HK: Motor Learning and Performance (Chapter 11)

Average Feedback

1. Average feedback is a type of augmented feedback that presents a statistical average of two or more trials rather than results on any one of them. 2. Might block dependency-producing effects 3. Allows the instructor to formulate a more complete idea of the learner's error tendency 4. Gives the learner more reliable information about what to change and how to change it

Bandwidth Feedback

1. Bandwidth feedback is a procedure for delivering feedback in which errors are signaled only if they fall outside some range of correctness 2. Produces faded-feedback frequency as a by-product 3. Increased absence of error feedback can also be viewed as a form of rewarding feedback 4. Withholding information on a set of trials that fall within the bandwidth fosters more consistent actions

Faded Feedback

1. Faded frequency is a feedback schedule in which the relative frequency of feedback is high in early practice and reduced in later practice. 2. The instructor can adjust feedback scheduling to the proficiency and improvement rate of each learner separately, thus tailoring feedback to individual differences in capabilities 3. The ultimate goal is to generate capability for the learner to produce the action on theivr own without a dependency on feedback

Attentional Focusing Properties

1. KR directs the learner to think about externally directed information 2. The information content of KP directs the learner's attention to process movement-related information, an internally focused process

Learner-Determined Feedback Schedules

1. Learner-determined feedback is a schedule in which the provision of feedback is determined by the learner. 2. Learners likely need (or at least request) feedback far less frequently than instructors tend to provide it 3. There may be an important motivational component driving the request for feedback

Informational Properties

1. Probably the most important component of feedback for motor learning is the information it provides about patterns of action 2. This feedback about errors, giving direction for modifying future performance, is the focus that makes the instructor so important for motor learning

Functions of Augmented Feedback

1. Produces motivation, or energizes the learner to increase effort 2. Provides information about errors as a basis for corrections 3. Directs the learner's attention toward the movement or the movement goal 4. Creates a dependency, leading to problems at feedback withdrawal

Summary Feedback

1. Summary feedback is information about the effectiveness of performance on a series of trials that is presented only after the series has been completed 2. Summary feedback is particularly helpful for learning for a number of reasons. 3. Summary feedback might reduce dependency-producing properties of feedback when learners are required to perform several trials without it 4. Summary feedback helps a more stable movement pattern to be developed because a lack of feedback does not provide information for changing the movement on a trial-by-trial basis 5. Summary feedback may encourage the learner to pay attention to and analyze his or her own inherent feedback.There is an optimal number of trials to include in summary feedback reports, with either too few or too many trials decreasing learning

Motivational Properties

1. The effects of feedback as a motivating tool are primarily indirect in their influence (e.g., KR encourages the learner to keep practicing, and the results of this additional practice are what influences learning) 2. Motivational feedback can also have a direct effect on learning: Learning was facilitated by "good" feedback (Chiviacowsky and Wulf, 2007)

Dependency-Producing Properties

1. When feedback that contains information for error correction is given frequently, it tends to guide behavior toward the goal movement 2. The learner can also become dependent on the guidance, resulting in poor performance when the guidance is removed (Salmoni, Schmidt, & Walter, 1984) 3. Researchers have studied ways of scheduling the provision of feedback so that the most useful information content can be delivered without detrimental effects

Intervening Subjective Estimations

A study by Guadagnoli and Kohl (2001) revealed that the negative effects of 100% KR frequency were reversed if learners made subjective estimates of error before the delivery of the feedback on each trial. ---So this means, let the athlete process (intrinsic feedback) what has happened after performance before you apply your feedback as a coach.

When feedback should be given

An important concept discussed in this section of the text is guidance (both in the form of concurrent feedback and physical guidance), which can be helpful in some circumstances (e.g., for a dangerous skill) but often changes the feel of the movement to the detriment of learning. Different types of feedback schedules include learner determined feedback, feedback during the movement, and feedback after the movement.

Knowledge of Performance (KP)

Augmented information about the movement pattern the learner has just made

Knowledge of Results (KR)

Augmented verbal (or at least verbalizable) information fed back to the learner about the success of an action with respect to the environmental goal.

