Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1982

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major Professor

Wendell P. Liemohn

Committee Members

Patricia Beitel, Craig Wrisberg, Alan Lasater

Abstract

The purpose of the investigation was to explore the existence and nature of the relationship between the level of maturity in the space-time concept and the ability of individuals to accurately perform skills involving the interception of a moving stimulus.

The sample consisted of 53 subjects in the following categories: (a) educable mentally retarded, aged 5 to 7 years; (b) educable mentally retarded, aged 13 to 15 years; (c) educable mentally retarded, aged 18 to 21 years; (d) trainable mentally retarded, aged 13 to 15 years; (e) trainable mentally retarded, aged 18 to 21 years; (f) non-retarded, aged 5 to 7 years; and (g) non-retarded, aged 13 to 15 years. There were 29 males and 24 females in the sample.

In Part I of the study the space-time concept was operationally defined as the cognitive component of the ability that enables individuals to make relative velocity judgements; specifically, the ability to monitor two simultaneously presented stimuli of apparent motion and to determine: (a) whether their velocities were equal or unequal, and (b) if unequal, to indicate which was the faster and which was the slower of the two. According to type of response pattern displayed, subjects were categorized as Mature, Intermediate, or Immature in space-time concept.

In Part II of the study the capacity to intercept a moving stimulus was operationalized as a receptor anticipation laboratory task which required a button press response to apparent motion at each of two velocities (3 and 7 mph), with stimulus duration held approximately constant. Absolute error was the measure employed to score coincidence anticipation performance.

Employment of the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance resulted in rejection of the null hypothesis of no difference in receptor anticipation performance among the three space-time concept categories. The Mann-Whitney U procedure demonstrated a significant difference in receptor anticipation performance between the Immature group and both the Mature and Intermediate space-time concept groups; however, no significant difference was demonstrated between the Mature and Inter-mediate space-time concept groups.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS