Motor Vocabulary Research Articles

Move Together, Communicate Together: Supporting Preschoolers’ Communication Skills Through Physical Activities

During the preschool years, children develop several inter-related skills including motor skills and communication skills. In this article, we highlight several communication teaching strategies and describe how practitioners can promote communication skills of preschoolers with disabilities by providing them with multiple opportunities to practice these skills during motor activities. The following strategies are described: arrange the physical environment, model motor vocabulary, ask motor related questions, use a fill in the blank strategy, and reinforce/prompt child communication. The use of these strategies during large and small group motor activities is illustrated with vignettes. We present strategies for creating an engaging environment and providing meaningful opportunities so that children can learn important communication skills while also developing critical motor skills.

Aptidão física relacionada ao desempenho esportivo na ginástica artística

The practice of artistic gymnastics for children and adolescents develop both motor vocabulary, cognitive aspects and affective partners. The aim of the study was to analyze physical fitness characteristics related to sports performance of adolescents practicing artistic gymnastics. This study is a systematic review and used the following databases: Scielo, PubMed and SportDiscus, with no starting date and using as final cutoff the month of February 2017. The search strategy was based on the identification of the Population of adolescents practicing artistic gymnastics and outcome related to physical fitness characteristics related to sports performance, and allowed verifying how studies were evaluated. There was a predominance of studies related to anthropometric variables, such as BMI and body fat percentage (%F) of gymnasts. Based on this type of study, the information available in this study will contribute to help physical education professionals and other researchers in the field with current publications related to these aspects, according to the results of this study, particularly in the pedagogical information for coaches.

Aptidão física relacionada ao desempenho esportivo na ginástica artística

The practice of artistic gymnastics for children and adolescents develop both motor vocabulary, cognitive aspects and affective partners. The aim of the study was to analyze physical fitness characteristics related to sports performance of adolescents practicing artistic gymnastics. This study is a systematic review and used the following databases: Scielo, PubMed and SportDiscus, with no starting date and using as final cutoff the month of February 2017. The search strategy was based on the identification of the Population of adolescents practicing artistic gymnastics and outcome related to physical fitness characteristics related to sports performance, and allowed verifying how studies were evaluated. There was a predominance of studies related to anthropometric variables, such as BMI and body fat percentage (%F) of gymnasts. Based on this type of study, the information available in this study will contribute to help physical education professionals and other researchers in the field with current publications related to these aspects, according to the results of this study, particularly in the pedagogical information for coaches.

An inverse approach to validate the importance of motor ability and sport on purposeful play and lifelong vigorous physical activity

Introduction Identifying an appropriate physical education (PE) curriculum that will enable children to embrace lifelong vigorous physical activity (LVPA) is often discussed among practitioners. Although there exists no centralized pedagogical approach, many PE models follow a (1) «physical fitness» approach with an emphasis on «fitness-related» activities or; (2) a skill-based, motor competence approach attached to the concept of Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD). Although the number of longitudinal investigations that support a motor competence approach to LVPA are sparse, there is support that acquired motor ability empowers children and adolescents with the confidence to move frequently in a variety of movement settings [1] , [2] , [3] . In contrast, longitudinal studies that tie the «physical fitness» approach to LVPA are nearly non-existent. Experience Longitudinal studies require time thus, an «inverse approach» to identify particular motor or sport skills among adults may help to further validate and expedite the notion that acquired motor ability is a critical curricular component for children in the school setting. The purpose of this project is to qualitatively identify the use of a specific «motor vocabulary» in the context of a purposeful play environment among adult (male and female university students) participants. Qualitative identification of motor abilities in combination with a participant survey of LVPA patterns and PE experience will be assessed. Critical analysis Established motor competence and confidence among adolescents and adults has been identified as an indicator for participation in LVPA, and potentially enhance various fitness parameters [3] . Further research is needed to validate the relationship between adult motor ability and LVPA. This inverse observational approach may be a useful platform to help implement the appropriate physical education curriculum in the school setting. Conclusion The main implication is that the acquisition of fundamental motor ability should be the primary basis from which movement competence and confidence are achieved. These attributes are key components from childhood into adulthood that can positively impact LVPA, improve fitness, and prevent chronic illness and disease [2] .

The motor system resonates to the distal goal of observed actions: testing the inverse pliers paradigm in an ecological setting

Does motor mirroring in humans reflect the observed movements or the goal of the observed motor acts? Tools that dissociate the agent/object dynamics from the movements of the body parts used to operate them provide a model for testing resonance to both movements and goals. Here, we describe the temporal relationship of the observer's motor excitability, assessed with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), with the observed goal-directed tool actions, in an ecological setting. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) to TMS were recorded from the opponens pollicis (OP, thumb flexor) and the extensor indicis proprius (EIP, index extensor) muscles of participants while they observed a person moving several small objects with a pair of normal pliers (closed by finger flexion) or reverse pliers (opened by finger flexion). The MEPs were a significant predictor of the pliers' kinematics that occurred in a variable time interval between -400 and +300 ms from TMS. Whatever pliers' type was being observed, OP MEPs correlated positively and EIP MEPs correlated negatively with the velocity of pliers' tips closure. This datum was confirmed both at individual and at a group level. Motor simulation can be demonstrated in single observers in a "real-life" ecological setting. The relation of motor resonance to the tool type shows that the observer's motor system codes the distal goal of the observed acts (i.e., grasping and releasing objects) in terms of its own motor vocabulary, irrespective of the actual finger movements that were performed by the observed actor.

What does learning to ‘draw a circle’ have to do with driving, cycling, unwinding and screwing?

What does learning to ‘draw a circle’ have to do with driving, cycling, unwinding and screwing?

Aprendizagem por imitação através de mapeamento Visuomotor baseado em imagens omnidirecionais

Este trabalho propõe uma metodologia de aprendizagem que permite a um robô aprender uma tarefa adaptando-a e representando-a de acordo com a sua capacidade motora e sensorial. Primeiramente, um mapeamento sensoriomotor é criado e converte informação sensorial em informação motora. Depois, através de imitação, o robô aprende um conjunto de ações elementares formando um vocabulário motor. A imitação é baseada nas representações motoras obtidas com o mapeamento sensoriomotor. O vocabulário motor criado é então utilizado para aprender e realizar tarefas mais sofisticadas, compostas por seqüências ou combinações de ações elementares. Esta metodologia é ilustrada através de uma aplicação de mapeamento e navegação topológica com um robô móvel. O automovimento é utilizado como mapeamento visuomotor, convertendo o fluxo óptico em imagens omnidirecionais em informação motora (translação e rotação), a qual é usada para a criação de um vocabulário motor. A seguir, o vocabulário é utilizado para mapeamento e navegação topológica. Os resultados obtidos são interessantes e a abordagem proposta pode ser estendida a diferentes robôs e aplicações.

Visuomotor maps for robot task learning through imitation

We propose an approach that allows a robot to learn a task through imitation, using motor representations, as suggested by recent findings in neuro-science. The robot relies on a visuomotor mapto convert visual information into motor data. Then, by observing and imitating other agents, the robot can learn a set of elementary motions (motor vocabulary), that will eventually be used to compose more complex actions, for each specific task domain. We illustrate the approach in a mobile robotics task. Egomotion estimation is used as a visuomotor map, that allows the robot to learn a motor vocabulary for topological mapping and navigation. The approach can be extended to different robots and applications. Encouraging results are presented and discussed