Discriminant analysis of gross and fine motor proficiency data

Two classes of non-handicapped and two classes of handicapped children (n = 67), aged 5 to 12 years, took part in a study designed to determine whether a regular or specially designed physical education program suited their individual needs best. Initially receiving instruction with class peers each child was administered the 14-item short-form Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Discriminant analysis of the data indicated that two of the three functions were significant, together accounting for 93% of the variance. For each significant function fewer than half the test items contributed substantial discriminatory power. Over-all, 75% of the subjects were correctly classified but misclassifications occurred in each class; different placements seem appropriate for non-handicapped and handicapped children.     

Self-concept in educable mentally retarded and emotionally handicapped children

A total of 48 educable mentally retarded (EMR) and emotionally handicapped (EH) children ( \(\overline {CA} \) =137.7 months) were pretested on Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), Nowicki-Strickland's Locus of Control Scale for Children (LCSC), and 3 behavioral measures: (1) risk-taking, (2) a chance/skill task, and (3) delay of gratification. One group of 12 children from each population was then exposed to either a self-confident or a control model. After exposure, Ss were given an opportunity to perform successfully on an ambiguous task and answer questions about their success, and were readministered the SEI, LCSC, and 3 behavioral choices. Correlational analyses of pretreatment data revealed significant relationships between defensiveness and LCSC, SEI, and delay of gratification and a near-significant relationship between LCSC and SEI. EMR and EH Ss were both lower on self-esteem than the general population, while EMR Ss were more defensive, more external, and less likely to delay gratification than EH Ss. Both treated groups matched more of the behavioral choices than the control groups, while only treated EH Ss were more likely to attribute their success to internal causes. It was concluded that EMR and EH children differ in self-concept development and that future attempts to modify self-concept should include greater modeling exposure as well as increased opportunity for performance with its resultant feedback.     

Reaction times, using fine and gross motor movements of moderately and severely mentally handicapped adults to auditory and visual stimuli

This experiment investigated the reaction times, when using fine and gross motor movements, of 24 moderately and severely mentally handicapped adults to light and sound stimuli. Unlike results of prior studies of normal and mildly mentally handicapped subjects, there were no significant differences among variables.     

Reexamination of contextual conditioning with massed versus distributed unconditioned stimuli

Sprague-Dawley rats were placed in the black compartment of a 2 compartment choice apparatus and received a series of unsignaled footshocks at fixed intertrial intervals (ITIs), with ITI duration varied across groups. Contextual conditioning was assessed using place preference and freezing tests. In Experiments 1 and 3, time spent in the unshocked, white compartment in a preference test decreased monotonically with increasing ITI. In Experiment 2, less freezing occurred in the 3-s than in the 60-s groups. An inverted U-shaped relationship between ITI and freezing emerged when a full range of ITIs was used in Experiment 3. The results have implications for the learning-performance distinction and suggest that short ITIs may promote contextual conditioning.     

The sufficient conditions for directed forgetting in normal and educable mentally retarded adolescents

A series of studies investigated the conditions under which normal and educable mentally retarded adolescents (13 to 15 years old) would or would not disregard irrelevant information in memory. A directed forgetting task was used in which the person was required to recall short sequences of picture names. In some sequences there was a cue to forget the first few pictures (irrelevant information) and to remember only the subsequent pictures (relevant information). When normal adolescents were given no explanation of the forget cue, there was interference from the irrelevant information. A minimum explanation of the cue, however, was sufficient to eliminate interference for the normal adolescents. The same minimal explanation was not sufficient for mentally retarded adolescents. It was clear that irrelevant information in memory interfered with the performance of retarded adolescents given only a minimal explanation of the forget cue. These results are important since most naturalistic situations do not involve an elaborate explanation of the importance of disregarding irrelevant information previously stored in memory.     

