Skill Acquisition 2.2 Flashcards
What are the 3 stages of learning?
- The cognitive stage
- The associative stage
- The autonomous stage
What is the cognitive stage?
Where performer has to carefully think about their actions & try to understand how to copy the demonstrations & instructions they may have seen from a coach
What type of feedback may a performer use if they are in the cognitive stage of learning?
- Extrinsic feedback (has to be carefully considered as they are beginner)
Components of skill that can be stored in memory are not yet developed
Beginnger may use trial & error in approach to task
(e.g.) having a go at skill, thinking & adapting actions & having another attempt to see if any improvements are being made
What is the associative stage of learning?
- Longer duration than cognitve stage- performer moves from competent beginner to accomplished performer
- To make progress during this stage performer has to practice lots
Performer may compare current level of performance to a top class performer & try tp adjust practice to reach that top level
Movements become smoother & more coordinated
What type of feedback may a performer use during the associative stage of learning?
- Trial & error may still be used to perfect skills 7 performer may still use feedback but its become more internal
What is the autonomous stage of learning?
- Autonomous stage is reached after effective practice & such practice must continue if performer is to remain in this high level stage
Actions are fluent,efficient, & automatically undertaken
Performer can concentrate on fine details of task as basics of task are performed without thinking
What are the different forms of feedback?
- Positive feedback
- Negative feedback
- Intrinsic feedback
- Extrinsic feedback
What is positive feedback?
- Entails information about what was good
- Tells player what is going well & offers motivation to maintain effort
What is negative feedback?
- Gives performer information about whats going wrong so errors can be corrected & bad habits eliminated
As players gain more experience negative feedback can be appreciated
What is extrinsic feedback?
- Derived from outside source such as coach so performer gains view of what they need to improve on or what they need to maintain
What is intrinsic feedback?
- The feedback that comes from within
Performer may have developed a feel for the task using kinaethesis
What is knowlege of results?
- Concerns the outcome
Form of feedback gives indication whether or not skill was successful e.g. did the netball shot score?
Successful outcomes need to be maintained- unsuccessful ones eliminated can form early basis of improvement
What is knowlege of performance?
- About technique
Gives reasons as to why shot went in or not
& is concerned with how technique can be used to produce a better performance than last attempt
What type of feedback should be given to a beginner in the cognitive stage of learning?
- Lots of encouragement
- Lots of advice as they have little existing knowlege of skill
What feedback should be given to a performer in the autonomous stage of learning?
- Performer requires detailed feedback on how to control their performance
- Can benefit from error correction & would use existing knowlege to make internal adjustments
What feedback should be given to a performer in the associative stage of learning?
External information would be used to refine movements as at this stage develops more intrinsic feedback used to control performance
Long stage where performer makes steady progress
What is a learning plateu?
- A period during performance when there are no signs of improvement & performer does not appear to be getting any better
What is the learning curve?
- A graphic illustration that shows how rate of learning of a performer doing a closed skill over period of time can vary
- Learning curve can be divided into 4 stages
What are the 4 stages of the learning curve?
- Stage 1- Rate of learning is slow, performance level is poor because performer is new to task & in stage of cognitive learning
- Stage 2- Rapid acceleration in rate of learning and as performer has begun to master task & gain some success
- Stage 3- No improvement in rate of learning and performance has reached learning plateu
- Stage 4- Period towards end of task when perhaps due to fatigue performance may actually deteriorate
What causes of the learning plateu are there?
- Lack of motivation- lack of incentives or extrinsic rewards may cause performer to lose drive & energy for task
- Boredom- Repetitive nature may cause boredom
- Coaching- Coach may issue incorrect instructions or use incorrect practice methods so skill is not done correctly
- Limit of ability
- Targets set too low- Perhaps task is one where learner isnt able to use full range of their skills
- Fatigue- Continuous action over extended period of time would result in tiredness especially if muscles are being used repeatedly (DOMS)
(Many Bees Can Look Towards Flowers)
What solutions are there to solve the plateu effect?
- Task could be extended so that a new challenge to test performer is given
- Player could find a new coach to raise performance levels
- Coach could offer more praise & positive reinforcement to provide motivation
- A rest could be taken to avoid fatigue
- More variety could be added to task so boredom is avoided
What is visual guidance?
- A visual demonstration of the required task
-Intention is to create a mental image for a beginner that can be used as a reference point for future practice
What are the advantages and disadvantages of visual guidance?
Advantages:
- Visual guidance can be used to highlight a specific weakness (e.g. a coach can stop the performer and show learner exact position they need to be in
- VG tries to show what skill should look like as a result of practice
- It creates a mental image
Disadvantages:
- Demonstration must be completely accurate, otherwise may be copied incorrectly & performer may not have ability to perform demonstration if coach does not ensure success
- Also if too much information is given, the performer may become confused
What is verbal guidance?
- An explanation of the task
- Nearly always used in conjunction w visual guidance
- Helps to build correct mental image in memory
- VG can also be used for experience player, when technical & detailed advice is given to complement actions in practice or advice given during performance
What are the problems and considerations when using verbal guidance?
