The study of motor skills under a view of hierarchical organisation of open system

Abstract

This article considers human motor skills based on the concept of the hierarchical organisation of living systems. This concept considers apparently opposite phenomena (e.g. consistency-variability) as complementary and as contemplated in the same structure. The hierarchy in open systems is characterised by three main relativities: (a) whole and parts, (b) control and (c) variability. From a hierarchical standpoint, motor skills phenomena are structured under two levels: macro (responsible for the consistency and configuration of patterns) and micro (responsible for variability and, consequently, the flexibility of patterns). Study findings make it possible to understand how adaptations in the soccer, futsal, swimming, golf, coincident timing and graphic motor skills take place by altering the microstructure (parameterisation) or reorganising the macrostructure (self-organisation). The distinction between these two modes of adaptation allows us to consider the increase of complexity in the motor skills phenomena as a basic feature of living systems.

Extensive practice in motor learning: An overview and future directions

“…The macrostructure is responsible for the components' sequence and organization, such as relative timing and relative force 10 . In this sense, the macrostructure controls the important aspects for movement patterns or consistency in motor behavior, which is a consequence of components' organization based on the individual's intention 9,10 . It is important because behavior consistency allows for reaching the goals with reliability.…”

“…Behavior adaptability is necessary since the environment constantly changes, making it impossible to plan all the details in advance. Thus, the microstructure is generated in every trial based on the constraints imposed by the macrostructure 9,10 . Combining a selected macrostructure and a generated microstructure in a single two-level control structure diminishes the central demand for controlling all the motor skills aspects, addressing two of the main motor behavior features, i.e., consistency and adaptability.…”

Insights on the practice schedule role on performance under a hierarchical system view

“…In order to solve these problems, in the last few years practice scheduling has been investigated based on the theoretical background of hierarchical open systems 10,11 . This refers to a metastable multilevel system whose general characteristics essentially invariant, but the behaviour of the components parts is variable 12 . Such a background has emerged as a useful theoretical alternative explaining consistency and adaptability complementarily in the same structure, which implies diminishing in computational overload and eliminating the infinite regression problem 13,14 .…”

“…Concerning the latter, one could consider the tactic characterises a team macrostructure, while the players' individual behaviors refer to its microstructure. In addition, differently from the current models and theories, a hierarchical structure conception allows speculating on the changes in the performance in different levels as well as the different ways that adaptation of motor skills takes place (e.g., parameterization/microstructure, structure reorganization or selforganization/macrostructure) [e.g., see 12 ].…”

The macro- and micro-adaptations in the football teams

“…In this regard, in the last few years, the concept of hierarchically organised open systems 14,15 has been used to understand and explain the performance in sport contexts by considering collective and individual behaviours as complementary phenomena (for example, see Corrêa et al 16 ). A hierarchically organised open system is a multilevel organization in which the superior hierarchical level does not absolutely control the inferior level, it only constrains the interaction among its parts 17 .…”