TECHNOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
volume XIII, number 1/2016
ISSN 2451 - 3156
DOI: 10.2478/teen-2016-0006
THE INFLUENCE OF MOTOR SKILLS ON MEASUREMENT
ACCURACY
1Petr
Brychta – 1Marek Sadílek – 1Josef Brychta
1Department of Machining, Assembly and Engineering Metrology
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, VSB-TU Ostrava, Czech Republic
Abstract
This innovative study trying to do interdisciplinary interface
at first view different ways fields: kinantropology and
mechanical engineering. A motor skill is described as an
action which involves the movement of muscles in a body.
Gross motor skills permit functions as a running, jumping,
walking, punching, lifting and throwing a ball, maintaining
a body balance, coordinating etc. Fine motor skills
captures smaller neuromuscular actions, such as holding
an object between the thumb and a finger. In mechanical
inspection, the accuracy of measurement is most important aspect. The accuracy of measurement to some extent
is also dependent upon the sense of sight or sense of touch
associated with fine motor skills. It is therefore clear that
the level of motor skills will affect the precision and
accuracy of measurement in metrology. Aim of this study
is literature review to find out fine motor skills level of
individuals and determine the potential effect of different
fine motor skill performance on precision and accuracy of
mechanical engineering measuring.
Keywords
fine motor skills, dexterity, measurement accuracy,
metrology
1 INTRODUCTION
A motor skill is described as an action which involves
the movement of muscles in a body. Locomotor skills
involve moving the body through space and include skills
such as running, galloping, skipping, sliding, and leaping.
Object control skills consist of manipulating and
projecting objects and include skills such as throwing,
catching, bouncing, kicking, striking, and rolling [5].
The types of motor skill are divided into two main
groups: Gross Motor Skills and Fine Motor Skills. Gross
motor skills include the larger movements of legs, arms,
feet or the entire body and permit functions as a running,
jumping, walking, punching, lifting and throwing a ball,
maintaining a body balance, coordinating etc. Fine motor
skills control smaller neuromuscular actions, exact
movements such as holding an object between the thumb
and a finger. Both types of motor skills usually develop
together because many activities depend on the
coordination of both the skills [8]. These skills form the
foundation for future movement and physical activity [2].
Fine Motor Skills (FMS) is defined as coordination of
small muscle movements usually involving the
synchronization of hands fingers in coordination with the
movement of eyes. The fine coordination of small muscle
groups, above all those in the hand, is essential for a
variety of activities. Among these are tying shoes;
dressing; the utilization of eating utensils; holding and
Article history:
Received 30.4.2016
Accepted 2.9.2016
Available online 10.10.2016
guiding pencils; rulers; using scissors; turning the pages of
a book etc [9]. The term dexterity is commonly used in
application to motor skills of hands and fingers [3].
Manual dexterity complex levels which humans exhibit
can be attributed to and demonstrated in tasks controlled
by the nervous system. Acquisition of new fine motor skills
may demand modification of the nervous system to
accommodate the new procedures [6]. In fact, fine motor
skills correlate consistently with general as well as specific
cognitive abilities. Relationships have been confirmed
with optical differential abilities, reaction speed and intelligence [11]. FMS can be of significance in the identification of gifted persons as well as gifted underachievers.
These abilities include ocular motor control, hand-eye
coordination, manual dexterity, sterognosis (the ability to
recognize unseen object using the sense of touch) and
tactile perception [3].
Fine motor skills are basic for individual development,
and their absence would render the attainment of a
number of milestones in early socialization of individual
[12]. Fine motor skills develop continuously throughout
the levels of human development [3]. But we have to take
into account that the predominant for aging-related
decreases in hand motor function is most likely caused by
alternation of neural function within the central nervous
system [7].
Because fine motor skills activities encompass so
many routine functions, a fine motor delay can have a
measurable negative impact on a person ability to handle
daily practical tasks. For instance, it is possible to improve
fine motor functioning by strengthen fine motor muscles
by cutting, folding; stretch rubber bands between your
fingers and hand; make a fist and squeeze as tightly.
