Review Questions and Answers

Chapter 16 – The Psychology of motor Learning and Performance

Skills

1) What are the four main skills classifications?
2) What are the main criticisms of these classifications?

The four main skills classifications are:

i) Open and closed skills.
ii) Discrete, continuous and serial skills.
iii) Two dimensional taxonomy.
iv) Motor and cognitive skills.

The criticisms of these are as follows:

i) The open and closed skill classifications only mark end points of a spectrum with a huge number of skills lying in between with varying degrees of environmental predictability or variability involved.
ii) The boundaries between these three classifications can easily become blurred and thus assigning a particular skill to a category can be problematic.
iii) This appears to be the most comprehensive skill classification system developed, but its complexity when compared to the other three negates its effectiveness.
iv) As with the open and closed skill classification these two skill classes can also be observed as being at either end of a continuum as no skill is completely cognitive or completely motor in nature. Most skills fall between the two.

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Learning

1) Why is there no such thing as a learning curve?

There is no such thing as a learning curve because it is impossible to see, quantify or measure learning as such. What is measured is normally performance or behaviour, and an improvement in learning is then inferred from these changes.

2) Explain what the different kinds of performance curve describe.

Performance curves show the progress of an individual over time and generally follow one of two patterns. They will slope upwards if the measured data increases with learning, e.g. throwing the javelin. Alternatively they will slope downwards if the measured data decreases with learning, e.g. running time over 100 metres.

3) What is the difference between practice and learning?

Practice can be defined as deliberate attempts to improve the performance of a particular skill or action, with learning being a permanent change in the ability to perform a skill.

4) What are the key components of the definition of learning?

The central component of the definition of learning would be a permanent improvement in the performance of a task, indicating an improvement in skill. Learning is not directly observable but from these measures it can be inferred. Secondly, learning is due to a set of processes associated with practice and experience which will lead to the changes described.

5) What are the effects of learning?

The establishment of a relatively permanent performance capability. The individual will then be able to perform the action in question with certainty in the future and this effect should endure over a substantial time period.

6) Describe the methods we can use to infer learning has taken place.

There are three main methods used to infer learning has occurred:

i) Performance curves: record performance over time, mapping improvements made following training and allowing the inference of skill learning.
ii) Retention tests: involve the administration of a test on the first day of practice and then this is repeated at a later date following a period of practice. The difference between the two measures should indicate some learning has occurred.
iii) Transfer tests: a test situation is created whereby an individual must use the skill they have been practising but in a different context to that in which they have been practising. Pre and post practice measures can again be compared.

7) Describe the three phases of learning.

i) Verbal/cognitive stage.

• Task is completely new to the learner, with the first problem therefore being one of verbalisation and cognition.
• Instruction, demonstration and other verbal information from the instructor is useful at this stage.
• Demands a lot of attention and concentration.
• Characterised by errors, jerky and poorly timed movements, variability and inconsistency in performance, rapid and large gains in proficiency.

ii) Motor stage.

• Entered when most cognitive problems have been solved.
• Generally longer than the first stage.
• Learner focuses on the organisation of more effective movement patterns in order to refine the skill.
• Motor energy costs are reduced and environmental regularities are used as cues for timing.
• Anticipation develops and the learner can detect their own errors.
• Characterised by fewer errors, increased consistency, stable and controlled movements, rapid improvement in performance.

iii) Autonomous stage.

• Development of automatic actions that do not require cognitive or motor energy following a large amount of practice.
• Decreased attention demand of the action itself allows higher cognitive activities to be performed, e.g. strategy decisions.
• Errors detecting and appropriate adjustments made.
• Characterised by few errors, small performance variability, stable and controlled movements, slow performance improvements.
  
  

Individual Differences in Skilled Performance

1) What is the difference between an ability and a skill?

Skill:

• Proficiency at a particular task.
• Easily modified by practice.
• Countless in number.
• Represent the capability to perform an activity.

Ability:

• Factors that limit performance.
• Genetically defined.
• Unmodified by practice or experience.
• Trait like.

2) Describe what is meant by ability.

Ability is an innate and largely unchangeable physical attribute that determines the potential of an individual in a given task. They put limits on the degree of skill and performance that can be attained.

Motor Ability

1) What are the major criticisms of general motor ability or general motor ability to learn?

• Little research to support.
• Low correlations between skilled performances, even when skills are similar.
• Individuals with a good general motor ability are not necessarily proficient at all motor skills.
  
  

Motor Skill Development

1) What are the key components of motor skill development?

Motor skill development can be divided into four stages as a useful guideline, with the components of development at each stage clearly noted.

i) 0–2 years > Development of motor skills in infants:

• Reflex actions.
• Voluntary movements.
• Manipulative skills.

ii) 2–5 years > Development of general fundamental skills:

• Run.
• Jump.
• Balance.
• Throw.
• Other rudimentary fundamental skills.

iii) 5–10 years > Specific motor skills:

• More specific movements.
• Form.
• Accuracy.
• Adaptability.
• Specialised for games and sports.

iv) Adolescence > Specialised motor skills:

• Practice is important.
• Continue to improve for boys but may level off for girls during adolescence.
• Used for novel tasks and experiences.

The development of motor skills can be viewed not only as a shift from rudimentary to specialised but also from gross motor skills to the development of finer motor skills.

Gender Differences

1) What are the physical performance differences between boys and girls?

As with motor skill development, it is suitable to discuss gender differences in physical performance in terms of time periods due to the changes that occur.

• Infancy: there are very few significant differences between genders at this age although girls display a more mature nervous system.
• Early childhood: girls are better at hopping, skipping and static balancing tasks, with boys displaying greater proficiency at galloping and throwing.
• Late childhood: girls show greater flexibility and fine motor coordination, with boys better at jumping, throwing and running, and also now showing greater balancing ability.
• Adolescence: the performance of motor skills continues to increase for boys but peaks for girls at the age of 14. Boys show greater proficiency for strength and gross motor tasks, with girls in front in flexibility and fine motor tasks.

2) What are the four main reasons for these differences?

i) Body size.
ii) Anatomical structure.
iii) Physiological functioning.
iv) Social and cultural factors.

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