Fitts' Law describes human movement time in the horizontal and frontal planes, but its application to movement in the sagittal plane has been questioned by Beggs and Howarth. T o evaluate the Law in this plane, eight subjects performed a forearm action, similar to dart-throwing without release, moving a stylus through the sagittal plane from a back contact plate forward to a target. Four movement distances, 8, 12, 16 and 20 in, were combined with four target widths, 4, 4, I and z in, in 16 experimental conditions. Following practice all subjects were tested in each condition, with visual knowledge of results. The plot of movement time against log zA/W was essentially linear, accounting for 92.6% of the variance.
In brief: Based on the belief that physical education majors should have above-average fitness levels, 128 students were instructed to design and execute their own fitness development project to improve strength, endurance, and flexibility. Most relied on jogging, stair running, swimming, and cycling; others performed weight training, calisthenics, racket sports, and aerobic dancing. Generally, both men and women showed statistically significant increases in all the fitness tests. The authors believe that success was encouraged by the students' daily contact with instructors, the fact that their fitness improvement affected their grades, and the knowledge they gained from the course.
80 Ss performed a horizontal adduction movement of the arm attempting to approximate a velocity of 6 or 10 ft/sec with or without a 2-lb. weight in the hand, and Ss were randomly divided into 4 equal subgroups based upon the possible velocity-weight combinations. Ss were blindfolded and received only verbal cues as to the direction of error. After 60 trials on the initial task, each group was divided into 4 subgroups, based upon the original velocity-weight combinations, and performed 60 transfer trials. The two groups approximating the faster velocity were significantly more accurate on the initial task while weight had no effect on accuracy. Negative transfer occurred from the faster movement to the slower, more difficult movement.
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