Motor Learning Exam 2 – Flashcards
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CHAPTER 9
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CHAPTER 9
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Attention
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In human performance, characteristics associated with consciousness, awareness, and cognitive effort as they relate to the performance of skills Of particular interest are limitations associated with these characteristics on the simultaneous performance of multiple skills and the detection of relevant information in the performance environment
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2 Types of Attention
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1. Conscious (volitional) ∙Search & signal detection ∙Selected & divided attention 2. Preconscious (anticipatory) ∙Tip of the tongue experiences ∙Automatization
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Attention Theories: Filter/Bottleneck
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∙Proposed that a person has difficulty doing several things at one time because the human information-processing system performs each of its functions in serial order or only one piece of information at a time ∙Somewhere along the stages of information processing, the system has a "bottleneck", where it filters out information not selected for further processing ∙Task serial order (sequential order before continuing), bottleneck, single processing (filters info)
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Attention Theories: Limited Availability of Resources
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∙Proposed that information-processing functions could be carried out in parallel rather than serially, but attention limits were the result of the limited availability of resources needed to carry out those functions ∙We all have limited attention resources to do all the activities that we may attempt at one time
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Central Resource Theories
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Attention capacity theories that propose one central source of attention resources for which all activities requiring attention compete
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Kahneman's Attention Theory (Arousal-Attention Demands - 3 Rules)
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∙Type of central resource theory ∙Views attention as a cognitive effort → related to the mental resources needed to carry out specific activities ∙Proposed flexible attention capacity limits ∙Location of these resources is in the CNS ∙Limited amount of resources available for use at any given time ∙Available attention that a person can give to an activity is viewed as a general pool of effort Rules: 1. We allocate attention to ensure that we can complete one activity 2. We allocate attentional resources according to our enduring dispositions 3. We allocate attention in a situation according to our specific intentions (what is the goal?)
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Arousal
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The general state of excitability of a person, involving physiological, emotional, and mental systems (aka anxiety, intensity)
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Multiple-Resource Theories
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Theories of attention proposing that there are several attention resource mechanisms, each of which is related to a specific information-processing activity and is limited in how much information it can process simultaneously Supported by hemispheric specialization Sources of resources for processing information: 1. Input and output modalities (vision, limbs, speech system) 2. Stages of information processing (perception, memory encoding, response output) 3. Codes of processing information (verbal codes, spatial codes)
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Dual-Task Procedure (primary task/secondary task interference)
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Problem: two tasks competing for resources; if tasks are similar in nature, they WILL compete for resources An experimental procedure used in the study of attention to determine the amount of attention required to perform an action, or part of an action; involves assessing the degree of interference caused by one task when a person is simultaneously performing another task
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Attentional Focus
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The directing of attention to specific characteristics in a performance environment, or to action-preparation activities
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Attentional Focus & Nideffer: broad/narrow, external/internal
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All individuals have a preferred attentional style; to improve performance, it's necessary to operate successfully in all styles Width ∙Broad → open skills ∙Narrow → closed skills Direction ∙External → open skills; concentrates on external environment ∙Internal → closed skills; concentrates on own technique
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Attention Switching
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∙Switch the type of attention focus and the object of that attention ∙An advantage for rapid decision making ∙Can be a disadvantage if person's attention is switched too frequently between appropriate and inappropriate sources of information
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Focusing Attention on Movements vs Movement Effects
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∙The directing of attention to remote effects (outcome of a movement, or movement effects) would lead to better performance than attention to the close effects (the movements) ∙Constraint action hypothesis - an internal focus "constrains" the motor system because the performer consciously attempts to control it, which results in a disruption of the automatic motor control processes that should control performance of the skill ∙Skill focused attention - directed to any aspect of the movement ∙Environmental-focused attention - directed away from the execution of the skill
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Prinz and Action Effect Hypothesis
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∙The proposition that actions are best planned and controlled by their intended effects ∙When related to attention focus, proposes that the learning and performance of skills are optimized when the performer's attention is directed to the intended outcome of the action rather than on the movements themselves ∙OUTCOME rather than movement
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Attention & Automaticity
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∙Automaticity - the term used to indicate that a person performs a skill, or engages in certain information-processing activities, with little or no demands on attention capacity ∙Procedural memory
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Selective Attention (visual selective attention > eye movement)
