Relation of Kinesthetic Perception to Motor Learning

Abstract

In this investigation, 115 college women were tested on 12 positional measures of kinesthesia. Each woman was classified as a fast or slow learner on the basis of the improvement shown during 24 class periods of bowling.

Differences between the mean kinesthetic scores were tested for the fast and slow learning groups and for the entire group between preferred and non-preferred arms.

The results of the study indicate that: (1) There is a relationship between motor learning and positional measures of kinesthesis; (2) The kinesthetic sense is more important in the early stages of learning a motor skill than in the later stages; (3) There are real differences between the preferred and non-preferred arms in kinesthetic perceptivity.