Lec 16 - Skill Acquisition, Retention, And Trasnfer Pt.2

Question 1

What is skill acquisition?

Answer 1

The process of learning and developing a new skill through practice.

Question 2

What is skill retention?

Answer 2

The ability to retain and recall a learned skill after a period of time.

Question 3

What is skill transfer?

Answer 3

The application of a skill learned in one context to a new or different context.

Question 4

What is specificity of practice?

Answer 4

Tailoring practice to closely replicate the demands and context of the target skill.

Example: Practicing under noisy, game-like conditions.

Question 5

What are Fitts’ stages of learning?

Answer 5

Cognitive: Understanding the task, frequent errors, high mental effort.
Fixation: Refining movements, reduced errors, smoother performance.
Autonomous: Automatic and efficient performance, requiring minimal attention.

Question 6

What are Bernstein’s stages of learning?

Answer 6

Reduce Degrees of Freedom: Simplify movements by freezing unnecessary body parts.
Release Degrees of Freedom: Add flexibility and fluidity for better performance.
Exploit Passive Dynamics: Use natural forces like gravity and momentum for efficiency.

Question 7

What is forgetting in skill retention?

Answer 7

Gradual decline in performance over time, especially for discrete cognitive tasks.

Question 8

What is warm-up decrement?

Answer 8

A temporary performance dip after inactivity, caused by the loss of psychological ‘set.’

Question 9

What is a ‘set’ in skill performance?

Answer 9

A collection of psychological factors like attention, posture, and focus that optimize performance.

Question 10

What is part practice?

Answer 10

Breaking a complex skill into smaller parts to practice separately.

Useful for long, serial skills (e.g., dance routines).

Question 11

What is whole practice?

Answer 11

Practicing a skill in its entirety.

Necessary for interconnected skills (e.g., swimming, throwing a ball).

Question 12

What is progressive part practice?

Answer 12

Gradually combining skill components into larger units until the full skill is practiced as a whole.

Question 13

What is a simulator?

Answer 13

A device replicating real-world tasks for safe, controlled practice.

Question 14

What are physical fidelity and psychological fidelity in simulators?

Answer 14

Physical Fidelity: How closely the simulator replicates the physical task.
Psychological Fidelity: How well it replicates the cognitive and perceptual demands.

Question 15

How does similarity influence skill transfer?

Answer 15

Skills transfer more effectively when tasks share similar movement patterns, perceptual demands, or strategies.

Example: Hockey swing mechanics transferring to golf.

Question 16

What are the limitations of skill transfer?

Answer 16

Transfer decreases as skill proficiency increases, as advanced skills become highly task-specific.

Question 17

What is the difference between part and whole practice?

Answer 17

Part Practice: Useful for skills with low interaction between parts (e.g., typing).
Whole Practice: Necessary for skills where parts are interconnected (e.g., swimming).

Question 18

Why are simulators valuable for training?

Answer 18

They provide a safe, cost-effective way to practice tasks that may be dangerous, expensive, or inaccessible in real life.

Question 19

Why is specificity critical in practice design?

Answer 19

Skills learned in one context may not transfer well unless practice matches the real-world environment of the skill.

Question 20

How can progressive part practice improve skill acquisition?

Answer 20

It manages complexity by breaking down skills, then integrating components into a seamless whole.