- If too much info is given to perfromer it may cause confusion & place too much demand on memory
- Performer may loose concentration unless coach makes verbal info brief, relevant & meaningful
- Language used by coach should be understandable
What is manual guidance?
- Involves physical support
What are the advantages & disadvanatges of manual guidance?
Advantages:
- Very important of helping to eliminate danger e.g. supporting a gymnast will prevent a fall
- Helps build confidence for performer who may not be able to gain feel of the whole task without help & support from MG
- Fear & Anxiety of difficult/dangerous tasks may be reduced if support is on hand to help performer.
Disadvantages:
- Can have a detrimental effect on performance if over used
- Permissions
- Too much reliance on physical support could begin to interfere with feel of task
What is mechanical guidance?
- An artificial aid used to help performance e.g. a trampoline harness
What are the advantages of mechanical guidance?
- Builds confidence- the successful completion of the task even though assistance was given, gives performer sense they can do it
- Eliminates danger & can prevent injury
- Can be used with disabled atheletes or those recovering from injury
What are the problems with mechanical guidance?
- If used for too much time, mechancial guidance can interfere with feel of task
- Performer might depend on it too much, so a sense that task cant be completed without artifical help couls promote loss of conifdence
- Motivation could be lost if performer thinks skill is not being performed independantly
(Similar to manual guidance)
What is operant conditioning?
- The use of reinforcement to ensure that correct responses are repeated
Part of the behaviourist theory
Based on work of Skinner who obserevd rats in a cage called skinners box - Cage was fitted with a mechanism that delivered food to the rats everytime it was touched
- At first rats hit the mechanism by accident but quickly learnt to hit the mechanism to gain a reward
What are the 3 characteristics that operant conditioning is characterised by?
- Based on trial and error learning
- Coach might manipulate environment when using operant conditioning
- Shapes behaviour by using reinforcement
What prinicple does operant conditioning work on?
- Reinforced actions are strengthend and that incorrect actions can be weakened
How does operant conditioning & the stimulus response bond work?
- OC works by strengthening the link between the stimulus and the response ( known as the S-R bond)
e.g. in a game of badminton if a shuttle cock is reuturned high in air the best response would be to do a smash shot.
What is postive reinforcement?
When a pleasant stimulus is given to increase the likelihood of a correct response occuring again in the future.
e.g. praise/reward
What is negative reinforcement?
- Promotes correct actions occuring to a stimulus by taking away an unpleasant stimulus when performer does it right
e.g. negative critisism is removed when performer does well
What is punishment?
When a coach gives an unpleasant stimulus to prevent incorrect actions from happening again.
e.g. a performer recieveing a red card in football - so dont do those actions again
What was Banduras theory?
- Suggests that both acceptable & unacceptable behaviour can be learned by watching then copying other people
What 4 processes did Bandura suggest where a performer is more likely to copy a model?
- Attention- Make sure performer takes note of relevant cues, more attractive the demo is to player more likely it is to be copied
- Retention- Ability to remember information & recall it from memory system. Make sure the learner is able to recall demonstration from memory by breaking any info given into chunks & repeating it.
- Motor Production- Making sure player is capable of physically copying the demonstration i.e giving a task thats set at same level of ability. Player should be given time to practice & learn well before moving onto next part of task
- Motivation- The drive needed to copy the demonstration. Motivate learner by giving praise,rewards etc
What was Vygotskys social development theory?
- Interaction with others plays a vital role in learning
- Interaction with others can produce learning by social development
- In sport – skills can be learned from others such as teacher/coaches/peers
- These are known as more knowledgeable other (MKO)
The MKO gives direct examples & advice & demonstrates values and actions - During development the skills are learned from the coach by a process called inter-psychological learning
Once external advice has been observed they will use it to learn
- The learning from within, after the inter-psychological stage is called the intra-psychological stage
- Vygotsky also suggested that learning can be constructed in stages
- The learner will use 3 stages to construct learning
What is constructivisim that Vygotsky suggested?
- Build on what you know
- Working with others helps to develop skills
- Learning from actions of those, more experienced
- During intra-psychological learning the learner will evaluate own level and assess what is required to move onto next level
- MKO/coach may intervene to give advice as skills advance
- 3 levels of performance to assess possible improvements.
- Learner uses zone of proximal development to assess next stages of learning the skill.
What are the 3 stages of proximal development?
- What can I do alone?
- What can I do with help?
- What can I not yet do?
What is insight learning?
- Performer uses existing knowledge to form an idea of how to deal with a problematic sporting situation
- General knowledge- put into practice
Example: In 3000m race, runner knows other athletes have a strong finish, so starts quickly to try to catch them out, if this works the same tactic will be used again.
What are the features of insight learning?
Features:
Concentrates on the whole task – useful in realistic situations
May provide self-satisfaction and intrinsic motivation as performer has worked out the tactic by themselves
Not trial and error – poses questions to the performer
