Optimising practice - contextual interference and differential learning - 6.1

Question 1

retention tests

Answer 1

Skill is performed in the same condition as training

Immediate (directly after training)

Delayed (after a break from training – usually 24 hrs – 7 days)

Question 2

transfer tests

Answer 2

Skill is performed in a similar but different condition than training

No specific time period

Question 3

what is practice

Answer 3

Schmidt(1991):

“any activity, overt or covert, through which a person seeks to establish or refine intended performance.”

Question 4

blocked practice

Answer 4

A practice sequence in which individuals rehearse a single task or skill repeatedly before moving on to the next task

AAABBBCCC

Question 5

serial practice

Answer 5

Skills are practiced in a serial order

ABCABCABC

Question 6

random practice

Answer 6

Practice sequence where individuals perform a number of tasks/skills in a random order

Question 7

specificity of learning - Henry (1960)

Answer 7

In order for learning to occur the practice environment should be as close as possible to the performance environment

Question 8

Moradi et al. (2014)

Answer 8

diagrams on slides

Ps could either see or not see the target

only performed well in the same condition in which they trained

same for immediate and delayed conditions

Question 9

schema theory (Schmidt, 1977)

Answer 9

Actions are not stored as a whole

We gather information from movement
– Initial conditions
– Motor action characteristics – how fast/high 
– Results of action (success/failure)
– Sensory aspects of action

Relationships between this information used to create recognition schema/recall schema

Variable practice beneficial?

Question 10

variability of practice - Shea and Cole (1990)

Answer 10

diagram on slide

move arm to match target amount of force

specific, specific-variable, specific-specific

short-term, specific and then different movements in the break beneficial - fewer errors

constant practice better long-term

no different between groups at retention 2

Question 11

Landin et al. (1993)

Answer 11

graph on slide

variability better at first retention - more effective short-term - higher score

no difference between that and specific at second

Question 12

contextual interference

Answer 12

Performer alternates between different skills or same skill in different conditions

Coach corrects movement errors

Variability introduced in controlled manner

(continuum on slide)

reliant on coach feedback - have to know what they’re talking about

Question 13

elaboration hypothesis

Answer 13

Random practice causes people to elaborate or discover the distinctiveness among skills (which blocked practice does not)

Beneficial for performance in a retention test

Question 14

Goode and Magill (1986)

Answer 14

Which is more effective for learning a badminton serve?

3 groups performing 36 serves a day

3 different types of serve – short, long, drive.

Blocked group:
– Day 1 = all short, day 2 = all long, day 3 = all drive

Serial group:
– 1 short, 1 long, 1 drive (repeated every day)

Random group:
– No serve repeated more than twice consecutively

random group had best performance at retention

(graph on slide)

Question 15

Hall et al. (1994)

Answer 15

graph on slide

random/blocked/control group

transfer test random/blocked

no sig diffs in pretest

random performed better

Question 16

optimal movement pattern

Answer 16

Schollman (1994)–Elite discus thrower

Discus throws before, throughout and during winter training

didn’t produce same throw twice - no optimal movement pattern

Question 17

within and between athlete variability - Schollhorn and Bauer (1998)

Answer 17

8 male, 19 female elite javelin throwers

Large variation in throwing techniques

No ideal throwing technique identified

Question 18

Schollhorn et al. (2006)

Answer 18

graph on slide

Question 19

challenging traditional learning theory

Answer 19

traditional theory that learning occurs linearly

Usually trained by minimising variability and correcting ‘movement errors’

Low probability that athlete will encounter same movement condition twice

Motor learning may be aided by self-organisation

Question 20

differential learning (Schollhorn et al., 2006)

Answer 20

Ecological approach to skill acquisition

Maximises variability by preventing repetition – athlete never completes same movement twice

Forces athlete to experience as many movements as possible by forcing variability

Uses stochastic resonance

Each element can be varied –variation requires
attention and adaptability

Challenges the view that there is one target movement pattern that should be achieve

Question 21

Schollhorn et al. (2009)

Answer 21

diagram on slide

children need more variation

Question 22

Hossner et al. (2016)

Answer 22

graph on slide

no statistically significant differences between groups

better with feedback/small differences between trials

positive benefits of DL cannot be attributed to decreased feedback or trial fluctuations

Question 23

specificity of learning - Proteau et al. (1992) – visual aiming task

Answer 23

Conducted aiming task with no visual feedback

Adding visual information reduced performance!

Suggests what we learn is specific to training condition

Question 24

Shea and Morgan (1979)

Answer 24

learned skills under blocked/random practice

perf and transfer better:

• with complex task
• with random practice
• when retention in different condition to learning

Question 25

Wulf and Schmidt (1997)

Answer 25

2/3 random and 1/3 repeated part of task

repeated performed better at transfer - suggest learnt repeated implicitly

variable practice enhanced learning

Question 26

Schollhorn et al. (2012)

Answer 26

traditional v differential groups - football

advantages for differential in learning and acquisition

promoting explicit techniques?

Question 27

Savelsbergh et al. (2010)

Answer 27

speed skating

sig improvement in differential learning group

Question 28

Sanatos et al. (2018)

Answer 28

football

differential v control

greater creativity in attempts and originality in differential

U13 showed greater improvements than U15

Question 29

Schollhorn (2016)

Answer 29

incorrect interpretations of DL by Hossner et al. (2016)

discrepancies in the experimental condition