Re:Re:PCP and movements

Harald Seelig (seelig@ruf.uni-freiburg.de)
Tue, 19 Nov 1996 15:37:06 +0100

Hi Jim Mancuso:
I apologise for not having been concrete enough concerning the issue of
our workinggroup. Our interest is not how a subject is going to
construct the 'real' biomechanic parameters for anticipating or
perceiving movements.
Our main interest is on motor learning, skill acquisition.
We want to find out how a subject helps itself with very personal
constructs to categorize any given movement in order to have something
like a catalogue of internal 'images' of something that could be
described as 'expierenced comparison of personal impressions with
physical needs'. For this it will use its own vocbulary as well as its
own strategies. (Think of asking children to jump as high as they can or
asking them to imagine to reach a box with cookies on a shelf in their
parents kitchen)
For any new movement a subject will have to learn, it will try to find
any image that might correlate with the new task to prepare a
'new-movement-set-up'. We think, if a coach or the subject itself is
able to explain a new task with categories/images that already exist in
this 'catalogue' the subject should be able to benefit from former
(learning)expierence.
All this is not very new if you think of existing theories of motor
learning (e.g. R.A.Schmidt's Schema-theory of motor learning). But what
is left out in most of these models is that persons use their own
vocabulary/constructs to elaborate experienced movements mentally.
I hope this all gives a better idea of what we are working on.
Thanks for being interested.
Harald Seelig

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