Dr.Hab., Professor V.P. Lukyanenko
North-Caucasian Federal University, Pyatigorsk

Keywords: movement accuracy, problem identification, definition of notion, research methods, prospects, research avenues..

Background. Despite the long history of research of the movement accuracy related issues and the ample research materials accumulated in the science [1-11 et al.], the key theoretical basics of the movement accuracy knowledge appear to be still underdeveloped. Presently the research process is dominated by inefficient and inappropriate methods, with the knowledgebase overloaded with unreliable and inconsistent data and offering little if any extensive reviews.

Objective of the study was to analyse the most contradictory aspects of the notion of ‘movement accuracy’.

Study results and discussion. One of the first attempts to give a definition of the notion of ‘movement accuracy’ was made in a study report by N.V. Sysoev [11] that defines it as the ability to move within some space, with the movement timing and effort designed to fulfil a certain task. As provided by O.B. Nemtsev, accuracy means the individual ability to move strictly within the relevant spatial framework for success of the relevant motor task [8, p. 120]. In opinion of V.I. Goncharov, movement accuracy may be interpreted as the quality of some specific movement or movement sequence i.e. physical movement quality and ability [2, p. 27]. Most questionable in this definition might be the legitimacy of movement accuracy being defined via notions of ‘physical quality’ or ‘ability’ interpreted as some personal values rather than manifestations of such values.

A few extensive overviews [1, 3, 4, 7, 8 et al.] addressing a variety of research aspects related to such notions as accuracy, dexterity and coordination ability demonstrate that the modern theory presently applies quite unclear and poorly differentiated definitions of accuracy, neatness, dexterity, skill, coordination etc.

Before giving our own definition of the notions, we would first offer the following considerations. It makes sense to interpret movement accuracy as the result of some coordination process geared to employ the relevant abilities dominated by the strength control constituents of the movements rather than a physical quality or some general, integrated ability. It should be underlined that the scope of such abilities may be not only quite broad but also rather specific in every case as dictated by the movement process goal. This consideration appears to be fairly sufficient to demonstrate the deficiency of the popular interpretation of movement accuracy as some aggregate (or even highly generalised) ability or physical quality. Based on the above consideration, we would offer the following definition of the subject notion.

Movement accuracy means the integral qualitative measure that shows how well coordinated the movements are within the relevant space- and time-frames in the context of the movement process goal and actual conditions.

We believe that the above definition gives a more clear specification of the position of the movement accuracy notion in the array of relative notions as it highlights the muscular effort control as the key element of the accuracy securing process; with the notion in itself being unrestricted by the ‘motor elements accuracy’ since it implies a wide range of abilities required to attain due accuracy. We feel that the above-proposed definition gives a better and broader representation of the meaning of movement accuracy and, hence, may better meet the modern methodological requirements in application of the relevant notions in the physical education domain.

One more important aspect of the modern knowledgebase and research interpretations of the movement accuracy related issues is the following. It might be due to the natural difficulties faced in every attempt to measure movement accuracy in complex movement sequences that most of the relevant studies since 1960ies [9, 10, 11 etc.] have been designed to rate accuracy of movement elements with provisional differentiations of spatial, temporal and strength constituents of the movement rated separately from one another. Having summarised the practical experience of the above method, many researchers came to the general (and largely axiomatic today) conclusion that the movement strength elements are measurable less accurately than the spatial and temporal ones; and they are less improvable with age and less modifiable by special training tools. It is based on the above method that O.B. Nemtsev highlighted in his doctor dissertation the spatial aspect as the key contributor to movement accuracy and heavily underrated the strength aspect in the following statement: “It should be mentioned that it is unlikely reasonable enough to acknowledge contribution of strength related... characteristics of movements being similar to the spatial ones” [8, p. 41].  We would offer the following arguments to demonstrate invalidity of this finding.

First, it is common knowledge that the spatial, temporal and dynamic movement process rates may be applied only on a purely provisional basis and only in order to simplify analyses and summarise the study findings. However, it is unlikely reasonable in this context to consider them on the same basis for the reason that we factor in, on the one hand, strength as a physical quality and, on the other hand, timing and spacing of the movement process driven by the muscular efforts. Therefore, we have good grounds to consider the strength aspect as the leading one and the temporal and spatial ones as its derivatives [5].

Second, every complex coordinated movement may be viewed as a system of interdependent components with the connections of the components being dominant over the internal movements of the components and external effects on them [10]. Therefore, the logics found by studies of isolated elements of the system may be very different from the logics of the integrated system of such elements, and this holds true for the subject under consideration.

