C3 Skill Acquisition Flashcards
motor skills
a complex, controlled muscle movement that is learnt and practiced to complete a pre-determined task
subroutines
the components that make up a motor skill
motor program
the whole plan of a motor skill, including all subroutines
When is a skilled movement performed?
when all subroutines are performed effectively, with correct sequencing and timing
Describe the 2 types of movement classification for motor skills.
FINE
- small muscle groups used
- greater precision in movements
- eg. darts, archery
GROSS
- whole body, large muscle groups
- less precision
- eg. soccer, high jump
Describe the 3 other types of motor skill classification
DISCRETE
- have a distinct beginning + end
- brief duration
- eg. javelin, tennis serve, free kick
CONTINUOUS
- no distinct begin/end
- rhythmic, flowing movements
- eg. running, swimming, rowing
SERIAL
- a number of discrete skills in a sequence
- form a more complicated action
- eg. gymnastics routine, triple jump
Describe the 2 types of environmental predictability for motor skills.
OPEN
- variable + unpredictable environment
- externally paced (outside factors)
- requires adaptation of skills
- eg. battling in cricket, soccer, hockey, sailing
- more difficult to learn
- more decisions to be made
CLOSED
- stable + predictable environment
- internally paced (self-timed)
- replication of skill
- eg. hitting ball off a tee, golf driving range
- better for teaching skills
- less decisions to be made
Describe the teaching continuum between closed and open skills.
- skills should be taught on a continuum moving from closed to open
- eg. on cones passing, follow pass, add defender, 3v3 passing, match game
STAGES OF LEARNING
1. Cognitive phase
- developing initial understanding of how to do a skill
Characteristics
- trial + error
- very inconsistent, little success
- lots of self talk
- high attentional demand
- poor timing/sequencing of movements
- frustration
Coaching strategies
- repetitive demonstration
- clear instruction
- don’t overload info
- slow step-by-step
- give feedback
STAGES OF LEARNING
2. Associative phase
- practice of the skill, familiar w sequence + timing
- length of this stage based on: motivation, complexity, coaching ability
- most never progress past this stage
Characteristics
- self-recognition of error
- refiine accuracy, consistency + efficiency
- less self-talk
- develop correct timing
- smoother + quicker movements
Coaching strategies
- more specific + technical feedback
- increase difficulty - more open-style practice
STAGES OF LEARNING
3. Autonomous phase
- skill becomes automatic, little attention needed to perform correctly
Characteristics
- high speed + efficiency
- multitasking
- repeatable, consistent success
- identify + correct own error
- selectively attend to relevant cues
5 factors affecting skill acquisition
AGE/MATURITY
- children have < capacity to process info, and lower motor control
- people mature at diff rates
- performance usually peaks at a specific age (over 30)
GENDER
- differences in physiology
- men advantaged in strength/power
- women greater ability to utilise fats, increasing endurance
HEREDITARY
- body type/muscle fibre composition is based on genetics
MOTIVATION
- impacts persistence + effort
QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION
- professional teaching is better presented + taken in
PRACTICE TYPES
- massed vs distributed
MASSED
- repetitive, continuous practice w/o breaks until skill is learned
- more suited to highly skilled + motivated athletes
- eg. kicking 50 penalties in a row
DISTRIBUTED
- short, frequent practice sessions
- w regular breaks, in which feedback can be received/practice something else
- generally deemed more effective
- especially when learned is inexperienced, lack of motivation, skill is complex
PRACTICE TYPES
- whole vs part
WHOLE
- learning entire skill, whole process
- good for skills that are highly complex + difficult to break down
PART
- teaching a skill in its subroutines
- progressive - builds up to make whole
- good when skill has clearly defined components
PRACTICE TYPES
- fixed vs varied
FIXED
- same skill practiced repetitively in same enviro conditions
- good for closed skills
VARIED
- differing enviro conditions
- good for open skills
- develops schema
PRACTICE TYPES
- drill vs problem solving
DRILL
- traditional approach - learning through repetition
- controlled practice for closed skills
- eg. netball shots from set points
PROBLEM SOLVING
- learning through discovery
- application of a skill set to suit a situation
- teaches creativity + game intelligence
- eg. netball game with moving defence line requiring adaptation from attackers
schema
- schema is the ability to apply a skill to a range of different situations.