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∙In the study of attention as it relates to human learning and performance, the term used to refer to the detection and selection of performance-related information in the performance environment ∙Visual selective attention - concerns the role of vision in motor skill performance in directing visual attention to environmental info (cues) that influenced the prep and/or performance of an action ∙Eye movement recordings typically underestimate what a person is visually attending to
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Visual Search
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The process of directing visual attention to locate relevant information in the environment that will enable a person to determine how to prepare and perform a skill in a specific situation
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Trainman's Feature Integration Theory (attentional spotlight, movement filter)
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∙Indicates that during visual search, we initially group stimuli together according to their unique features, such as color or shape ∙Attentional spotlight - the selection of features of interest that occurs when a person focuses on the master map of all features ∙Movement filter - allows visual attention to be directed at just the moving items in the person's environment ∙Feature processing is done in parallel; simultaneous processing is done on the whole display and if feature is present, we detect it ∙Conjunctive searching requires attention to the integration or combination of features - sequentially (central vision) Steps 1. Initially search according to specific features (color, shape, size) 2. Direct "attentional spotlight" on environment (wide or narrow focus)
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Visual Search & Motor Skill Performance
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Visual search picks up critical cues that influence 3 parts of the action control process: 1. Action selection 2. Constraining of the selected action - determining specific movement features for performing the action 3. Timing of the action - initiation Enables a person to prepare, initiate, and execute the movements of an action that conform to the specific requirements of the performance context Visual search success is experience based
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Visual Search Strategies in Closed Motor Skills
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∙Experts don't fixate for long enough just prior to the release of the ball for the shots made or missed to allow them to attain the shooting percentage of an expert ∙Visual fixation ∙"Implement/ball point" fixation ∙Ritual (automaticity) ∙Preparation ∙Execution
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Visual Search Strategies in Open Motor Skills
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∙Experts gain time advantage because they fixate in fewer features of scene and spend less time at each fixation ∙Visual fixation (cue detection) ∙Foveal focusing ∙Different environmental features ∙Execution phase
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CHAPTER 10
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CHAPTER 10
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Memory Structure
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∙Primary memory - items that are lost and never brought back into conscious ∙Secondary memory - items that are never lost, but may be "absent from consciousness" ∙Working memory ∙Long term memory ∙Focus on 3 functions 1. Putting info in memory (storage processes) 2. Getting info out of memory (retrieval processes) 3. Specific functions in each component
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Working Memory
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∙Operates to temporarily store and use recently presented information ∙Serves as a workspace to integrate recently presented info with info retrieved from LTM to carry out problem solving, decision making, and action preparation activities Subsystems 1. Phonological loop → responsible for short-term storage of verbal info 2. Visuospatial sketchpad → where visually detected spatial info is stored for short periods of time 3. Central executive → coordinates the info in working memory, including info retrieved from LTM
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Memory (duration-capacity)
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Duration - the length of time info will remain in working memory (20-30 sec) Capacity - the amount of information that will reside in working memory at any one time (7 +/- 2 items); can ↑ capacity by "chunking"
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"Chunking"
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Organizing info that must be remembered in a way that's meaningful to the individual
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Long Term Memory (LTM)
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∙Serves as a relatively permanent storage repository for info ∙Permanent duration of info with unlimited capacity Subsystems 1. Procedural memory 2. Semantic memory 3. Episodic memory
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Procedural Memory
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∙Enables us to know "how to do" something, as opposed to enabling us to know "what to do" ∙Enables us to respond adaptively to our environment by carrying out learned procedures so that we can achieve specific action goals
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Semantic Memory
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∙Representing states of the world that aren't perceptually present ∙General knowledge about the world that has developed from our many experiences
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Episodic Memory
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∙Our knowledge about personally experienced events, along with their temporal associations, in subjective time ∙Enables us to mentally "travel back in time"
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Declarative (Explicit) Knowledge
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Knowledge about what to do in a situation; this knowledge is typically verbalized Semantic and episodic memory
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Procedural (Implicit) Knowledge
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Knowledge that enables a person to know how to do a skill; this knowledge typically is difficult to verbalize or isn't verbalizable Procedural memory
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Recall Tests
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Requires a person to produce a required response with few, if any, available cues or aids (ex: essays or fill-in-the-blanks tests)
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Recognition Tests
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Requires a person to select a correct response from several alternative responses (ex: multiple choice tests)
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Encoding
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A memory process involving the transformation of info to be remembered into a form that can be stored in memory The real secret → motivation and emotion
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Retrieval
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A memory process involving the search through LTM for info needed to perform the task at hand
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Why do we forget?
