Rhythmicity and motor skill.

Abstract

Noting lack of synchrony in the movement of retarded and learning disabled children led to the development of four tests requiring subjects to tap their hands in concert with a metronome. In this study the scores that 175 of these children made on the rhythmic tests were factor analyzed to obtain factor scoring coefficients; the latter were then used alone and with age in the regression analyses to predict performance on two fine and eight gross motor tasks. The proportions of total variance accounted for by the independent variables ranged from (a) .09 to .31 when the rhythmic factor-scoring coefficients were used alone and (b) .15 to .36 when age was included with the rhythmic factor-scoring coefficients.