Thesis (M.S. in mechanical engineering)--Washington State University. / Includes bibliographical references.

Inaug.-Diss.--Rostock. / Lebenslauf. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in mechanical engineering)--Washington State University, August 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 30, 2010). "Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-108).

The purpose of this study was to determine how predicting ability in a ball catching task changes with age, and, to explore the predicting abilities of children with the developmental coordination disorder (DCD). / There were 157 children between the ages of 5 and 12 participating in the first portion of the study. Of these children, 46 were 5 to 7 years of age and served as controls, in the second portion of the study, for 40 5 to 7-year old children with DCD. / Predicting ability was tested by having the children watch a video of a boy throwing a ball to three locations around them. Each location was seen at four different viewing times for a total of 60 trials. / Results for both ANOVAs revealed that as more visual information became available, predictions were more accurate. It was also evident that at the early viewing times younger children did not predict ball flight as well as older groups. Similarly, children with DCD predicted more poorly at most viewing times compared to their non-DCD peers. / Similar results were found for gender in the analysis comparing DCD and non-DCD children. At the early time periods males predict more effectively than females. / Thus the data point to the instances where experience is a crucial factor in predicting ball flight.

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