prenatal period
consisting of the last two trimesters of pregnancy
reflexive period
occurs following birth and lasts only two weeks
preadapted period
the mountain of motor development period in which infants start interacting with the environment by engaging in phylogenetic motor behaviors such as sitting up, standing, crawling, and walking
fundamental motor patterns
basic movements such as throwing, catching, hopping, and jumping that form a base for more complex sport-specific movement patterns
context-specific motor skills period
refinement of fundamental motor patterns to movements specific for sports or other movement forms from Clark's mountain of motor development
skillfulness period
the period at the peak of the mountain of motor development in which a learner has acquired a high level of skill proficiency; this period does not separate between levels of performance, such as college or professional athletes
compensation period
a period from Clark's mountain of motor development; an adaptation to the environment as a result of an injury or due to declines results from aging
cognitive stage
the learner's main goals is to understand the basic components of the motor skill movement pattern
associative stage
the goals of the task has shifted to refining the movement as opposed to learning how to solve the movement problem
autonomous stage
the third and final stage in Fitts and Posner's learning model, in which the performer is at the highest level of motor skill proficiency
degrees of freedom
the number of functional units that are required to solve a movement problem; can be thought of as the number of possible solutions to a performance task
coordinative structures
structures that occur when the degrees of freedom become incorporated into larger functional units of action to preserve a certain posture or movement
"getting the idea of the movement" stage
Gentile's first stage of learning, similar to Fitts and Posner's cognitive stage of learning; during this stage the learner has two main goals: to understand the movement coordination required to perform the movement task and to determine the regulatory and non regulatory conditions of the movement
regulatory conditions
those conditions that provide relevant information for a motor skill
nonregulatory conditions
distract the learner from important relevant cues, preventing the learner from performing skillfully or even accomplishing the goal at all