The relationship between fine and gross motor ability, self-perceptions and self-worth in children and adolescents

The present study examined the impact of fine and gross motor ability on self-perceptions of male and female children and adolescents. Participants were compared across age group, sex, and level of motor ability. When intercorrelations between self-perceptions were taken into account, the level of movement ability was found to impact upon perceived athletic competence and scholastic competence. When movement was considered in terms of fine and gross motor ability, it was found that those with higher perceived scholastic competence were in the younger group and had better fine motor skills. Furthermore, those with greater perceived athletic competence were also in the younger group, were predominantly male and had better gross motor skills. The types of self-perceptions that influenced self-worth were dependent on the level of motor ability of the participants and varied according to their sex. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to the necessity to assess specific types of motor deficit when tailoring intervention strategies for children with motor disorders, particularly within the academic setting.     

Distributed and massed practice effects on motor performance and learning of autistic children

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of massed and distributed practice upon the learning by 8 autistic children of rotary pursuit tracking at 20 rpm. The massed practice group of four completed 10 30-sec. trials with 5-sec. rests for 10 consecutive days on the Photoelectric Pursuit Rotor. The distributed practice group completed 10 30-sec. trials with 30-sec. rests for 10 consecutive days on the same device. The results of a 2 x 10 x 10 (group x practice days x trials) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last two factors indicated that learning occurred for both groups but no differences between groups were significant. It is suggested that further investigations into the applicability of motor learning principles to special populations be conducted using larger groups.     

Premotor and motor reaction time of educable mentally retarded youths in a Taekwondo program

This study investigated the educational effect of a Taekwondo program on premotor and motor reaction time in high school students who were mentally retarded but educable. Subjects were voluntarily recruited from the Special High School for the Mentally Retarded in Busan, South Korea. Subjects were divided into a trained group (n = 10) and a control group (n = 10) with balanced ages, physical conditions, and IQ. Subjects took part in pretests after practicing a Taekwondo motion 10 times with a signal presented randomly between 2 and 8 sec. after "Ready!" The motion was raising the right knee powerfully enough to crush a pine board. Subjects in the trained group took a Taekwondo course three times a week for 7 mo. This program was designed for the cognitive and physical characteristics of mentally retarded persons. After 7 mo., all subjects underwent posttests like the pretests. A four-channel EMG analyzing device (LAXTHA Inc., 2001) recorded EMG activity. Analysis of co-variance analyzed the difference of mean pre- and posttests for the two groups. For premotor RT, mean performance of the groups showed no significant difference, but significant improvement in mean motor RT by the trained group (p <.01) was noted.     

Semantic and acoustic processing in free and cued recall by educable mentally retarded adolescents

The abilities of educable mentally retarded adolescents to encode and retrieve words with semantic and acoustic cues were investigated in a free and cued recall task. On each of three trial blocks, seven groups of subjects were presented 20 unrelated stimulus words. Groups received either semantic, acoustic, or no encoding cues along with the stimuli. Free recall was requested from all subjects, followed immediately by a second period of either free recall or cued recall with the semantic or acoustic cues. Semantic cues were most effective when presented both at encoding and retrieval. The subjects were unable to use acoustic information as effective retrieval aids. Results were discussed in terms of encoding dimension dominance and mediational deficiencies.     

Differential effects of oral reading to improve comprehension with severe learning disabled and educable mentally handicapped students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of oral reading as a teaching technique for improving reading comprehension of 11 Educable Mentally Handicapped or Severe Learning Disabled adolescents. Students were tested on their ability to answer comprehension questions from a short factual article. Comprehension improved following the oral reading for students with a reading grade equivalent of less than 5.5 (measured from the Wide Range Achievement Test) but not for those students having a grade equivalent of greater than 5.5. This association was statistically significant (p = less than .01). Oral reading appeared to improve comprehension among the poorer readers but not for readers with moderately high ability.     