Precision of Feedback

Based on the level of accuracy with which the feedback describes the movement or outcome. The level of feedback precision to provide seems to depend on the learner's skill. Early in practice, the learner's errors are so large that precise information about the exact size of the errors does not matter, simply because the learner does not have the movement-control precision to match the precision of correction specified by the feedback. By the same argument, movement control will be much more precise at higher levels of skill, and more precise feedback can be used effectively as a consequence.

Guidance Hypothesis

Holds that the learner can become dependent on such feedback, so that he uses this augmented source of information instead of internally generated processes to keep the movement on target.

How much feedback should be given?

In general, too much information is not useful A good rule is to decide what error is most fundamental and focus the feedback on that one issue

Providing extrinsic feedback

Providing extrinsic feedback (i.e., KR or KP) to a person can help both performance and learning. Interestingly, though, providing feedback after every attempt during practice is not always the best way to enhance learning.

Feedback when requested

Research suggests that learners benefit more from feedback that is provided only when it is requested. In addition, there are some indications that learners prefer feedback after trials on which they felt they performed well, but not after those on which they felt they performed poorly. This suggests that the information provided by feedback is not always used to correct errors, but may sometimes be used to reinforce correct behavior. One way this reinforcement may occur is by allowing the learners to pair the sensory consequences after an accurate trial with external feedback regarding the consequences of the movement.

Feedback During the Movement

The information can be used to regulate ongoing actions by providing a basis for correcting errors and pushing the movement closer to the action goals Concurrent feedback is augmented feedback presented simultaneously with an ongoing action Physical guidance techniques represent a large class of methods in which the learner is forced to produce the correct movement patterning

Feedback after the movement

When empty feedback delays have been examined, scientists rarely found systematic effects on learning One exception to this generalization about feedback delay is instantaneous feedback. Situations in which feedback is presented very soon after a movement. Many instructors have tried to minimize feedback delays, essentially giving feedback that is almost simultaneous with the completion of movement. Instantaneous feedback is common in many simulators, for example, such as medical mannequins, in which feedback about pressure is displayed immediately after a chest compression is performed. Note that instantaneous feedback is not, technically, the same as concurrent feedback, because feedback is being delivered after the movement has finished. Intervening activities of a different skill generally degrades learning as measured on retention tests (Marteniuk, 1986; Swinnen, 1990). Trials-delay feedback is a procedure in which the presentation of feedback for a movement is delayed; during the delay the learner practices additional trials of the same skill Evidence suggests that trials-delay technique is not detrimental, and it may be more effective for learning than presenting feedback after each trial

Feedback

information about performance or errors that the learn can use from making future corrections

Feedback and Dependency

one of the properties of feedback is that it can produce dependency in learners. In other words, learners who receive frequent extrinsic feedback might come to rely on this source of information and never fully develop capabilities to evaluate their own performances. When extrinsic feedback is no longer available, as is often the case outside of practice settings, those individuals often do not perform very well.

Visual feedback

provides information in a visual format, usually a video replay; practitioners should direct the learner's attention to specific aspects of the movement that are under consideration.

Verbal feedback

provides information in verbal (spoken) form; it includes information that can be verbalized even if it isn't (e.g., a coach can call out the time on a stopwatch or show it to the athlete).

Guidance

refers to aiding a movement or skill to a degree in which it restricts a performer from making corrections in the motor program. In other words, a guided movement eliminates the error in the movement and thus does not elicit learning processes.

Relative frequency of feedback

refers to the percentage of trials receiving feedback

Absolute Frequency of Feedback

refers to the total amount of feedback given to a learner across a set of trials in practice

Withholding Extrinsic Feedback

the learner is encouraged to subjectively evaluate his or her own performance. Such self-evaluation will likely help the learner become more attuned to the sensory consequences of the movement (i.e., how it felt)

Extrinsic feedback is provided at a later point

the learner will be better able to relate the sensory consequences of his or her actions to the environmental outcome indicated by the extrinsic feedback

Focusing on sensory consequences and environmental outcome

the person will eventually learn how a correct performance feels and will be able to use that as a guide in future performances