The basic fibrous element of muscles. Fetal muscle is composed of about 90% water, with the adult water content of about 76% being reached by 7 months after birth, together with a large increase in protein, total lipids and triglycerides (a form of fat circulating in the blood). Subsequently, little change occurs in the relative …
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Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)
A set of statistical techniques for the analysis of mean differences when there are multiple outcome (i.e., dependent) variables. It is comparable to the analysis of variance of univariate data, but in MANOVA groups are compared on n (2 or more) dependent variables simultaneously. The most commonly used test is Wilks’ lambda that is based …
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Multitrait-multimethod matrix
Introduced by Donald T. Campbell (1916-1996) and Donald W. Fiske (1916-1983) in 1959, it is one approach to establishing construct validity, and thus convergent and discriminant validity, of different methods measuring various psychological abilities or traits. It consists of the following components that are depicted in the table below: 1. a matrix of two or …
Multiple cohort study
Astudy in which more than one group, or cohort, of participants are measured ontwo or more occasions. Multiple cohortstudies permit researchers to examine the potential influence of ‘periodeffects’ (e.g., cultural factors specific to the period in which the study isconducted) on the outcome in question by assessing whether the longitudinalfindings generalise across different cohorts. See …
Multisensory cue integration
The process by which separatesensory cues to (typically) the same event in the external environment arecombined (integrated) into a single multisensory percept. Recent models of this process have argued thatmature adults achieve this in an optimal way via maximum likelihood estimation that is they weight each cue in the combined estimate in accordance with itsreliability (Ernst & …
Multilevel modeling (MLM)
Designed to handle hierarchical and clustered data, it is a statistical technique developed by Harvey Goldstein and colleagues to analyse longitudinal data in which there are variables at several levels, with the lower levels being nested in the higher ones. While it is a form hierarchical regression analysis, analogous to multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures …
Mullen Scales of Early Learning
Abehavioral assessment of cognitive development for infants and toddlers. Thisone-on-one assessment between a researcher and the participant and caregiver isdesigned to provide measures of motor, visual, sensory, social and languagedevelopment. It was developed and published by Eileen Mullen in 1995. Mullen, E. M. (1995). Mullen scales of early learning. Circle Pines,MN: American Guidance Service. See …
Multilayered
items or processes that are organised hierarchically . See Hierarchical models of motor control, Hierarchy
Mucins
Glycoproteins (chemical combinations of complex carbohydrate and protein) that form mucous gels coating the interior surfaces of the digestive tract. This gel acts to prevent digestion of the intestinal wall by digestive enzymes, water loss through the intestinal wall, bacteria from adhering to the intestinal cells, and toxins from being absorbed into the body, as …
Movement pattern
the basic movements involved in the performance of a particular task (e.g., standing long jump). Emphasis is upon the movements comprising the pattern . See Fundamental movement pattern, Motor milestone