- every time a movement is conducted, information is gathered + applied to future performance of the skill
- therefore, it is developed by practicing in quantity + large number of different enviro conditions
- VERY important for open skills where conditions are changing + unpredictable
- eg. playing on turf, muddy pitch, good quality grass = schema is developed to play in all conditions
INFORMATION PROCESSING
1. Sensory Input
cues obtained using the senses:
- vision
- hearing
- proprioreception (kinaesthetic sense that gives awareness of muscular movement, through muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin)
- equilibrium (the positioning + balance of the body, important to maintain control - eg. gymnastics, diving, dancing)
- touch
- smell
cues
pieces of information obtained from the environment
noise
- irrelevant info from enviro
- eg. crowd noise, opposition taunts
orienting
- the ability to direct attention to the correct part of the environment to detect cues
- eg. opponent body position, referee whistle, ball movement
selective attention
- a performer’s ability to block out irrevelvant cues (noise) and respond only to the relevant
- cuts down length of info processing time, making for quicker reactions/decision making
- caused by correct orienting
- can be aided by: making relevant cues stand out, using as few cues as possible in initial practice, directing player attention to cues
anticipation
- predicting what will happen based on detection of relevant cues
- developed by experience
List 3 ways in which detection of visual cues can be enhanced.
- using larger objects
- using bright/contrasting colours
- slowing down objects
INFORMATION PROCESSING
2. Processing (stim ID, resp selection, resp programming)
- STIMULUS IDENTIFICATION
- cues are received + organised through memory
- signal detection is affected by: 1. ability of sense organs, 2. strength of the cue, 3. noise, 4. speed of the cue, 5. level of arousal (must be optimal) - RESPONSE SELECTION
- an action/movement is assigned to the identified stimulus/cue
- a motor program is formed as the most effective response - RESPONSE PROGRAMMING
- the relevant MP is retrieved from long term memory
- a sequence of muscular contractions is initiated
INFORMATION PROCESSING
3. Output
- the actual movement/motor program is conducted
- info is conveyed to the muscles by the brain through the motor neurons
INFORMATION PROCESSING
4. Feedback
- received about the skills performance after or during, can be:
- Internal: the feeling in muscles + joints, within body
- External: visual, auditory + verbal cues from enviro
reaction time
- the amount of time between when a stimulus is presented, and the first movement initiated in response to it
- total amount of time for athlete to collect + process info from senses, formulate a response, + transfer this to muscles to react
- it is more important in open skills
movement time
- the time taken to complete the task after it has been initiated
- from when body starts physically reacting, to when the movement is finished
response time
- reaction time + movement time
- presentation of stimulus -> finish of movement
simple reaction time
- 1 stiimulus, 1 correct response
- eg. starting gun = run
- results in faster reaction time
choice reaction time
- multiple stimuli, and/or multiple possible correct responses
- more info processing to be done
- results in slower reaction time
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- Hick’s Law
- as the number of stimulus-response alternatives increases, so does reaction time
- a player can deliberately increase no. of stimulus alternatives available to their opponent, delaying their reaction time (eg. being unpredictable)
- set plays for a given situation can decrease number of stim-response alternatives = decrease reaction time
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- age
- for <10 and >60, RT is slower
- at its fastest b/w 19-30
- > during mid 20s
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- gender
- males generally faster
- however, females RT increase due to age is slower
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- intensity of stimulus
- > intensity of stimulus (eg. noticeable size, colour, volume) = < RT
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- probability of a stimulus occurring
- unpredictability/uncertainty makes anticipation difficult, > RT
- when a stimulus has a high probability of occurring, RT is <
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- presence/absence of warning signals
- recognising warning signals indicates a movement is about to occur
- eg/ hand signals/cues by opposition, ‘on your marks’
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- signal detection
- ability to detect cues/stimulus
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- previous experience
- prior experience increases signal detection + means more feedback has been received on performance
- t/f, RT < with experience
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- selective attention
- reduces processing time, t/f < RT
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- Psychological Refractory Period (PRP)
- the delay processing a signal while the preceding signal is being processed
- athlete cannot process a 2nd cue until the initial cue has been processed
- this takes up to 0.5 seconds
- if a 2nd cue is presented before then, athlete will be delayed
- eg. a player feints, then changes direction
- this PRP time cannot be improved: can only improve ability to recognise fakes through experience
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- stimulus-response compatibility
- the degree of correspondence between a stimulus + its correct response
- > the compatibility, the shorter the RT
- it is based on how expected a stimulus is, in comparison to a specific response
- eg. a swimmer is expecting a starting gun. A beep is used instead. This stimulus is incompatible with the response of starting the race. T/f, RT is delayed.