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1. Trace decay 2. Interference theories
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Proactive Interference
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∙A cause of forgetting because of activity that occurs prior to the presentation of info to be remembered ∙Old learning interferes with new ∙A reason for forgetting movement info held in working memory ∙We can overcome this effect in LTM by actively rehearsing this info
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Retroactive Interference
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∙A cause of forgetting because of activity occurring during the retention interval ∙New learning interferes with old ∙In working memory, degree of similarity ∙↑ recall performance error only when there's a certain amount of activity ∙Certain types of motor skills are remembered better over long periods than others
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Strategies to Enhance Memory Performance
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1. Increasing a movement's meaningfulness ∙Visual metaphoric imagery - involves developing in your mind a picture of what a movement is like ∙Verbal labels 2. Intention to remember ∙Intentional and incidental memory 3. Subjective organization ∙Chunking, clustering, and grouping info in a way that's meaningful to an individual so they can remember it
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Encoding Specificity Principle
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∙A memory principle that indicates the close relationship between encoding and retrieval memory processes; states that memory test performance is directly related to the amount of similarity between the practice and the test contexts ∙The more similarity, the better the test performance will be
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CHAPTER 11
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CHAPTER 11
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Performance
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The behavioral act of executing a skill at a specific time and in a specific situation 1. Observable behavior 2. Temporary 3. May not be due to practice 4. Influenced by performance variables
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Learning
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Change in the capability of a person to perform a skill; must be inferred from a relatively permanent improvement in performance as a result of practice or experience 1. Inferred from performance 2. Relatively permanent 3. Due to practice 4. Not influenced by performance variables
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6 Performance Characteristics of Skill Learning
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1. Improvement 2. Consistency 3. Stability 4. Persistence 5. Adaptability 6. Reduction of attention demand
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Improvement
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Performance of the skill shows improvement over a period of time
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Consistency
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As learning progresses, performance becomes increasingly more consistent
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Stability
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The influence on skill performance of perturbations, which are internal or external conditions that can disrupt performance As learning progresses, performance stability increases; internal and external perturbations have less of an influence on performance Internal perturbations - stress External perturbations - environment
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Persistence
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Improved performance capability is marked by an increasing amount of persistence Relatively permanent improvement in performance
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Adaptability
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The improved performance is adaptable to a variety of performance context characteristics Generalizability
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Performance Curves
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Line graph describing performance in which the level of achievement of a performance measure is plotted for a specific sequence of time or trials
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Performance Curve: Linear
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∙Straight line ∙Indicates proportional performance increases over time ∙Not seen in real life
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Performance Curve: Negatively Accelerated
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∙Indicates that large amount of improvement occurs early in practice with small improvements later ∙Most prominent type of performance curve for motor skill learning ∙Procedural memory ∙Automization ∙Stored in LTM ∙Simple skills
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Performance Curve: Positively Accelerated
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∙Indicates a slight performance gain early in practice, but a substantial increase later in practice ∙Complex skills, skills with lots of steps
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Performance Curve: Ogive/S-Shaped
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∙Combination of all three curves ∙Periods of progression, make no improvement and then rapid improvement ∙Physical/cognitive skills
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Performance Curves for Kinematic Curves
