In 3 experiments, the authors investigated changes in hand orientation during a 3-D reaching task that imposed specific position and orientation requirements on the hand's initial and final postures. Instantaneous hand orientation was described using 3-element rotation vectors representing current orientation as a rotation from a fixed reference…

Human observers demonstrate impressive visual sensitivity to human movement. What defines this sensitivity? If motor experience influences the visual analysis of action, then observers should be most sensitive to their own movements. If view-dependent visual experience determines visual sensitivity to human movement, then observers should be most…

Much attention has been given to Newton's argument for Universal Gravitation in Book III of the "Principia". Newton brings an impressive array of phenomena, along with the three laws of motion, and his rules for reasoning to deduce Universal Gravitation. At the centre of this argument is the famous "moon test". Here it is the empirical evidence…

The emerging ability to represent an oscillating moving object over occlusions was studied in 7-21-week-old infants. The object moved at 0.25 Hz and was either occluded at the center of the trajectory (for 0.3 s) or at one turning point (for 0.7 s). Each trial lasted for 20 s. Both eye and head movements were measured. By using two kinds of…

In order to understand ongoing activity, observers segment it into meaningful temporal parts. Segmentation can be based on bottom-up processing of distinctive sensory characteristics, such as movement features. Segmentation may also be affected by top-down effects of knowledge structures, including information about actors' intentions. Three…

Force platforms (FPs) are regularly used in the biomechanical analysis of sport and exercise techniques, often in combination with image-based motion analysis. Force time data, particularly when combined with joint positions and segmental inertia parameters, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a wide range of movement patterns in sport…

This study was performed to examine the effects of movement velocity and maximal concentric and eccentric actions on the bilateral deficit. Eighteen female participants performed maximal unilateral and bilateral knee extensions concentrically and eccentrically across six movement velocities (30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180[degrees]/s). Repeated…

A model lift containing a figure of Albert Einstein is released from the side of a tall building and its free fall is arrested by elastic ropes. This arrangement allows four simple experiments to be conducted in the lift to demonstrate the effects of free fall and show how they can lead to the concept of the equivalence of inertial and…

What would happen if social studies student used spaces marked out on the floor and physical movement to learn social studies? Would such a lesson conform with the Vision of Powerful Teaching and Learning in the Social Studies? Students get out of their chairs and away from their desks to perform events within a defined space elsewhere in the room…

The purpose of the study was to examine sensory modulation items on the Sensory Profile in individuals with autism as compared to community controls. The data for this study were collected as part of a cross-sectional study that examined sensory processing, using the Sensory Profile, in 103 individuals with autism and/or pervasive developmental…

The present paper reports the design process and the experimentation of a teaching-learning sequence about the concept of mechanical wave propagation and the role played by media where waves are propagating. The sequence focuses on the central issue of the relationships between observable phenomena, like macroscopic behaviours of waves, and their…

This paper examines the relation between bodily actions, artifact-mediated activities, and semiotic processes that students experience while producing and interpreting graphs of two-dimensional motion in the plane. We designed a technology-based setting that enabled students to engage in embodied semiotic activities and experience two modes of…

A quantitative method is introduced for detecting and correcting artifactual signal changes in BOLD time series data arising from the magnetic field warping caused by motion of the articulatory apparatus when speaking aloud, with extensions to detection of subvocal articulatory activity during silent reading. Whole-head images allow the large,…

This study investigates the interface between speech and gesture in second language (L2) narration within Slobin's (2003) thinking-for-speaking (TFS) framework as well as with respect to McNeill's (1992, 2005) growth point (GP) hypothesis. Specifically, our interest is in whether speakers shift from a first language (L1) to a L2 TFS pattern as…

This study investigated the effect of metaconceptual teaching interventions on students' understanding of force and motion concepts. A multimethod research design including quasi-experimental design and case study designs was employed to compare the effect of the metaconceptual activities and traditional instruction and investigate students'…