- selecting the most compatible response is difficult, can be improved with experience and coaching feedback
REDUCING REACTION TIME
- Practice
- more practice = decreased choice RT
- a well-practiced athlete will not > their RT as much with each added choice.
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT
- Anticipation
- an athlete initiates a particular response before the appearance of the appropriate signal
- the only way to effectively reduce RT
- athletes can be trained to look for cues in an environment
2 types of anticipation
- SPATIAL/EVENT: prediction of WHAT will happen in an enviro
- TEMPORAL: prediction of WHEN an event will occur. Less useful. eg. BB ball toss
advantages and disadvantages of anticipation
ADVANTAGES
- if RIGHT, RT is decreased = faster response
- combined spatial/temporal anticipation creates ultimate advantage
- allows both what + when to be predicted
DISADVANTAGES
- if WRONG, RT is increased = slower response
- (0.4 seconds to stop original action + begin to process new)
3 sites of memory storage (durations)
- short term sensory storage (STSS): 1 sec
- short term memory (STM): 1 min
- long term memory (LTM): permanent
short term sensory storage (STSS)
- receive lots of info
- retain for brief period (1 sec)
- allows athlete to make split action/decisions
- selective attention selects only the relevant info to relay to STM
short term memory (STM)
- also referred to as ‘working memory’
- gives the ability to recall info immediately after exposure to it
- after this, it is either lost, or relevant info is transferred to LTM
- info overload: too much info in STM, meaning not all of it is retained to LTM (eg. too detailed game plan, learning a new skill)
chunking
- in STM
- capacity of the STM is around 5-9 items of info
- chunking is putting single pieces of data together into groups of larger info
- many related items are stored ‘as one’
- this increases the volume of info that can be stored in the STM
List the factors affecting STM (5).
- Relevance/meaningfulness: greater importance of task/goal = easier to retain + transfer to STM
- Interference (distractions): noise interferes with information transfer to STM
- Chunking/coding: improves storage
- Rehearsal/practice: info must be rehearsed for it to be transferred to STM, should be done asap after cue appears
- Overloading: greater volume of info than capacity (5-9) results in overload, some info is lost
long term memory (LTM)
- permanent, limitless storage
- affected by meaning/relevance + amount of practice
- info must be repeated/rehearsed to ensure LTM storage, and taught in a way that develops importance
encoding (practice)
- in LTM
- involves creating similarity between acquiring a piece of info, and performing/recalling it later
- easier in closed skills (same environment)
- open skills will need match-like simulation to develop schema
feedback
all information an athlete receives about the result or process of an activity, either during the performance or at its completion
roles of feedback (3)
- motivate
- reinforce efficient/correct performance
- regulate/change the performance during the activity + in the future
sources of feedback
INTRINSIC
- kinaesthetic feedback
- received from internal senses (vision, hearing, touch, proprioreception, forces, smell)
- both during and after a skill is performed
EXTRINSIC
- received from an external source
- best received directly after
- divided into two main categories:
Knowledge of Results (KR)
- feedback provided from the outcome of a performance
- eg. match score, successful goal, first place
Knowledge of Performance (KP)
- feedback provided on the technical quality/execution of the skill
- often verbal (eg. from coach), or video analysis
timing of feedback
- continuous (concurrent): given throughout performance from many sources
- terminal (discrete/delayed: given after performance
biomechanics
- the science concerned with the internal and external forces acting on a human body or object
- aims to develop technique in motor skills to enhance performance
List 8 important anatomical positions.
