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