RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEX-ROLE AND ACQUISITION OF MOTOR SKILL1

Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1985

In an experiment examining the relationship between sex-role and acquisition of motor skill, sex-role was related to performance (time-on-target) and reminiscence for women but not men. 15 androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated men ( n — 60) and women ( n = 60) performed 80 15-sec. trials on the pursuit-rotor. Results indicated that the time-on-target performance of men as a group was significantly better than that of women. However, the data indicated that the performance of androgynous women was not significantly different from all groups of men; feminine women showed the poorest performance. Femininity was related to poorer performance only in women. Feminine women also had the highest reminiscence scores (a measure of recovery from performance decrement during 15-sec. rest intervals). For these performance measures (time-on-target and reminiscence) under these conditions, motor skill varied as a function of sex-role for women.

Behavioral and Brain Functions, 2010

Gender differences have been shown across many domains, and motor skills are no exception. One of the most robust findings is a significant sex difference in throwing accuracy, which reflects the advantage of men in targeting abilities. However, little is known about the basis of this difference. To try to dissect possible mechanisms involved in this difference, here we tested for gender variations in a prism adaptation throwing task. We tested 154 subjects in a visuomotor prism adaptation task that discriminates between motor performance, visuomotor adaptation and negative aftereffects. Our results corroborate men's significant better throwing accuracy, although there were no adaptation differences between genders. In contrast, women showed significant larger negative aftereffects, which could be explained by a larger contribution of spatial alignment. These results suggest that different learning mechanisms, like strategic calibration and spatial alignment, may have different contributions in men and women.

We investigated gender differences in motor performance in 9-, 12-, and 17-year-olds. The tasks included simple thumb tapping (sTT), handwriting (HW) and finger-to-thumb opposition sequence (FOS) learning. In sTT there was a significant advantage for the 17-year-old males. In HW, 12-year-old females were faster, initially, than the males, but this gap was closed by a single training session; in the 17-year-olds although no significant difference was found initially, the males became faster than the age-matched females posttraining. In the FOS, there were no initial gender differences (speed or accuracy). However, males benefited more from training, with the 17-year-old males attaining a significant post-training speed advantage. Moreover, males, of all three age-groups, evolved significantly larger delayed ("off-line") performance gains in the FOS task compared to females; gains which were retained 6-weeks post-training. There may be a male advantage in motor learning rather than in motor performance per-se; this advantage is enhanced during adolescence.

2014

In studies that have compared females and males on movement tasks, the emphasis has been on performance outcome measures, with comparatively little focus upon the coordination process that underpins the performance. Coordinated motor skills are developed through practice; any differences in coordination and performance between the sexes may therefore reflect differences in the volume of prior practice or experience with a task. Investigating the changes in coordination that occur with practice also provides insight into the underlying processes of motor control, yet research in the field of motor control rarely considers novice performers, nor the comparison of the sexes. There has been recent interest in the exploration of sex differences in movement that may occur during the performance of landing related tasks. It has been suggested that the inconsistency of findings may in part be accounted for by the confounding factor of prior practice or experience in the motor task. To further explore the role that experience plays in shaping movement kinematics, the study that comprises chapter three included both recreational and competitive surfers and compared their performance with non-surfers on a drop-landing task (surfers are exposed to incidental landing with an increasing frequency as they progress in the sport). Knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion at initial ground contact were greater in male participants, independently of surfing experience. Body configuration at initial contact represents the neuromuscular strategy being used to land and absorb force; it was possible that males and females here used different movement strategies, to achieve the same performance outcome. In both females and males, range of motion at these joints was related to surfing experience, with experienced surfers using a greater range of motion. Recreational female surfers landed in a more extended ankle and knee posture than all other groups and had less ankle dorsiflexion at the end of landing. In conclusion, movement pattern during landing differed on the basis of both sex and level of expertise, with the sex difference most apparent in females with some but not a lot of surfing experience. vii The results of the first study highlighted a need to consider the mediating factor of prior practice or experience when comparing movement and performance between females and males. Evidence from this and other landing research suggests that sex differences in movement can be accounted for at least in part by experience; the related question of whether females and males achieve similar performance improvement from an equal volume of practice has not been addressed. Chapter four explored this question using the slalom-skiing simulator task to compare performance and rate of learning between the sexes on a novel task. Whole body coordination and electromyography (EMG) were employed to provide a comprehensive account of movement kinematics and kinetics. Eight males and eight females performed five days of practice (25 x 1 min trials). There were no differences in rate of learning for any outcome variable. A male performance advantage was observed for the related outcome measures of platform oscillation frequency, cycle duration and work performed, but these differences were largely accounted for by the higher spring resistance settings of the apparatus for heavier male subjects, in accordance with manufacturer specifications. Most importantly, it was shown that both males and females were moving towards their optimal frequency with practice-performance and success at the task actually comparable. Some minimal differences observed in movement kinematics between the sexes also were attributable to height differences, interacting with the apparatus set up. The only kinematic difference not readily explained was that males employed greater maximum knee flexion throughout the movement cycle. In summary, minor differences in movement performance and kinematics were attributable to anthropometric differences between the sexes, but otherwise males and females showed similar initial and final performance outcomes and achieved similar gains from an equal volume of practice. The findings support the view that any sex differences observed in movement commonly may be accounted for by differences in prior experience. The results from chapter four provided evidence for the idea that similar performance can be achieved via different movement patterns; otherwise understood as the redundancy problem. A fundamental concept in motor control is that complex movement is organised into a low dimensional control space and that this develops through practice. The basis of this coordination structure is the coupling and correlation between elements in the motor system. Principal component analysis (PCA) provides a viii powerful tool for quantifying these relations and allows the reduction of complex movement datasets into a smaller number of variables. This can provide insight into the development of coordinated movement and has been applied to a limited number of studies investigating longitudinal changes with learning. Chapter six applied a recently developed technique in PCA, to provide further insight into the changes in coordination that occurred with practice on the skiing-simulator. Whereas traditional PCA uses Pearson's correlation coefficients (PCC) to quantify correlation between elements, the more recent technique employs linear systems analysis and a measure of overall coherence (COH) to quantify correlation in the frequency domain. We compared the changes in the dimensionality of both kinematic and IEMG signals over the course of practice to establish which technique could provide better insight into the underlying coordination structure for this movement. There were no differences between male and female performers for this measure of coordination, which again supported the idea that with equal practice, performance is similar, despite any differences in anthropmetrics. The variance accounted for by the first principal component increased with practice and was significantly greater using the COH method compared to the PCC. Fewer principal components were required to account for 90% of the variance using COH; the number also decreased significantly with practice only for this method. The loading of original variables onto the principal components revealed that all variables were loaded strongly onto the first principal component. Overall the results revealed whole body movement on the skiing-simulator could be defined in a low dimensional space and that the dimension was reduced further over the course of practice. More importantly, the hidden low dimensional structure was best revealed when PCA incorporating correlation in the frequency domain was employed. ix PUBLICATIONS The systematic review component of Chapter 1 and Appendix A has been published