- Flexion: joint movement DECREASING the angle between two bones (flex muscles)
- Extension: joint movement INCREASING the angle between two bones (extend)
- Abduction: movement AWAY from the body
- Adduction: movement TOWARD the body
- Posterior: back of body
- Anterior: front of body
- Dorsiflexion: toes upwards
- Plantar flexion: pointed toes, lengthen foot
kinematics
the study of the body in motion, including how fast, far and consistently the body moves
linear motion
- movement of the body in a straight line
- eg. ice skater gliding, the upper body of a cyclist moving in a straight line
angular motion
- motion of an object around a fixed point known as an AXIS OF ROTATION
- an axis can be internal (eg. shoulder joint) or external (gymnastics bars)
- eg. somersault, arm movement in cricket bowl
general motion
- most common type of motion
- a combination of linear and angular
- eg. cycling: upper body in linear motion, legs in angular motion
projectile
- a body that moves through the air, human or object
- due to gravity, follows the shape of a parabola
factors affecting projectile motion
- Velocity of release: the harder something is hit/thrown, further it will travel (momentum)
- Height of release: a higher point of release to ground = further travel
- Air resistance: projectile through air creates a drag behind it
- Shape: streamlined objects travel more effectively due to drag
- Spin: top spin, back spin, side spin alter the parabola of the projectile
Angle of release
- 45° generally ideal (equal vertical/horizontal force)
- Larger angles than 45 = shorter distance, greater height (longer to reach ground)
- Smaller angles than 45 = shorter distance, lower height (faster time to reach ground)
momentum
- the force gained by motion
- M = mV (mass x velocity)
kinetics
the study of the forces associated with motion
mass and inertia
- the amount of matter that makes up an object
- directly measures INERTIA: the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion, including speed and direction
force
- the pushing or pulling effect of a body that can cause change
- measured in Newtons (N)
- applied when one object comes in contact with another
- required to initiate, slow down, + stop movement
- forces are produced from within the body by muscular contractions, or applied to objects eg. a racquet/ball
Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion
FIRST LAW
- law of inertia
- a body continues in its state of rest or motion unless acted upon by a force
SECOND LAW
- f = ma
- the rate of change of acceleration of a body is proportional to the force applied
- greater mass = more force must be applied to move it
THIRD LAW
- for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
levers within the body
- the human body is made up of levers (bones), with axis (joints)
- levers increase the amount of force applied, and generate greater speed in sports
BALANCE
- Centre of gravity
- Base of support
- Stability
- How do you enhance stability?
CENTRE OF GRAVITY
- the point in an object at which its body is in balance in reference to gravity
- lower centre of gravity = increased stability
- eg. stance of a surfer
BASE OF SUPPORT
- the area of the supporting base of an object
- greater base area = greater stability
STABILITY
- the body’s ability to remain in a state of balance
- can be static or dynamic
Enhancing stability:
- widen base of support (usually leg stance)
- lower centre of gravity
- keep COG directly over BOS
Describe the 6 steps of Biomechanical Analysis.
- Determine specific objective of the analysis
- Observe
- Naked eye: ideally first time observation. Real time viewing, for timing + sequence
- Vid analysis: allows pause, replay, slow-mo - Identify movement patterns
- place the skill within patterns of movement (eg. running, striking, throwing, lifting, jumping) - Divide into skill phases: break down and observe in subroutines
- Detecting errors: identify the specific component of the skill causing misperformance
- Identify starter mechanisms
- the mannerisms/mechanisms done prior to a movement
- can be used to initiate the skill
- eg. small jumps done before a high jump.
