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SCIENCE

The Claim

Early theories in motor behavior proposed a single general motor ability, but later research found that motor abilities such as balance, timing, strength, and coordination are relatively independent of one another.

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The Short Version

The historical description is well-supported. Early motor-behavior theory often assumed a general motor ability, and later factor-analytic research identified multiple motor abilities—such as balance, timing, strength, and coordination—that are only weakly to moderately related. Some current scholarship still explores a broader shared motor factor, but that does not overturn the main finding of relative independence.

Caveats

  • “Relatively independent” does not mean motor abilities are fully separate; some shared variance remains.
  • The strength of independence depends on the tasks and populations studied; narrower domains can show higher correlations.
  • A minority of contemporary research revisits whether a general motor factor partly underlies performance.

The Receipts

  1. Motor-Based Interventions in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

    PMC

  2. The General Motor Ability Hypothesis: An old idea revisited

    University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline

  3. A review of motor skill acquisition and performance in children with developmental coordination disorder

    PubMed

  4. Motor proficiency in children with developmental coordination disorder: a meta-analysis

    PubMed

  5. The structure of motor abilities: evidence from factor analytic studies

    PubMed

  6. Exploration of the Specificity of Motor Skills Hypothesis in 7–8 Year Old Children

    Frontiers in Psychology (PubMed Central)

  7. The development of motor behavior

    PubMed Central (Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science)

  8. The development of motor coordination in children: a review of theory and research

    PMC

  9. Fleishman’s taxonomy of human abilities

    PsychoMetrics (archived PDF)

  10. Cutting It Too Fine? The Factor Structure of Fine Motor Skills in Childhood

    Frontiers in Psychology (via PubMed Central)

+ 9 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Motor Behavior

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