LAB

#4 – Motor learning: Acquisition,

Retention and Transfer (ART)

Name: _______________________ Group Members Names:

Date: ________________________ ______________________________

Section/Instructor: ______________ _____________________________

______________________________


Purpose
The primary purpose of this lab will be to investigate the principles –
acquisition, retention and transfer (ART) – as they apply to learning a motor skill.
A secondary purpose of this lab will be to compare the differences between
people that actively learn the movement compared to those that learn only visual
observe others learn the movement.

Background
Learning is a relatively stable change in the capacity to perform resulting
from practice or experience. The changes responsible for learning are internal
and, therefore, not directly observable. Learning must, therefore, be inferred
from observations of performance.

Performance is an observable behavior. There is a strong tendency to
consider performance an accurate reflection of learning. If performance
improves, we assume that learning has occurred, and the greater the degree of
improvement in performance the greater the degree of learning, or so the
assumption is made. This assumption is both false and misleading, however.
While performance may accurately reflect learning, it is just as often likely to be a
misleading indicator of the quantity and quality of learning that has occurred.
Several factors can influence performance, called performance variables, which
includs environmental, task/instruction and learner/biological processes. For
example, if someone is fatigued, a biological process, they may have a noticeable
decrease in performance but the actual learning that has occurred is unhindered.

To properly assess learning, we need to measure performance during 3
different stages: during acquisition, in the retention stage once practice is
complete, and in a transfer condition. Measuring performance during the
acquisition (ART) phase during practice trials, provides information on the pattern
of learning reflected by performance curves. Performance curves can take several
different shapes, each providing valuable information on how people are learning:

It should be emphasized that acquisition measurements are considerably
influenced by performance variables (environment, task and biological processes),
which often mask the true changes in learning resulting from practice. Therefore,
measuring performance during the retention (ART) period, after practice has
complete following a retention interval (minimum 10 minutes), is invaluable to
understanding whether learning has occurred or not. Retention measures the
amount of performance change during acquisition that is stable, and persists once
the conditions of acquisition practice are removed. As such, retention provides a
more accurate indication of learning than does acquisition performance since it is
not influences by performance variables. Finally, measurements of transfer
provide an indication of the strength of learning in terms of its adaptability and
generalizability to new situations gained during acquisition practice. Since the
adaptability of skill to new situations is often an important goal of learning,
transfer tests provide an important component in the assessment of learning
outcomes resulting from practice. The accurate analysis of learning, then,
requires all three measurements in order to fully assess the extent and quality
of learning experiences.

EXPERIMENT 1

Material Needed - 1 Kinesthesiometer
1 Blindfold


Experimental Procedures

1. In your groups (at least 4 people), you will assign 2 people to 2 groups to learn an arm
adduction positioning task on the kinesthesiometer with your dominant arm. One group will
follow a constant practice schedule in which all acquisition trials will be performed to a criterion
goal of 50 degrees (°). A second group will follow a varied practice schedule in which practice
trials will be alternately performed in 6 blocks with 40 °, 50 °, or 60 ° goals.
2. One participant in each group will be assigned to actively practice the task while blindfolded.
The goal of the task is to adduct the arm towards the body on the kinesthesiometer to a 50°
goal. The other participant in each group will be assigned to observe the other participants
practice. ** IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE OBSERVER IS ACTIVELY PAYING ATTENTION THE
WHOLE TIME TO THE PRACTICE.
3. Prior to beginning practice, have everyone test their ability to position their arm at 50° ONCE
while blindfolded to provide a baseline measure. ** MAKE SURE YOU RECORD THE DEGREES
YOU LANDED ON.
5. Both groups will perform a total of 72 acquisition/practice trials in 6 separate blocks of 12
trials. VARIED PRACTICE WILL PERFORM 8 40 °, 50 °, or 60 ° goals during each block. Between
each trial, please make sure to re-position the arm back to 0 degrees. During the practice, both
the practice and observer should make note of the error before re-positioning the arm back to
the starting point.
6. At the completion of each acquisition block, in trials 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72, please record
the DEGREES YOU LANDED ON. This will be useful information for plotting our performance
curves.
7. At the completion of acquisition practice, a 10-minute rest interval will be interposed prior
to 1-trial retention and transfer tests.
8. Retention will be assessed in ONE TRIAL to the criterion goal of 50 degrees, while
blindfolded for each participant. ** MAKE SURE YOU RECORD THE DEGREES YOU
LANDED ON.
9. Transfer will be assessed in two different ways: 1) ONE TRIAL to a new criterion goal of 70
degrees, and 2) ONE TRIAL using the non-dominant compared to dominant limb. Data will be
used to form a comparative analysis between practice schedules of learning between the two
groups.
10. ** MAKE SURE YOU HAVE RECORDED A TOTAL OF 10 MEASUREMENTS FOR EACH
PARTICIPANT. **
11. Record each participant’s values into an Excel Spreadsheet (you can do this at any time
during the lab)

























