Measuring Learning S2W1

Question 1

What is motor learning?

Answer 1

‘Motor learning is a set of processes associated with practice or experience leading to relatively permanent changes in the capability for skilled movement.’ (Schmidt and Lee, 2011)

Question 2

Give 3 basic facts about motor learning.

Answer 2

• learning occurs as a direct result of practice or experience
• learning cannot be observed, only inferred from a change in behaviour
• learning is relatively permanent

Question 3

Learning is not directly observable but inferred via . . . (4 things)

Answer 3

• improvement
• consistency
• persistency
• adaptability (can use newly acquired skills in different situations)

Question 4

What are the two dimensions that show improvement?

Answer 4

• motor dimension (physically improving at skill)

- scoring dimension (outcome, results improving)

Question 5

How can learning be inferred through consistency?

Answer 5

more consistent at reproducing patterns, moving through associative stage

Question 6

How can learning be inferred through persistency?

Answer 6

change in consistency to be persistent

Question 7

How does adaptability infer learning?

Answer 7

can you use newly acquired skills in different situations? e.g. take skill from training to competition environment

Question 8

True or false: Linear relationship is likely to be seen on a performance/time graph (time/amount of practice on x-axis and performance/score on y-axis)

Answer 8

false

Question 9

Negatively accelerated performance curve

Answer 9

• most common

- rapid progress in early stages then slows down as takes a long time to become an expert

Question 10

Positively accelerated performance curve

Answer 10

• small improvements to start with followed by increasingly large improvement

Question 11

Ogive performance curve

Answer 11

• takes time to get hang of it in the beginning, then see rapid improvement once you get the hang of it but then very difficult to become expert

Question 12

Performance error

Answer 12

• as you improve your error decreases (negative correlation on performance error-time graph)
• as you improve consistency improves so graph gets flatter (SD gets smaller)
• consistency is the spread of your scores
• however if you have 10 goes and get 10 scores of 0 at first then your SD is very small so beginners may look consistent to start off with

Question 13

ceiling effect

Answer 13

• all scores at high end
• task is too easy
• consistent scores but won’t be a true reflection of behaviour

Question 14

floor effect

Answer 14

• everyone getting low scores
• task too difficult
• consistent scores but won’t be a true reflection of behaviour

Question 15

Why is it important that we call them performance curves not learning curves?

Answer 15

because learning cannot be observed directly, it can only be inferred

Question 16

performance curve limitations

Answer 16

• practice may misrepresent learning e.g. fatigue, loss of motivation
• averaging individual results masks actual trends
• age effects e.g. finger dexterity - younger people may find some tasks easier than older people
• floor and ceiling effects

Question 17

performance curve plateaus

Answer 17

• could conclude that no learning occurred for that period - not always true could be due to other factors
• could be a period of reorganising or cognitive reconstruction
• curve shows performance not learning so could be learning and improving it’s just not been shown in performances yet

Question 18

What do retention tests examine?

Answer 18

examines the permanence and persistence of performance

Question 19

When are retention tests performed?

Answer 19

• performed after a period of no practice/rest

Question 20

What do transfer tests examine?

Answer 20

examines the adaptability element of performance

Question 21

When are transfer tests done?

Answer 21

once skill has been learned, learner must adapt the skill being practised to a novel situation e.g. can it be taken from training to competition

Question 22

What are the results of retention tests usually?

Answer 22

• Ideally, they would still be at the same level after retesting –> learning is relatively permanent
• Commonly, there is a drop in performance after period of no practice
• Rarely, there is an improvement in performance –> if rest period is short, then it could be classed as just another practice

Question 23

retention test study (Lee et al, 1995)

Answer 23

Method

• operate 2 out of sync levers
• goal is to draw circles
• lots of practice (blocks of 60 trials)

Results

• by end of 1st day, most participants could draw a circle - performance has improved
• day 2 - majority were back to drawing straight lines - lost coordination to draw circles showing poor retention and that the improvement was not relatively permanent

Implications

• shows why retention tests are needed because performance curves would suggest a change in behaviour
• performance curves show current level of performance - doesn’t tell us how permanent the improvement is

Question 24

retention: quick gains vs long term gains

Answer 24

• 2 groups learning same skill
• got to different levels of performance
• at re-test, group who didn’t perform as well have retained their performance whereas group who did better have not retained performance

reasons for this:

• could have used 2 different training regimes
• how you practice may determine how you perform and how you retain information
• quick gains don’t always mean long term retention

Question 25

designing learning experiments

Answer 25

• Groups - size, matched - ability/age/experience etc
• Sensitivity of measurements
• Practice - amount and type
• Retention/transfer tests - appropriate retention period