Chapter 3: Learning and Skill Acquisition

Question 1

Why is it important to study skill acquisition?

Answer 1

Performance may be due to a practice or skill acquisition issue.

Understanding the role in motor learning in performance will aid the consultant in providing comprehensive training.

Question 2

What are the two major motor control theories?

Answer 2

1. Schema Theory
2. Dynamic Systems Theory

Question 3

What is Schema Theory?

Answer 3

Characterized as a top-down theory (i.e., suggests that movement is driven by cognition) and is the most prominent of several motor program-based theories. Schmidt (1975) suggested that each specific motor skill or class of skills has a cognitive representation (i.e., generalized motor program) that is stored in the central nervous system. This representation can then be called upon and contextualized to perform a motor skill when needed.

Question 4

What is Dynamic Systems Theory?

Answer 4

Characterized as a bottom-up theory of motor control (i.e., suggests that movement is driven by sensory processing). This theory relies less on centrally generated motor commands and proposes that movements are self-organized based on the interaction of personal characteristics as well as task and environmental demands (Davids, Glazier, Araujo, & Bartlett, 2003; Newell, 1989).

Question 5

What are Fitts and Posner’s 3 stages to learning, and what happens in each stage?

Answer 5

1. Cognitive -Individuals attempt to understand the movement components necessary to have a successful execution or performance of the skill
2. Associative - refine the movement and increase the consistency of the motor pattern, individuals also learn to associate cues from the environment with the desired movement to accomplish the goal of the task.
3. Autonomous - perform the skill in competition or practice without thinking about it. They are also able to clearly detect their performance errors and understand how to correct those errors without external instruction.

Question 6

What are 3 ways to test skill acquisition?

Answer 6

1. Pretest and Posttest
2. Retention Test
3. Transfer Test

Question 7

What is a retention test?

Answer 7

Used to assess the permanence of the motor skill; more specifically, it determines how much information has been retained following practice.

Question 8

What is a transfer test?

Answer 8

Assess the degree to which the skill is adaptable to differing performance contexts (different environments, specifically the performance environment)

Question 9

What are pretests and posttests?

Answer 9

Assess the degree to which an athlete has learned a skill since the first time they attempted that skill.

Question 10

What are two types of Augmented feedback and what is one downfall of augmented feedback?

Answer 10

1. Knowledge of Results (KR)
2. Knowledge of Performance (KP)

It can produce dependency on the feedback

Question 11

What is Knowledge of Results (KR)?

Answer 11

KR does not provide information about the quality of the movement or specific aspects of the body; it only provides information about the end result that is a by-product of the movement quality.

Question 12

What is Knowledge of Performance (KP)?

Answer 12

Feedback that provides specific information to the performer about the movements that lead up to the outcome

Question 13

What are two types of feedback for performance?

Answer 13

1. Augmented Feedback
2. Intrinsic Feedback

Question 14

What is Augmented Feedback?

Answer 14

Comes from a coach or from video of a performance.

Question 15

What is task intrinsic feedback?

Answer 15

Comes as a natural result of performing a skill (hitting the ball in baseball is one example)

Question 16

What are 3 types of Augmented feedback schedules and what do they look like?

Answer 16

1. Relative Frequency: feedback frequency is reduced systematically across practice trials (e.g., after every third attempt, or 33%) or in a fading schedule in which feedback is frequent early in practice and becomes less frequent as practice continues.
2. Bandwith Frequency: When learners complete a trial and the performance falls outside the predetermined range of correctness, then KR is administered. When a performance falls within the acceptable error range, no KR is given.
3. Self-Controlled Frequency: learners can tailor their feedback schedule to meet their individual needs, proposing that learners request KR following any trial perceived to be a good performance. Finally, others have suggested that providing choice to learners provides increased autonomy, which increases motivation to learn the task.

Question 17

What are 3 general ways in which motor performance and learning of motor skills can be enhanced within a practice?

Answer 17

1. Athletes being Externally Focused
2. Reduce augmented feedback frequency
3. Increase variability in practice schedules

Question 18

What is an Invariant feature in Motor Learning?

Answer 18

The stable aspects of the skill performance that remain constant from one performance to the next.

Question 19

What is a Parameter in Motor Learning?

Answer 19

The aspects of the skill that can be modified to meet the demands of the current task performance.

Question 20

What are consistency and adaptability in relationship to performance?

Answer 20

Consistency - the ability to perform a skill at a similar level of proficiency on sequential trials

Adaptability - the ability to perform a skill under various contexts or skill variations.

Question 21

True or False: Research has shown that increasing the amount of Contextual Interference in practice leads to poor performance during practice but superior performance during retention or transfer testing

Answer 21

True