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∙Performance production measures = improvement in performance and assess changes in consistency ∙When we use kinematics we cannot always develop performance curves ∙A kinematic measure typically does not lend itself to being represented by one number value each trial ∙Kinematic measures involve performance for a period of time within a trial; its important to include this time component in graphic component in graphic representation of a kinematic measure ∙To determine improvement in performance, compare early to later practice trials by examining how the shape of a person's produced pattern corresponds to shape of criterion pattern ∙To assess changes in consistency, compare how far the standard deviation lines are from the mean pattern for each block of trials
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Retention Tests
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∙Test of a practiced skill that a learner performs following an interval of time after practice has ceased ∙Examines the persistence characteristic of improved performance ∙Time interval
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Transfer Tests
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∙Test in which a person performs a skill that's different from the skill he/she practiced or performs the practiced skill in a context or situation different from the practice context or situation ∙Examines the adaptability aspect of performance changes related to learning
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Learning from Coordination Dynamics
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∙Another method of assessing learning involved the observation of stabilities and transitions of dynamics of movement coordination related to performing a skill ∙Learning involves the transition from the initial movement coordination pattern (intrinsic dynamics), represented by a preferred coordination pattern the person exhibits when first attempting the new skill, to the establishment of the new coordination pattern ∙New spatial temporal and force coordination pattern
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Practice Performance & Learning
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May be misleading to base an inference about learning solely on observed performance during practice because... 1. The practice situation may involve a performance variable, which has the potential to artificially inflate or depress performance 2. Practice performance may be misleading if it involves performance plateaus Transfer and retention tests should be given Ultimately "real life situations" are the test
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Asymptote & Performance Plateau
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∙Performance plateau → while learning a skill, a period of time in which the learner experiences no improvement after having experienced consistent improvement; typically the learner then experiences further improvement with continued practice ∙Plateaus are performance rather than learning characteristics ∙Why do these occur? 1. Plateaus represent a period of transition between two phases of acquiring certain aspects of a skill 2. Represents a period of poor motivation, a time of fatigue, or a lack of attention directed to an important aspect of a skill 3. May be due to limitations imposed by the performance measure → ceiling or floor effects that occur
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Ceiling/Floor Effects
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Performance measure won't permit score to go above or below a certain point (min or max)
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CHAPTER 12
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CHAPTER 12
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Fitts & Posner Three-Stage Model
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Learning a motor skill involves three stages 1. Cognitive stage 2. Associative stage 3. Autonomous stage
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Cognitive Stage
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∙The beginning or initial stage on the learning stages continuum ∙Focuses on cognitively oriented problems related to what to do and how to do it ∙Declarative knowledge ∙Memorizing/learning sequence of events for a skill
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Cognitive Stage: Performance, Learner Characteristics, and Cues
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Performance ∙Large errors and lacks consistency Learner Characteristics ∙Large # of errors ∙Attention to every detail of activity ∙Unable to screen out irrelevant info ∙Inconsistent performance ∙Slow, jerky, uncoordinated Cues ∙↑ precise, corrective feedback ∙Use short verbal cues ∙Use demonstrations, videotaping, etc. ∙Lots of opportunities to learn skill
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Associative Stage
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∙An intermediate stage on the learning stages continuum ∙Refinement of movement pattern ∙Has learned to associate cues from the environment with required movements ∙Response execution → being facilitated via chunking ∙Proceduralization involves converting declarative into procedural knowledge
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Associative Stage: Performance, Learner Characteristics, and Cues
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Performance ∙Consistency and fewer errors Learner Characteristics ∙Fewer errors ∙Motor program develops ∙Performer discovers environmental regularities (changes) ∙Anticipation develops ∙Learns to monitor own feedback Cues ∙Distribute corrective feedback (faded feedback) ∙Stress correct fundamentals ∙Accommodate differences in the rate of skill development ∙Lots of opportunity for practice
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Autonomous Stage
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∙The final stage on the learning stages continuum, also called the automatic stage ∙Performance of movement is virtually automatic ∙Most people don't get to this stage ∙Expert stage
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Autonomous Stage: Performance, Learner Characteristics, and Cues