 Participant # 1 Participant #2 Participant #3 Participant #4

Practice Active Final Constan Final Constan Final Constan Final Constan
Schedul learner arm t & arm t & arm t & arm t &
e or position Absolut position Absolut position Absolut position Absolut
observe (°) e Error (°) e Error (°) e Error (°) e Error
r °) (°) (°) (°)
Baseline

Acquisiti
on Test

after
Block 1

Acquisiti
on Test

after
Block 2

Acquisiti
on Test

after
Block 3

Acquisiti
on Test

after
Block 4

Acquisiti
on Test

after
Block 5

Acquisiti
on Test

after
Block 6

Retentio
n test

after 10
minute
rest
interval
70 °
transfer
test
 Non-
dominan

t arm
transfer
test

Group Questions

1) Which group, the blocked or random, performed the best during practice of the task?









2) Was there a switch in performance between the two groups? What would this tell you about
how the acquisition phase affected retention and transfer?









3) How did the acquisition of the task affect the transfer of the task? Did the error term
increase or decrease in the transfer task?








4) Which group demonstrated the best learning of the task? How do you know?



LAB REPORT

The emphasis for this week’s lap report will be on the Introduction. Pages 494-495 of
your textbook will provide a good background on the purpose and goals on how to properly
write an introduction. The introduction IS NOT an overview of the methods used for the
experiment but informs the reader of THE PURPOSE of the experiment in the context of
theories and/or previous research. In addition to the purpose, the introduction should clearly
state the RESEARCH QUESTION(S) and specific AIMS of the current study. Finally, the
introduction should clearly state a DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS. A directional hypothesis is stating
what you think will happen being as specific as possible and stating in which direction it will
happen. For example, “It is hypothesized that x will increase learning better than y, and this will
be revealed by increases in a, b and c.”
You will be required to include at least 1 primary reference (journal article) as part of
your introduction. Use this primary reference to help justify the purpose of the experiment,
research question and/or hypothesis. MAKE SURE YOU PARAPHRASE the findings for the
research article and DO NOT USE QUOTES. You will also be asked to include the in-text (in the
place where you paraphrase the results) and full reference of the journal article at the end of
your lap report. You will be awarded a total of 12 points for the introduction as follows:
- 2 points will be awarded to the flow of the introduction
- 2 points for a clear purpose
- 2 points for a clear research question(s)/aim(s)
- 2 points for a clear directional hypothesis
- 2 points will be awarded for proper paraphrasing and in-text referencing of the journal
article
- 2 points for proper full reference at the end of your document in ‘REFERENCE’ section

Additional Requirements:

Results Section:

Graph the performance curves across the 3 acquisition tests, 1 retention trial and 2
transfer tests for all 4 groups members. Make sure you include a legend the highlights the type
of practice (constant or variable, and active learner or observer). Similar to the previous lab
report, make sure you include a proper descriptive title, and axes labels. DO NOT FORGET TO
INCLUDE A SENTENCE OR TWO IN-TEXT ABOUT THE RESULTS (4 points)

Discussion Questions:

1. What type of learning did each participant in your group exhibit? ** HINT Refer to the
different performance curves to aid in your answer. (1 point)

2. Based on your results, is there evidence that people were able to learn with both active
learning and observing? Explain the significance of why learning through observation may be
important for learning of motor skills. (3 points)