skill acquisition

Question 1

What are the characteristics of skill? (and revision tip)

Answer 1

A - Aesthetically pleasing
C - Consistent
E - Efficient

F - Fluent
A - Accurate
C - Controlled
E - Economical

Question 2

pros and cons of massed practice

Answer 2

pros.
forms motor programs
efficient
increases fitness

cons
no time for feedback
fatigue
may be to demanding

Question 3

pros and cons of distributed practice

Answer 3

pros
allow for recovery
allows for mental rehearsal/feedback
reduces danger

cons
time-consuming
negative trnsfer

Question 4

Evaluation of variable practice?

Answer 4

:) - develops schema
- increases motivation and fun due to variety of practice
- performer experiences decision making similar to real situation
- helps build sub routines
- allows adaption

:( - time consuming
- can cause fatigue
- possibility of information overload
- can cause negative transfer
- can confuse performers to what their goal is
- too demanding

Question 5

Evaluation of mental practice?

Answer 5

:) - produces a clear mental image of the skill
- builds motor programmes
- can rehearse strategies and tactics
- increases motivation and confidence
- controls anxiety and arousal before performances
- prevents wear and tear as no movement actually takes place
- can be completed when injured to remain memory of skill

:( - difficult for cognitive performers to complete effectively
- must be accurate and correct
- difficult if environment is not quiet
- performers may overthink and start to doubt themselves

Question 6

How can a coach promote positive transfer?

Answer 6

stop bad habits
make sure first task is well learned before making progress (planned progression)
point out similarities and transfer possibilities
provide motivation
realism (is it realistic)

Question 7

Evaluation of whole presentation

Answer 7

:) - skill is more fluent
- may take shorter amount of time to perfect skill
- develops kinaesthesis
- keeps links between sub-routines

:( - unnecessary demand on performer
- performer can’t cope with all aspects at once
- fatigue
- too much information so not for beginners

Question 8

Evaluation of whole-part-whole Presentation ?

Answer 8

:) - provides motivation
- weakness can be corrected
- provides immediate feedback
- fluency + integration of sub-routines maintained whilst errors are corrected
- maintains feel for whole skill

:( - could produce negative transfer if not put back into whole practice
- needs to be put back into skill straight away to be effective
- time consuming
- some skills cannot be broken down

Question 9

Evaluation of progressive-part-practice?

Answer 9

:) - performer can focus on one particular aspect
- chance of fatigue is reduced
- success in stages = motivation
- may improve confidence
- allows coach and performer to focus on specific aspect or weakness
- reduces danger

:( - time consuming
- neglect of the whole skill/tasks
- ignores links between sub-routines
- chance of negative transfer if the first part of the skill is not properly learned before moving onto the next

Question 10

Causes of the learning plateau?

Answer 10

lack of motivation
boredom
poor coaching
limited ability
targets set too low
fatigue (mental or physical)
poor fitness
drive reduction
injury or overtrained
limit of the task
cognitive stage

Question 11

What are the solutions of the plateau effect?

Answer 11

change target task/use variable practice (set smarter goals)
change coach/coaching methods
motivation
rest/distributed practice
variety
responsibility (take personal responsibility for improvement)
quality feedback and guidance
explaining (of what the plateau is and future progress will be made)
feedback
fitness
technical development

Question 12

What are the 3 central mechanisms in Whiting’s model?

Answer 12

Perceptual mechanisms
Translatory mechanisms
Effector mechanisms

Question 13

What occurs in the translatory mechanisms?

Answer 13

Helps to convert information so decisions can be made.
Use past experiences so that information received can be linked with the past experiences and sent to the memory system.
Actions are stored and can be recognised + used in the memory.
Uses coded information from the perceptual process to pick out an appropriate motor programme.

Question 14

Strategies to improve selective attention?

Answer 14

training with crowd/distraction
mental rehearsal
coach can highlight important cues
improving overall fitness (less distracting)
increase the intensity of the stimulus by making the ball brighter, shouting louder or equivalent
analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the opposition

Question 15

Components of the working memory model?

Answer 15

Central executive
Phonological loop
Visiospatial sketchpad
Episodic buffer
LTM

Question 16

What does the central executive do?

Answer 16

Has overall control over all the information entering and leaving the working memory.
It quickly identifies which information should be sent to one of the sub-systems

Question 17

What does the phonological loop do?

Answer 17

Deals with auditory information presented from the senses.
This memory trace , which is an initial mental idea of the skill, can be sent to the LTM where it can trigger a motor programme, or images that contain components of a skill.
The motor programme can be used to produce movement.

Question 18

what does the visuospatial sketchpad do?

Answer 18

Concerns visual (sight) and spatial (where) information.
Helps to process information about the feel of the movement such as the flight of a gymnast during a vault.

Question 19

What does the episodic buffer do?

Answer 19

Responsible for coordinating the work of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad into sequences.
Produces integrated sequences of sight, sound and movements which are sent to LTM.
Sequences are the starting point for the initiation of motor programmes to perform movement.

