Cycle 113

Phase 1 Consider the Person, Task, and Performance Setting 116

Phase 2 Plan for Practice 121

Phase 3 Implement Practice 124

Phase 4 Review the Overall Instructional Process 127

The Short of It 128

Epilogue: The Future of Motor Behavior 129

Appendix A Learn More About Motor Behavior 133

Appendix B Implementing Motor Behavior in the Real World 135

References 143

Bibliography 149

Index 161

About the Author 167