effects of practice on motor performance and learning

Random practice

(CCBACBCAACAB) Monday punch - punch - block - kick - punch Tuesday block - punch - kick - kick - punch Wednesday block- kick - kick - punch - block

Mental vs physical practice in a learning context

- physical practice > mental practice > no practice

Variability of practice may result in:

- poor performance in practice - better performance in retention and transfer

Physical vs. mental performance

- similar training - similar physiological response - some brain region dynamics overlap

Variability of practice

- variability in the environment - When regulatory or non-regulatory conditions vary in 'real' performance, they should also vary in practice - closed skills

Mental practice for performance preparation

-action preparation - facilitating the storage and retrieval from memory

Gentili's model

1) to distinguish between regulatory and non-regulatory conditions; 2) diversification in second stage oflearning (Gentile, 1972)

simplification

A variation on whole practice, this simply reduces difficulty of the entire skill (e.g., juggling scarves)

examples of mental practice sport- clinical enviroment-

Gymnasts mentally rehearse the immediately upcoming performance Use of mental practice early in the recovery process (patients more limited)o Inexpensive o Can be done anywhere o No safety risk so Essential for certain neurotechnologies

Blocked practice (with karate)

Monday all kicks (AAA BBB CCC) Tuesday all blocks Wednesday all punches

Serial Practice

Monday kick - block -punch (ABC ABC ABC) Tuesday kick - block -punch Wednesday kick - block -punch

skill (task)

Movement patterns Movement parameters

segmentation

Practice part A, then B, then AB, then C,then ABC = Progressive part orchaining (e.g., breaststroke)

fractionizing

Practice parts separately Put together when each part is learned (e.g., guitar)

context (environment)

Regulatory conditions Non-regulatory conditions

distributed

Rest between trials and/orsessions are relatively long

massed=

Rest between trials and/orsessions are very short

How do we optimize practice?

Should practice be consistent or varied? How should practice be distributed? Should we practice the whole skill or part of it?

(variability of practice) open skills

There is always inter-trial variability - regulatory and non-regulatory conditions should vary in practice• For all skills, early learners need low variability in practice until the task goals, ideas of the movement are clear

Decomposition of a skill

Whole versus part practice organization complexity

practice schedule graph

blocked practice results in better practice performance random practice results in better learning

Practice is needed to increase our

capability of performing askill in future situations (retention and/or transfer)

.......... refers to the number of component parts of the skill,and the amount of information processing involved

complexity

What should vary in practice?

context (environment) and skill (task)

The ........... is when .......... not practice performance) benefits from high contextual interference

contextual interference effect learning

Optimal task solutions through

discovery learning in theperceptual motor workspace (Handford et al., 1996)

Improved performance during practice/training

does NOT equate to increased learning!

Mental practice during

early learning and re-learning a skill

How do you break the skill into 'parts'?

fractionizing segmentation simplification

distribution (spacing) of practice mass vs distributed

increased fatigue in massed practice• Decreased opportunities for memory consolidation in massed

Contextual interference (CI)

interference in performance (i.e.,not learning) resulting from variations in practice context(Battig, 1979)

Distribution (spacing) of practice

massed vs distributed

Is the CI effect always present? CI effect is .......... in more skilled performers CI effect is .......... in less skilled performers blocked practice = ..........

most apparent least apparent random practice

The variety of .......... or .......... characteristics experienced during practice of a skill

movement context

........... of a skill refers to the relationships among the component parts

organization

How should variable practice be organized?

randomly? in blocks? in a specific order?

Which leads to better learning? If total work periods are the same and we are referring to the .......... distributed leads to better performance..........

spacing of practice sessions in practice and retention

Mental practice

the cognitive rehearsal of a physical skill in the absence of overt physical movement. It can take the form of thinking about the cognitive or procedural aspects of motor skill or of engaging in visual or kinesthetic motor imagery of the performance of a skill or part of a skill.

Most theoretical stances embrace

variability in practice