Question 20

Capacity of working memory?

Answer 20

Around 7 pieces of info (limited)

Question 21

Capacity and duration of LTM?

Answer 21

Capacity - possibly unlimited
Duration - potential lifetime

Question 22

What is Hick’s law?

Answer 22

As the number of choices increases, so does the reaction time.

can be used to players advantage as it can be used to keep opponents guessing e.g. changing serve in tennis will increase response preparation time and hopefully delay the opponents actions
BUT
not always an advantage as the opponent could adapt and become familiar to the types of shots being played meaning their response may become quicker (especially if autonomous performer)

Question 23

What is the psychological refractory period?

Answer 23

Explains the delay that occurs because we can only process one stimulus at a time.
The delay occurs due to the confusion caused by a second stimulus arriving before the first is processed (the psychological refractory period).

→ The performer may freeze for a split second to sort out the conflicting information e.g. dancer may freeze when music plays before beginning movement.

Question 24

Two types of anticipation?

Answer 24

Temporal anticipation = pre-judging when the stimulus is going to happen

Spatial anticipation = pre-judges where and what the projected stimuli are going to be

Question 25

What does schema theory suggest?

Answer 25

Instead of using a structured set of movements to develop skills, the core principles can be taken from an existing motor programme and then adapted to the new skill being learned.
May be based on environment/feedback.

Question 26

What is a recall schema and what two features is it responsible for?

Answer 26

It is responsible for initiating the schema.

Initial conditions - information from sporting environment
Response specification - the information is used to asses what options are available to the performer e.g. how far away is my nearest teammate?

Question 27

What is a recognition schema and what two features is it responsible for?

Answer 27

It is responsible for control of the movement and used during the action.

Sensory consequences - the use of the senses help guide the movement/info about the feel of the movement
Response outcome - schema and motor programme updated by getting knowledge of the result of the action e.g. was it successful?

Question 28

Implications of Schema theory on a way a coach should teach?

Answer 28

vary the task
frequent feedback to the player
parts of the skill that can be transferred are highlighted to the player
reinforcement through praise and encouragement (to motivate player)

Question 29

What is insight learning?

Answer 29

When a performer uses existing sporting knowledge to form an idea of how to deal with a sporting problem
Player presented with a problem → sporting knowledge used to work out solution → ideas tried to overcome problem

Question 30

What are the stages of insight learning?

Answer 30

Perceive the problem/situation
Attempt trail and error
Contemplate/think
Sudden insight (“Eureka moment”)
Apply and solve the solution

Question 31

What are the 4 stages of Bandura’s observational learning theory?

Answer 31

Attention
Retention
Motor Production
Motivation

Question 32

What is involved in attention? (Stage 1)

Answer 32

Ensuring the performer takes note of the relevant cues

the more attractive the demonstration, the more likely it is to be copied
give dental on why you want them to learn it
make demonstration/model loud, bright or attractive for learner so they are more likely to remember it
information from the coach is loud and clear
the demonstration must always be accurate and correct

Question 33

What is involved in retention and how can a coach maximise it? (Stage 2)

Answer 33

The ability to remember important information and recall it from the memory system

chunking information within the demonstration so that the learner is able to recall it
the use of a role model/expert player may ensure accurate demonstration given
learner must attempt skill as soon as it is seen so that it is fresh in the mind
practice as soon as possible so the performer can remember how to do it

Question 34

What is involved in motor production? (Stage 3)

Answer 34

Making sure the performer is physically capable of copying the demonstration

skill is the same level of ability as the performer
making sure the task is understood
in the early stage of learning task should be made easy and then making progress to more complex
time to practice and learn well before moving on the the next part of the task

Question 35

What is involved in motivation? (Stage 4)

Answer 35

The drive needed to copy the demonstration

the use of praise and rewards
positive feedback and positive reinforcement

Question 36

What is social development theory? (vygotsky)

Answer 36

→ Interaction with others can play a vital role within learning

→ Skills can be learned from coaches/teachers known as the ‘more knowledgeable other’ (MKO)

→ MKO does not just give direct examples and advice but can influence a learner by demonstrating values and actions such as; fair play, sportsmanship

Question 37

What is inter-psychological learning?

Answer 37

→ Development and learning of skills are from the coach/teacher when the learner uses the MKO to gain advice, feedback and tactical knowledge

Question 38

What is intra-psychological learning?

Answer 38

→ Learning from within
→ Learner uses cognitive aspects of skill acquisition to internally analyse, think about and construct actions based on what they have learned externally
→ Takes place after inter-psychological learning

Question 39

What is constructivism?

Answer 39

→ Build on what you know
→ Learning from MKO and what you already know = building up skills
→ Learner will assess what level they are working at and what they need to know in order to reach the next level:
Zone of Proximal Development

Question 40

What is involved in the zone of proximal development?

Answer 40

What can I do alone?
What can I do with help?
What can I not yet do?