1. Motor Skills: Learning and Acquisition Processes
Chapter 18
Sport Books Publisher

2. Outline: Developing Movement Intelligence Stages of Learning a Skill
Feedback for Skill Learning
Transfer of Motor Learning
Sport Books Publisher

3. Developing Movement Intelligence
Sport Books Publisher

4. Movement Intelligence
Following factors affect development of movement intelligence:
Starting at young age
Learning time
Instructor
Equipment
Progression
Sport Books Publisher

5. Starting the Learning Process at a Young Age
As early as the preschool years
Basic skills = basis for other activities
Walking, throwing, catching
Skill should be taught correctly the first time to avoid development of bad habits
Sport Books Publisher

6. Providing Sufficient Learning Time
Without physical experience, skills cannot be effectively learned and maintained
Sufficient time must be allotted for participating in PA’s that enhance movement skills
Sport Books Publisher

7. Being Taught By Qualified Instructors
Instructors, physical educators, and coaches must be properly trained and have experience with teaching PA
This means having trained physical educators fill such positions, rather than math or music teachers who do not have the necessary background
Sport Books Publisher

8. The Use of Quality Equipment
Safe, appropriate, and well maintained
e.g., scaled down equipment for children
Lower basketball hoops
Smaller soccer nets
Lighter baseball bats
Effectiveness of teaching movement skills is directly related to the quality of equipment
Sport Books Publisher

9. Following the Right Progression
Teaching skills in an organized manner that makes skills easier to grasp and learn
Sport Books Publisher

10. Stages of Learning a Skill
Sport Books Publisher

11. Three general stages of motor learning have been identified
Each stage consists of:
Changes that occur as motor learning takes place
Important features unique to each stage
Sport Books Publisher

12. Cognitive or Acquisition Stage
Begins when task first introduced
Learner cognitively determines:
What the particular skill involves
Performance goals required to perform the skill
Instructions:
Are verbally transmitted (verbal stage)
Serve to convey the general concept of the skill
Self-talk and verbal reminders facilitate learning
Performance: slow, jerky, and awkward
Sport Books Publisher

13. Associative or Stabilization Stage
Focused on performing and refining the skill
Concentration is directed towards smaller details (e.g., timing)
Performance: controlled and consistent
Rapid performance improvements (somewhat slower than fist stage)
Diminished self-talk
Sport Books Publisher

14. Autonomous or Application Stage
Performance: automatic and very proficient
Attention demands:
Performance improvements:
Slow
Less obvious (e.g., reduced mental effort, improved style, reduced anxiety)
Sport Books Publisher

15. Feedback for Skill Learning
Sport Books Publisher

16. Information feedback: “the information that occurs as a result of a movement”
Some information is received during the movement and some is provided as a result of the movement
Feedback is one of the strongest factors that controls the effectiveness of learning
Sport Books Publisher

17. Feedback Classification
Information Feedback
Intrinsic Feedback
Extrinsic Feedback
Knowledge of Performance
Knowledge of Results
Knowledge of Performance
Knowledge of Results
Vision Audition Touch
Muscle Feeling
Basketball Golf Tennis service ace Darts
Instructor/Coach Parent/Friend Video replay Photographs Radar gun Stopwatch
Lap times Distance jumped Height jumped Judge’s score
Sport Books Publisher

18. Intrinsic Feedback
Information that is provided as a natural consequence of performing an action
Knowledge Knowledge
of performance of results
Arm extension Watching the
when hitting the tennis ball land
tennis ball in the opponent’s
court
Sport Books Publisher

19. Extrinsic Feedback
Information that is provided to the learner by somebody else or some artificial means following a performance outcome
Provides information above and beyond what is naturally available to the learner (augmented feedback)
Can be controlled; when, how, how often…
Sport Books Publisher

20. Extrinsic Feedback cont’d
Knowledge of results
Information about the degree of success
Not effective when outcome is obvious
Important when outcome is less obvious
Knowledge of performance
Information about the execution of a completed movement
Example: “took your eye off the ball,” “swing was a little late,” etc.
Sport Books Publisher

21. Motivational Properties of Feedback
Extrinsic feedback serves to motivate the learner
Error correction
Therefore, a skilled instructor should be able to reinforce correct actions as well as point out errors
Sport Books Publisher

22. Feedback Can be a Crutch
Providing feedback continuously for a long period of time can lead to dependency
Occasional feedback tends to enhance learning
Various types of feedback that minimize dependency have been identified
Sport Books Publisher

23. Faded Feedback
Benefit: teacher can tailor feedback to respect individual differences
High Gradually reduced (faded)
Feedback
Low Degree of skill High
Sport Books Publisher

24. Bandwidth Feedback Benefits: No feedback provided Feedback provided
Eventually faded feedback occurs
Lack of feedback = positive reinforcement
Movement consistency develops because learner is not encouraged to change movement on each trial
Range of correctness
Sport Books Publisher

25. Summary Feedback Benefits: Generates movement consistency
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
Trial 6
Trial 7
Trial 8
Trial 9
Benefits:
Generates movement consistency
Avoids overloading the learner
Feedback
Feedback
Feedback
Sport Books Publisher

26. When in the Learning Process is Information Feedback Needed Most?
Cognitive Associative Autonomous stage stage stage
Feedback is vital
Faded, bandwidth, or summary feedback
Feedback withdrawal
Sport Books Publisher

27. How Much Feedback is Necessary?
Novel tasks
Processing capacity can be easily overloaded
Intense but selective instruction
One important piece of information feedback at a time
Sport Books Publisher

28. How Precise Should Feedback Be?
Descriptive (general) feedback
Indicates something you did, right or wrong
e.g., there was no follow through
Prescriptive (precise) feedback
Provides you with precise correction statements about how to improve your movements
e.g., snap your wrist more on the follow through
Precise feedback generates far better results
Sport Books Publisher

