SKILL DIFFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH MOVEMENT PERFORMANCE .2. IMAGERY AND KINAESTHESIS

Although previous research on college age subjects has shown that diff erences in skill can be reflected in different types of motor performa nce (Williams and Sissons, 1984) this association is less clear for me asures of kinaesthetic awareness (Brennan, 1980). Other research findi ngs have indicated that imagery ability may also play an integrated ro le in skill learning (Isaac, 1984; Johnson, 1982). The present study a ssessed kinaesthetic and imagery ability along with several other meas ures of motor skill in an attempt to clarify which variables contribut ed to skill differentiation in a sample of children (N = 53). Two skil l categories were designated on the basis of the Bruininks-Oseretsky M otor Proficiency Test (Bruininks, 1978) and while correlational analys es within groups revealed that two imagery questionnaires were well-co rrelated, few other relationships achieved significance. A multivariat e discriminant analysis revealed that although group classification on the basis of the Bruininks score produced highly distinguishable cate gories, no other variables added significantly to the distinction. Reg ression analysis showed that the only significant predictor of the Bru ininks score was the ability to transfer from one hand to the other on the mirror tracing task. Despite the attempt to obtain a broad range of motor ability, the present study did not reveal any discriminatory power. The expectation that imagery and kinaesthetic ability would pla y important roles in distinguishing skill groups was not supported and when analysed in combination with other tests of motor performance, t his finding remained firm. In contrast to expectations based on genera lised schema theory, the findings were in accordance with the hypothes is of skill specificity.