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Performance ∙Movements are automatic ∙Limits are more likely physical or dependent on technology ∙Limited access to verbal description Learner Characteristics ∙Motor program becomes units of action ∙↓ attention demands ∙Confidence ↑, self-talks shifts to strategy ∙Performance gains are slower (fastest at first stage) Cues ∙Focus on strategy ∙Work on mental focus ∙Develop learner diagnosis of skill ∙Encourage, motivate, support
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Gentile's Two-Stage Model
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Viewed motor skill learning as progressing through at least two stages and presented these stages from the perspective of the goal of the learner in each stage Initial stages of learning 1. Acquire a movement pattern that will allow some degree of success at achieving the action goal of the skill 2. Learn to discriminate between regulatory and non-regulatory conditions Later stages of learning 1. The person must develop the capability of adapting the movement pattern to the specific demands of any performance situation requiring that skill 2. The person must increase his or her consistency in achieving the goal of the skill 3. The person must learn to perform the skill with an economy of effort Includes fixation & discrimination
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Regulatory Conditions
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Characteristics of the environmental context to which movement characteristics must conform if the action goal is to be accomplished Temporal, spatial, force application
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Non-Regulatory Conditions
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Characteristics of the performance environment that have no influence or only an indirect influence on the movement characteristics required to achieve the action goal Non-relevant info
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Fixation
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The learner's goal in the second stage of learning in Gentile's model for learning closed skills in which learners refine movement patterns so that they can produce them correctly, consistently, and efficiently from trial to trial
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Diversification
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The learner's goal in the second stage of learning in Gentile's model for learning open skills in which learners acquire the capability to modify the movement pattern according to environmental context characteristics
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Closed Skills
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∙Includes characteristics as similar as possible to those the learner will experience in his or her everyday world or in the environment in which he or she will perform the skill ∙Fixation ∙Bottleneck theory ∙Movement parameter changes ∙Changes kinetics ∙Change action planning and preparation
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Open Skills
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∙Systematically vary the controllable regulatory conditions of actual performance situations, while allowing naturally varying characteristics to occur as they normally would ∙Diversification ∙Change invariant or parameters of movement pattern
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Negatively Accelerated Pattern in Rate of Performing
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∙As a person progresses along the skill learning continuum from the beginner stage to the highly skilled stage, the rate at which the performance improves changes ∙Early in practice, a learner usually experiences a large amount of improvement relatively quickly, but as practice continues, the amount of improvement decreases ∙Power Law of Practice
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Power Law of Practice
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∙Mathematical law describing the negatively accelerating change in rate of performance improvement during skill learning; large amounts of improvement occur during early practice, but smaller improvement rates characterize further practice ∙Negative acceleration curve
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Changes in Movement Coordination
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∙Nicholas Bernstein ∙Freezing the degrees of freedom ∙Need to constrain the many degrees of freedom associated with muscles and joints
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Freezing Degrees of Freedom
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Common initial strategy of beginning learners to control the many degrees of freedom associated with the coordination demands of a motor skill; the person holds some joints rigid and/or couples joint motions together in tight synchrony while performing the skill
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Changing Coordination Patterns
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∙Changes in rate of improvement ∙Individuals approach skill learning situations with movement bias ∙Limb kinematics irregular ∙Bilateral confusion
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Muscles Used
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Early Practice ∙More muscles needed ∙Recruitment motor units not precise Reorganization of motor control system ∙Solve freedom problem ∙Recruitment of motor units sequential
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Energy Cost
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∙Economy of movement ∙Physiological energy ∙Mechanical energy
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Changing Visual Selective Attention
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∙Beginners look at too many things ∙Greater sources of information ∙Timing aspect of directing visual attention is important because it increases the time available in which a person can select and produce action
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Changing Conscious Attention Demands
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∙Cognitive control structures (attention, perception, memory, processing) ∙Motor control (kinematics, control laws, etc.)