Thesis (M.S. - Physical Education)--University of Arizona. Includes bibliographical references.

Research quarterly, 1979

Sex Roles, 1984

The main purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which apparently sex-typed subjects manipulated behaviors on the Sex Role Motor Behavior Checklist in response to instructions to convey specific sex-role impressions. Extremely masculine and feminine males and females (10-12 per group) were assessed for their ability to change sex-related motor behavior upon request. Subjects were able to produce significant increases in masculine and feminine motor behavior, particularly in the areas of walking and sitting, Many individual behaviors, however, showed small or inconsistent changes. Apparently, many of the motor differences naturally displayed by males and females are either not consciously part of sex-typed adults" concept of given sex roles or are relatively inflexible in this population. Secondary purposes of the study were to identify specific sex-related motor behavior (a) to alter when changes in sex role seem desirable and (b) to utilize as dependent measures in measuring changes in sex role. Walking and sitting were shown to be especially important areas.

Pensar en Movimiento: Revista de Ciencias del Ejercicio y la Salud, 2015

Fundamental motor skills are the basis for participation in more advanced lifetime activities. Whereas considerable research has been reported on motor behavior of children, much less is known about performance in later years, especially adulthood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine age and gender differences on fundamental motor skills (FMS) ability across three age groups: children (M = 9.37 yr., SD = 1.26), adolescents (M = 14.80 yr., SD = 2.04) and young-adults (M = 19.88 yr., SD = 2.72). Participants (n = 114) were assessed on five locomotor skills (run, gallop, slide, hop, and distance jump) and five object control skills (bounce, catch, overhand throw, strike and kick) using the Test for Fundamental Motor Skills, which is a process-oriented instrument. ANOVA results comparing gender and group revealed no significant interactions. Moreover, main effects for group were found for three individual skills: galloping –adolescents and young-adults performed better than ...

2000

The purpose o f this study was to determine the influence of beliefs about gender appropriateness and conceptions of ability on perceived and actual competence and patterns o f behavior during practice o f a sex typed masculine task, the hockey wrist shot. Sixty-eight undergraduate females formed four homogeneous treatment conditions based on their beliefs about gender appropriateness and conceptions o f ability: Masculine Innate (MI), Masculine Acquired (MA), Neutral Innate (NI), and Neutral Acquired (NA). Four teachers taught across all o f the treatment conditions for a total of 16 learning groups. Each of the learning episodes reinforced the gender appropriateness and conception o f ability beliefs held by that group and began with an audio-video tape which introduced the critical skill cues and successful practice trials of the hockey wrist shot. The teacher provided eight minutes o f skill practice and feedback, while reinforcing the group’s gender and ability beliefs. The tea...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the motor ability in respect of gender differences which age groups was 10, 11 and 12 years. The number of subjects for each group was 300 boys and 300 girls for any age group. For collecting data or subjects systematic random sampling method were followed. The criterion measured on subjects which parameter was speed, agility, power, coordination, balance and simple reaction time. The mean ± SD, the comparative t-test of motor ability variables were calculated for the present study in respect of gender differences. Significant (P<0.05) in gender differences were found in six motor ability variables as F-value was greater than the tabulated value (F0.051, 588=3.86). On the basis of findings the researchers were concluded that male children had better ability in all the six motor ability variables than the female children.