The role of early fine and gross motor development on later motor and cognitive ability

The aim of this study was to determine whether information obtained from measures of motor performance taken from birth to 4 years of age predicted motor and cognitive performance of children once they reached school age. Participants included 33 children aged from 6 years to 11 years and 6 months who had been assessed at ages 4 months to 4 years using the ages and stages questionnaires (ASQ: [Squires, J. K., Potter, L., & Bricker, D. (1995). The ages and stages questionnaire users guide. Baltimore: Brookes]). These scores were used to obtain trajectory information consisting of the age of asymptote, maximum or minimum score, and the variance of ASQ scores. At school age, both motor and cognitive ability were assessed using the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND: [McCarron, L. (1997). McCarron assessment of neuromuscular development: Fine and gross motor abilities (revised ed.). Dallas, TX: Common Market Press.]), and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Version IV (WISC-IV: [Wechsler, D. (2004). WISC-IV integrated technical and interpretive manual. San Antonio, Texas: Harcourt Assessment]). In contrast to previous research, results demonstrated that, although socio-economic status (SES) predicted fine motor performance and three of four cognitive domains at school age, gestational age was not a significant predictor of later development. This may have been due to the low-risk nature of the sample. After controlling for SES, fine motor trajectory information did not account for a significant proportion of the variance in school aged fine motor performance or cognitive performance. The ASQ gross motor trajectory set of predictors accounted for a significant proportion of the variance for cognitive performance once SES was controlled for. Further analysis showed a significant predictive relationship for gross motor trajectory information and the subtests of working memory and processing speed. These results provide evidence for detecting children at risk of developmental delays or disorders with a parent report questionnaire prior to school age. The findings also add to recent investigations into the relationship between early motor development and later cognitive function, and support the need for ongoing research into a potential etiological relationship.     

The effect of rest following massed practice of continuous and discrete motor tasks

Theories of the rest-related phenomena of reminiscence and warm-up decrement regard them as independent, being due to different factors. In this study it was found that rest following massed practice of a continuous task increased performance (reminiscence) and rest following massed practice of a discrete task lowered performance (warm-up decrement). The near-zero correlation found between the phenomena indicates that they are indeed independent and task-specific. Implications of the findings for the prediction of the effect of rest, and the fact that much motor learning and performance is task-specific, is discussed.     

Evaluation of meditation and relaxation on physiological response during the performance of fine motor and gross motor tasks

This study investigated the effects of meditation/relaxation on physiological responses during the performance of a fine motor and a gross motor task. A pretest-posttest control group, randomized-blocks design was used to study a group of 16 meditators and a group of 16 nonmeditators, subgroups of each who relaxed prior to performing on a pursuit-rotor tracking device as a fine motor task and to performing the Luft cycle ergometer protocol to a heart rate of 70% of age-adjusted maximum heart rate as a gross motor task. During each of these tasks heart rate, systolic blood pressure, rate-pressure-product, and EMG activity of the frontalis muscle were monitored. No significant difference in the performance of either the fine motor or the gross motor task was noted for persons practicing meditation and persons who were nonmeditators but were given the opportunity to relax prior to a motor task. Likewise, no significant difference was noted in the pattern of response to the imposed fine motor or gross motor task by meditators or relaxed nonmeditators.     

Effects of massed practice and meprobamate on spasmodic torticollis: an experimental analysis

In recent years a variety of behavioral techniques have been used in the treatment of spasmodic torticollis including negative practice (Agras and Marshall, 1965). faradic aversion (Brierly, 1967). instructions and negative feedback (Bernhardt et al., 1972). and systematic desensitization (Meares. 1973). However, in most of the aforementioned reports the controlling effects of the particular technique over dependent measures (voluntary and/or involuntary evocations of the tic) have not been demonstrated experimentally (see Hersen and Eisler, 1973 for review). In the present single case experimental analysis (Barlow and Hersen. 1973; Hersen and Barlow, 1974). the effects of massed practice (see Yates. 1958) and meprobamate on a subject exhibiting spasmodic torticollis were systematically examined. Following Bernhardt. Hersen and Barlow (1972). treatment efficacy was evaluated by monitoring rate of involuntary torticollis movements per 10-min videotaped recording sessions.