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Changing Error Detection & Correction
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Capability to identify and correct one's own movement errors Declarative stage ∙Performance based on declarative knowledge ∙Must be retrieved from working memory and attended in a step-by-step fashion ∙Slow, non-fluent, and error prone performance Procedural stage ∙Performance based on procedural knowledge ∙Automatic ∙Error detection and correction ∙Amount of conscious attention ↓
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Changes in Brain Activity
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∙More "automatic" skill becomes different in later stages as well ∙Brain reacts and adapts in response to challenge ∙Emotions and focus of attention compete → take parallel paths in the brain ∙Intention can create change ∙How? Brain is sensitive to conflict → to strengthen our brains, we want to reach the "challenge" point, where a task is too difficult to perform ∙Brain areas that are active during the early stage of learning aren't always the same areas that are active during later stages in learning ∙Brain undergoes structural changes in addition to functional changes when new skills are learned ∙Early learning is cerebellum ∙Later learning is basal ganglia
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Brain "Plasticity"
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∙Plasticity → changes in neuronal activity in the brain that are associated with shifts in brain region activation; these changes are commonly associated with behavioral changes or modifications
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Expertise
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∙Amount and type of practice → 10 years of deliberate and intense practice ∙Knowledge structure organized into more concepts related to performing an activity, better able to interrelate the concepts - domain and activity specific ∙Problem solving/decision making/anticipation ∙Vision - select more meaningful info in short amount of time ∙May want to resist automatization so they can keep learning ∙NOT FULLY AUTOMATED
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CHAPTER 13
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CHAPTER 13
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Transfer of Learning
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The influence of prior learning on the learning of a new skill or the performance of a skill in a new context
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Positive Transfer
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∙The beneficial effect of prior learning on the learning of a new skill or the performance of a skill in a new context ∙Transfer occurs primarily because of similarities between amounts and types of learning processes required ∙Larger, more gross movements are the only skills that prove to make a positive transfer
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Why does positive transfer of learning occur?
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1. Similarity of skill and context components 2. Similarity of processing requirements
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Negative Transfer
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∙The negative effect of prior learning on the learning of a new skill or the performance of a skill in a new context ∙When previous experiences hinder or interfere with the learning of a new skill ∙Refers to a situation where generally, the skills may be similar between the sport, but in reality the techniques and environmental conditions are very different ∙Rare and temporary ∙Occurs when new skill or context involves similar environmental features but requires a different movement response ∙Can be overcome with practice ∙Can cause discouragement early in practice
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Why does negative transfer of learning occur?
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1. Motor control system required to perform in non-preferred manner for the environmental context 2. Cognitive confusion 3. A familiar stimulus requires a new response
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Zero Transfer
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Previous experience has no influence on the learning of a new skill
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Why is transfer of learning important?
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1. Sequencing skills to be learned (simple > complex) 2. Developing instructional methods (Whole-Part-Whole, Part-Whole) 3. Assessing the effectiveness of practice conditions 4. Returning to daily activities
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Factors Affecting Transfer
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1. Movement response/patterns 2. Psychomotor demands 3. Cognitive demands 4. Biomotor demands 5. Psychological demands
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Skill & Context Similarities
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∙More specific the practice or training drills is part of a movement (competitive settings and demands), the more positive transfer ∙Assessing effectiveness of practice conditions → transfer test performance will provide best assessment ∙Thorndike's "identical elements" theory
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Identical Elements Theory
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An explanation of positive transfer proposing that transfer is due to the degree of similarity between the component parts or characteristics of two skills or two performance contexts
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Transfer Appropriate Processing Theory
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An explanation of positive transfer proposing that transfer is due to the similarity in the cognitive processing characteristics required by the two skills or two performance situations
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Bilateral Transfer
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∙Transfer of learning that occurs between two limbs ∙Research shows more support for asymmetric Requires... 1. Cognitive and motor factors 2. Initial stage of learning 3. Goal achievement
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Symmetric Transfer (cognitive/motor control rationale)
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Bilateral transfer in which the amount of transfer is similar from one limb to another, no matter which limb is used first
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Asymmetric Transfer
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Bilateral transfer in which there is a greater amount of transfer from one limb than from the other limb
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Why does bilateral transfer occur?
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Cognitive Explanation ∙Important cognitive information acquired from practice with one limb and available when other limb begins to perform Motor Control Explanation ∙GMP and dynamic pattern theories both provide a basis for bilateral transfer ∙Evidence from EMG activity in non-performing contra-lateral limb ∙Interhemispheric transfer of components