It may be pertinent to mention that accuracy of complex coordinated movements shall be considered as the manifestation of the new qualities generated by interaction of the elementary movement accuracies, and the logics of the complex movement sequence may have nothing to do with the elementary logics of the movement accuracy constituents; with the existing analytical approaches more often than not failing to give an insight to such logics [5, 7, 10].  

Conclusion. The available special research literature on the subject has long left underexplored the meaning of movement accuracy as a notion and, as a result, it has long been intentionally or unintentionally confused with the other relevant notions, with the existing knowledge on the correlation of the movement accuracy with the other aspects of motor functions being still not clear enough. This vagueness has long been detrimental to the research priorities and achievements in the subject field.

We believe that the notion of movement accuracy shall be defined as the summarised qualitative criterion (rather than some specific ability or physical quality) indicative of the degree of perfection of the movement control mechanisms and providing the means to rate success of the relevant abilities being applied in one or another motor activity.

References

1. Bishaeva A.A. Sovershenstvovanie sensomotoriki v protsesse fizicheskogo vospitaniya molodezhi pri podgotovke k trudu s povyshennym nervno-emotsionalnym napryazheniem. Avtoref. dis. dokt. ped. nauk [Improvement of sensorimotorics in physical education process when training young people for stressful work. Doctoral diss. Abstract (Hab.)]. Moscow, 1995.
2. Goncharov V.I. Teoreticheskie osnovy tochnosti dvizheniy [Theoretical basics of accuracy of movements]. Uchenye zapiski un-ta im. P.F. Lesgafta, no. 6 (88) 2012, pp. 21-27.
3. Goncharov V.I. Pamyat na dvizheniya kak mnemicheskiy komponent protsessa formirovaniya dvigatelnykh navyikov. Dis. dokt. psihol. nauk [Memory for movement as mnemonic component of motor skills building process. Doctoral diss. (Psych.)]. St. Petersburg, 2009, 343 p.
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5. Granit R. Osnovy regulyatsii dvizheniy [Fundamentals of movement control]. Moscow: Mir publ., 1973, 367 p.
6. Zatsiorskiy V.M. Fizicheskie kachestva sportsmena. Osnovy teorii i metodiki vospitaniya [Athlete's physical qualities. Fundamentals of theory and methods of education]. Moscow: Sovetskiy sport publ., 2009, 199 p.
7. Lukyanenko V.P. Terminologicheskoe obespechenie razvitiya fizicheskoy kultury v sovremennom obschestve [Terminological support of development of physical culture in modern society]. Moscow: Sovetskiy sport publ., 2008, 168 p.
8. Nemtsev O.B. Biomekhanicheskie osnovy tochnosti dvizheniy [Biomechanical basics of accuracy of movements]. Maikop: ASU publ., 2004, 187 p.
9. Pyankov Y.P. Znachenie differentsirovaniya prostranstva i vremeni v obuchenii sportivnomu begu. Avtoref. dis. kand. ped. nauk [The role of space and time differentiation in running teaching process. PhD diss. abstract]. Moscow, 1961, 18 p.
10. Sentagotan Y., Arbib M. Kontseptualnye moduli nervnoy sistemy [Conceptual modules of nervous system]. Moscow: Mir publ., 1975.
11. Sysoev N.V. Issledovanie tochnosti dvizheniy i ee sovershenstvovanie putem ispolzovaniya fizicheskikh uprazhneniy. Avtoref. dis. kand. ped. nauk [Study of accuracy of movements and its improvement using physical exercises. PhD diss. abstract]. Leningrad, 1963, 21 p.

Corresponding author: viktor246@mail.ru

Abstract

Despite the long history or research of the movement accuracy related issues and the ample research materials accumulated in the modern science, the key theoretical basics of the movement accuracy knowledge appear to be still underdeveloped. One of the possible reasons for that is that the relevant studies still give a high priority to the extensive research methods that produce mostly quantitative rather than qualitative study data. Most popular in the research practices at this juncture is a variety of inefficient and often inappropriate test methods that are designed to rate elementary movements in limited environments that have nothing similar to the real physical training and sporting motor skills. No wonder that such study data, data analyses and interpretations often result in totally valueless or deeply erroneous findings. The study makes an attempt to outline the present situation with the movement accuracy theory making a special emphasis on the most controversial theoretical and practical aspects that need to be addressed to improve the quality of the movement accuracy tests and analyses; and outlines the potentially most promising avenues for research in the field.