Watch me do it
Our research
Our research has shown that watching video demonstrations recorded from
a first-person viewpoint can help dyspraxic children learn everyday movement skills.
Twenty years experience
Our research team at Manchester Metropolitan University has over twenty years of experience researching the effects of observing movement demonstrations and imagining performing movements. Our research focuses on how the brain is activated when people watch and imagine doing movements and how watching and imagining movements can be used to improve movement skills in different populations.
Summary for children
- Watching movement demonstrations and imagining doing movements can activate the parts of the brain that control movement
- Our research has found that watching video demonstrations can help dyspraxic children learn everyday movement skills
- Trying to imagine the feeling of making the movements whilst watching the videos can also help
- If you would like to find out more about our research, click here to read an article written for children
- This website contains lots of video demonstrations to help children learn everyday movement skills.
The science of watching
and imagining movement
Several areas of the brain have similar activity when we watch movements, imagine movements, and perform movements. As such, watching movement demonstrations and imagining doing movements can help strengthen connections in the brain that are used when physically performing movements.
Our research uses a brain stimulation technique to study activity in the movement areas of the brain when people observe or imagine movements in different ways. In one study, we found that making the demonstrations as meaningful as possible produces increased activity in the movement areas of the brain. In another study, we also found that activity in the movement areas of the brain is increased when watching movement demonstration videos while at the same time imagining how it would feel to perform the movements.
Watching and imagining
to improve movement skills
Our research has shown that watching and imagining movements can help improve movement skills in different populations. Over the last 10 years our team has used these techniques to help children with dyspraxia (also known as developmental coordination disorder) learn movement skills.
In one study, we asked dyspraxic children to learn a complex computer-based movement task. Half of the children practiced and also observed first-person viewpoint video demonstrations while imagining the feeling of making the movements. The other half just practiced. Those who watched the videos performed the task more quickly and to a higher standard than those who did not see the videos.
In another study, dyspraxic children learned shoelace tying, shirt buttoning, cutlery use, and object stacking over four weeks. One group practised and also watched first-person viewpoint video demonstrations while imagining the feeling of making the movements. The other group just practised. Both groups improved, but the group who watched the videos improved most at the more complex tasks of shoelace tying and object stacking. The videos were especially helpful for learning shoelace tying. There were nine children in each group who could not tie their laces at the start of the study: 89% of these children who saw the videos learned to tie their laces by the end of the study, compared to only 44% in the group that just practised.
Based on these research findings, we have made this library of demonstration videos to help children improve everyday movement tasks.
Feedback is important for our project. Contact us here
This website is a collaboration between:
