Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lesson 2:
Introduction to Motor Skill
Learning
Lecture Outline
6. Transfer of learning
7. Bilateral transfer
Part 1:
Defining and Assessing Learning
Introduction
Performance:
• Observable behavior
• Execution of a skill at a specific time and in a specific location
Learning:
• Not directly observable
• Dependent on performance variables
a. Improvement
b. Consistency
c. Stability
d. Persistence
e. Adaptability
f. Reduced attention demands
General Performance
Characteristics
a. Improvement:
of Skill
Learning
• Performance shows improvement over time through an
increased ability to achieve goal
Learning is not limited to performance improvement because
practice can result in bad habits
b. Consistency:
• Performance becomes increasingly more consistent
• Performers characteristics become more similar with
successive attempts
General Performance
Characteristics
c. Stability: of Skill
Learning
• Performance stability increases with learning as internal and external
perturbations will have less of an influence on goal achievement
I. Internal perturbations include characteristics of the performer (ex. stress, arousal,
attention)
II. External perturbations involve environmental conditions that can disrupt
performance
d. Persistence:
• The improved performance capability lasts over increasing periods of time of
inactivity
• Relates to the emphasis of learning as a relatively permanent improvement in
performance
General Performance Characteristics of Skill
Learning
e. Adaptability:
• Improved performance is adaptable to a variety of
performance context characteristics (the person, the
task and the environment)
Performance curves:
• Line graphs that plot performance measures across
practice trials or periods of time
Linear
• Proportional increases over trials or
time
Negatively accelerated
• Early improvement but slows later
❖ Represents the most prominent type
of performance curve
Positively accelerated
• Slight improvement early but
substantial improvement later
Ogive or S-shaped
• Combination of above curves
Performance Curves for Kinematic Measures
To determine improvement in
performance: Compare the shapes of
the curves/patterns for early and later
practice
• Compare how the shape of
the produced pattern
corresponds to the shape of
the criterion pattern
Example:
• Typical school assessment through quizzes and tests
• Provides information about how much the students have learned or
retained
Transfer Tests
▪Two reasons:
1. Practice may involve a performance variable that artificially
inflates or depresses performance
• Example: Winstein et al. (1996) – next slide
1. Initial stage
• Getting the idea of the movement necessary
• Learner works to achieve two goals:
a) Organize movement pattern to enable some degree of success achieving
action goal
b) Discriminate between regulatory and non regulatory conditions in
environmental context
2. Later stages
Crossman (1959)
Classic experiment
demonstrated power
law of practice in cigar
rolling employees
Performer and Performance Changes
To perform a motor skill the control system must solve the degrees
of freedom problem
▪ Demonstrated freezing
of degrees of freedom by
illustrating that beginner soccer
players limited the
movements of their
hip and knee joints when initially
trying to kick the ball
▪ With practice, the hip and knee joints increased movement and kicking
velocity significantly increased
Changes in Altering and
Each of us has developed a largeOld orofPreferred
repertoire movement
patternsCoordination
that we prefer to use Pattern
b. Knowledge structure
• Experts will know more about the activity/skill than non-experts do and can make
faster and more appropriate decisions
c. Use of vision
• Significant improvements in visual search
Is Expert Performance Automated?
Ericsson (1998) argues that expertise does not progress to be fully
automated
▪ When working with people who are in the initial stage of learning, the
emphasis of instruction should be on achieving the action goal
• Open motor skills should be practiced to adapt to a variety of regulatory conditions (diversification)
• Allow beginners the opportunity to explore various movements patterns and expect
• Closed motor skillsmistakes
many should focus on repetition and refining the motor skill
▪ Expect beginners to show large amounts of improvement relatively quickly, but lesser amounts
of improvement as more skill
▪ After beginners haveisdemonstrated
developed the skill with some level of success,
emphasis of instruction should be on refining the skill efficiently
▪ Beginners will attempt to perform a new skill using previously learned coordination patterns
Part 6:
Transfer of Learning
What is Transfer of Learning?
a) Positive transfer:
• Previous experience improves learning a new skill or performance of a skill in a new context
b) Negative transfer
• Previous experience hinders or interferes with learning a new skill or the performance of a skill in a new
context
c) Neutral (zero)
• Previous experience has no influence on learning a new skill or the performance of a skill in a new
Why is Transfer of Learning Important?
Important for the practitioner to be aware that it could cause discouragement early
in practice
Why Does Negative Transfer Occur?
2. Cognitive confusion
• Ex. Using a new keyboard with different placement of keys (backspace or delete)
• Learning to learn principles will transfer to the learning of many new skills
• Ex. Students that have the ability to perform well in many types of classes in
university
• Ex. Learners become good problem solvers by solving many different types of
problems
Part 7:
Bilateral Transfer
Bilateral Transfer
Transfer of learning that occurs between two limbs
Experimental Practice
Pretest trials Posttest
evidence for
bilateral transfer Preferred limb X X X
provided by this Non preferred X X
research
design:
Bilateral Transfer
▪ When coaching or providing instruction, the sequencing of skills or activities should allow
each skill to build upon the previous
▪ When rehabilitating motor skills , include practice opportunities in contexts and situations that
are similar to the everyday use of the skill
▪ Take advantage of bilateral transfer when working with people who have an injured or
impaired limb
▪ When teaching a skill in which a person must perform equally well with both limbs; begin
practice with the preferred limb
• Have the person practice with the other limb once a reasonable degree of proficiency has been obtained
with the preferred limb