29. Blocks of Learning Trials General Encouragement
Performance
Blocks of Learning Trials
Precise Feedback
General Encouragement
High
Low
Early
Late
Sport Books Publisher

30. What is the Best Timing for Information Feedback?
Short-term memory is very
susceptible to loss
Generally, the greater the delay of information provision the less effect the given information has
Therefore, immediate feedback is more beneficial
Sport Books Publisher

31. Transfer of Motor Learning
Sport Books Publisher

32. Transfer of learning between two tasks generally increases as the similarity between them increases
Types of Transfer:
Positive vs. negative
Near vs. far
Sport Books Publisher

33. Positive Transfer
e.g., Practicing drills and lead-up games with strong (positive) transfer to the actual game
Learning can be positively transferred from practice to game situation when drills are similar in nature to the criterion task
Sport Books Publisher

34. Negative Transfer Not common
Activities that may negatively transfer to the criterion task need to be avoided when performance is critical
e.g., playing mini-golf before golf tournament
Sport Books Publisher

35. Factors Affecting Transfer Positive Transfer Example
Negative Transfer Example
Movement Response/Patterns
e.g., tennis & badminton
Racquets
Net
Similar shot variations
Ball vs. birdie
Psychomotor Demands
e.g., rowing, kayaking, & canoeing
Water
Dynamic balance
Coordination
Boat size and level of balance
Cognitive Demands
e.g., basketball & handball
Game purpose
Travel on the court
Biomotor Demands
e.g., sprint & long jump
Explosive power
No take off and jump in sprinting
Psychological Demands
Narrow focus of attention in archery and darts
Shifting attention in hockey vs. judo and karate
Sport Books Publisher

36. Near Transfer
Desired when the learning goal is a task that is relatively similar to the training task
Transfer of learning is specific and closely approximates the ultimate situation
e.g., practicing various plays before a volleyball tournament
Sport Books Publisher

37. Far Transfer
Desired when interested in developing more general capabilities for a variety of skills
Occurs from one task to another very different task
Best applies when beginning to learn a skill
e.g.,
overhand throw  baseball throw, football throw, tennis serve, volleyball spike…
Sport Books Publisher

38. Transfer Strategies Training machines and stimulators
Whole vs. part practice
Lead-up activities and drills
Mental rehearsal
Sport Books Publisher

39. Training Machines and Simulators
Closely mimic features of real-world task
Goal = positive transfer of learning from simulator to the target skill
Effectiveness depends on the ability to simulate motor as well as perceptual, conceptual, and biomotor elements
Sport Books Publisher

40. Whole vs. part practice Part practice Whole practice
Practicing independent components of motor skill
Eventually, units of a task should transfer to the task as a whole
e.g., gymnastics routine
Whole practice
Practicing skill as a whole
e.g., golf swing
Sport Books Publisher

41. Part Practice
Effective for tasks serial in nature and relatively long duration
Effective as long as the actions of one part do not interact strongly with the actions of the next part (i.e., independent)
Sport Books Publisher

42. Whole Practice
Used with discrete tasks of short duration where components interact intensely
Practicing individual components would change the essence of the skill
Sport Books Publisher

43. Progressive Part Practice
Used to avoid transfer problems due to high levels of interaction among task components
Effective for any sequential action; e.g., tennis serve
Sport Books Publisher

44. Lead-up Activities and Drills
Transfer to another target sporting activity
e.g., passing, shooting, dribbling, and faking drills for soccer
Improvement of basic abilities
Quickening, balancing, perceptual exercises, etc.
e.g., perceptual motor training
Sport Books Publisher

45. Mental Rehearsal
The process associated with mentally rehearsing the performance of a skill in the absence of any overt physical movement
Evidence has demonstrated that mental rehearsal generates positively transferable motor learning
Involves constructing model situations and going through the motions of what you will do later
Especially beneficial for injured athletes
It is a supplement to physical practice
Sport Books Publisher

46. Designing Effective Practice
Conditions of Practice:
a) Blocked Practice
- a given task is practiced on many consecutive trials before setting about the next task
- enables the learners to correct specific problems and refine their skills one at a time
- important early in practice when correct habits should be learned
b) Random Practice
- ordering of tasks is randomized in a way that tasks from different classes are mixed throughout the practice period
- random practice is very effective once a skill has become more developed
Sport Books Publisher

47. Massed Versus Distributed Practice
a)Massed Practice
-a schedule in which the amount of rest between practice trials is short relative to the trial length
-eg. 5 sec of rest for a practice trial lasting 60 secs.
b)Distributed Practice
-practice that allows for more rest between trials relative to the trial length
-the rest period may last as long as the trial itself
Reducing the amount of rest between trials will also reduce the amount of
time the body and central nervous system have to recover from physical
and mental fatigue
There is no single optimal practice-rest ratio for all learning tasks
Sport Books Publisher

48. Grouping for Practice
Designed to make learning suitable for everyone involved
Should be based on the learners’ skill levels, rather than a subjective determination of their underlying abilities
Other factors, such as maturity level, previous experience, and level of physical fitness need to be considered
Sport Books Publisher

49. Effects of Motivation on Learning
Until the learner has been motivated, effective learning is not likely to occur
An instructor plays an important role in motivating his students (encouraging learners to set goals, providing excellent demonstrations, or using visual aids)
It’s a Fact !: She who is motivated makes more of an effort during practice, can practice for longer periods of time, and learns more in the end
The Law of Effect: Organisms tend to repeat responses that are rewarded and to avoid responses that are not rewarded or punished
Sport Books Publisher