Chapter 14 Flashcards
What two questions must coaches and athletes constantly address?
- at practices, will specific skills be learned
- at competitions, will the previously learned skills transfer effectively
List three practice strategies for transferring practice performance to competitions
- deliberately stimulate in practices many cues that always exist in the competitions
- program a few stimuli at practices that can be taken to competitions
- vary many training conditions in the hope that some of the cues at practices might occur at competitions
Define stimulus generalization
- when a behavior becomes more probable in the presence of one stimulus or situation as a result of having been strengthened in the presence of similar stimuli
- practicing free throws transfers to making free throw shots even in a competitions setting with loud fans and bright lights.
Define stimulus control
- refers to the degree to which a behavior is influenced by a specific stimulus due to consistent reinforcement or punishment associated with that stimulus. A behavior occurs more frequently in the presence of a specific stimulus because it has been conditioned to do so
- A sprinter at the starting line only begins their race when they hear the starter’s gun (the specific stimulus). The behavior (starting the sprint) is under stimulus control because the sprinter has been consistently trained to respond only to the sound of the starter’s gun and not to other noises or movements.
Consider these statements: “Practice makes perfect.” “Practicing under conditions that are similar to playing conditions helps to make one perfect.” Explain, in terms of stimulus generalization, why athletes and coaches need to understand the implications of these statements.
If practice environments differ significantly from game conditions, athletes may struggle to perform effectively under pressure. By replicating competitive stimuli during practice, coaches help athletes generalize their skills to real-world scenarios, improving performance reliability.
What are simulations?
- attempts at; make many stimuli in the environment as similar as possible to the stimuli that will be encountered in the competition
- mock race
List seven categories of cues that are useful for simulating competitive stimuli at practices.
- Cues from the Physical Environment
- Cues from the behavior of the coach
- Cues from the Behavior of other Athletes
- Cues from the level of autonomic arousal or degree of anxiousness of the athlete
- Proprioceptive cues from the muscle of the athlete
- The athlete’s imagery as cues
- The athletes self talk as cues
What are proprioceptive cues?
- internal sensations generated by the position and movement of one’s body
- feeling of throwing a ball → being aware of your hand being in its location with eyes closed
Using imagery to simulate aspects of a competition in training
Describe the generalization strategy referred to as “programming a few common stimuli”.
- Stimuli that are consistent from practice to competition or competition to competition
- Having a set routine for your pre race warm up, what time to start prepping equipment, when to start riding, and when to get off and go towards the course
Describe the generalization strategy referred to as “programming a few common stimuli”.
- Stimuli that are consistent from practice to competition or competition to competition
- using a key word to generate a wanted behavior, such as smooth is fast when having slow corners
Describe the generalization strategy referred to as “programming a few common stimuli”.
- incorporating common stimuli into a learning or training environment that are likely to be present in competitions
- pre shot routine, practicing with crowd noises
Describe the generalization strategy referred to as “vary many of the training conditions.
- practicing under many conditions means that when in competition the athlete should have already performed in these conditions
- practicing in the wet mud on rainy days instead of riding indoors