These tasks are useable for increase the strength and
tone of the small hand muscles. Also very important is
coordinate eye and hand movements. Hold arm out in
front and draw shapes in the air with fingers, trace over
lines in a picture or using reaction time tests, especially
visual motor response time test. These tasks help to
improve the connection between what our eyes see and
how our fine motor muscles integrate that information
into movements. Other possibility is to improve fine motor
muscle coordination. For example mark a variety of lines
- straight lines, curved lines, circles and different angles onto a piece of paper, then cut along the lines with
scissors. Suitable can be incorporate tactile awareness to
reinforce FMS perhaps by using finger to trace words into
sand. With practice, it is possible to increase the ability of
the fine motor muscles to work more efficiently together
in a singular task [12].
Measurement is a cornerstone of science, technology,
and quantitative research in many disciplines. MeasureUnauthenticated
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ment is the process of comparing unknown magnitude of
certain parameter with the known predefined standard of
that parameter. Every measurement is a comparison
between a quantity we want to know about and a standard
amount of that quantity. Metrology is the science of
measurement, comprise experimental and theoretical
determinations at any level of uncertainty in any field of
science and technology [4].
Accuracy is a qualitative measure of how close a
measurement is to the the 'true answer’. Precision is
represented by a cluster of consistent measurements, but
there is no guarantee that these are accurate. In
mechanical inspection, the accuracy of measurement is
most important aspect [1].
Measurements are one of crucial parts of not only
mechanical engineering but all types of fields. For
instance, if we have to measure the length of the wall, we
measure it with the measuring tape that has predefined
markings or if we have to measure the temperature of our
body, we measure it with the thermometer that has
predefined scale indicating different values of the
temperature. If we have to measure reaction time in sport,
we use reactomer device. Some measurements are
simple, and others more complicated. Some are made on
field, others in specialist measurement laboratories [1].
If we look at kinantropology and mechanical engineering in a wide range we begin to identify seemingly unrelated context. The accuracy of mechanical engineering
measurement to some extent is also dependent upon the
sense of sight or sense of touch associated with fine motor
skills. If the individual is physically gifted (especially fine
motor skill of hands) will probably do accurate manually
measurements with instruments in a narrow depending
on his abilities and skills.
2 AIM
Aim of this study is literature review, find out fine
motor skills level of individuals and determine the
potential effect of different fine motor skill performance
on precision and accuracy of mechanical engineering
measuring.
3 METODOLOGY
30 adolescents aged 17-18 years will participate in this
research. Fine motor skill tests and metrology tests will be
implemented (from each field two). Pursuant the results of
fine motor skill tests probands will be divided into 3
performance levels. Selected engineering metrology tests
will follow. Fine motor skills of upper limbs will be
measured by Purdue pegboard, choice reaction time and
stereognosis tests. Measurement accuracy will be performed with handheld tools using various sliding calipers and
tape-measure tools.
All of the participants will carry out 2 experimental
series within each test. The series during which better total
average result achieve will be consider to be the result of
the test. The results processing, including statistical
procedures, carry out using the Matlab (MathWorks, Inc.)
programming environment, an IBM SPSS Statistics 22.
ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests (α=0,05) will be use to
determine the individual parameters connection.
This device has been used extensively to aid in the
selection of employees for jobs that require fine and gross
motor dexterity and coordination. It tests gross movements
of hands, fingers and arms, and fingertip dexterity as
necessary in assembly tasks. The pegboard in Fig. 1 is
complete with pins, collars and washers, examiner's
manual with norms, and score cards [13].
Vernier calipers (Fig. 2) are used for more accurate
measuring than can be achieved with a measuring rule or
a slide caliper. It is capable of measuring internal and
external dimensions and can also be used as a depth
gauge. Vernier calipers are available with metric and
imperial graduations.
Figure 1 The Purdue Pegboard Test [13]
Figure 2 Vernier callipers [14]
4 Conclusion
In the current study, we were unable to find scientific
papers dealing with issues the influence of motor skills
on measurement accuracy in engineering metrology.
Kinantropology literature review suggests that fine
motor skills level affect the individual measurement
result in mechanical metrology practice. Study will
present theoretical arguments, as well as empirical
evidence, to demonstrate that inter-individual
differences in fine motor skills can lead to dramatically
different results in manual measurement accuracy
tests. Our study is innovative interdisciplinary scientific
research.
Article has been done in connection with projects Education
system for personal resource of development and research in
field of modern trend of surface engineering - surface integrity,
reg. no. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0037 financed by Structural Founds
of Europe Union and from the means of state budget of the
Czech Republic and by project Students Grant Competition
SP2016/172 and SP2016/174 financed by the Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sports and Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering VŠB-TUO.
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