Kin 312 The Stages of Learning

Two Models Used to Identify the Stages of Learning Motor Skills

Two Models Used to Identify the Stages of Learning Motor Skills

1. Fitts and Posner three-stage model

2. Gentile two-stage model

The Basis for The Learning Stage Models (Time/Amount of Practice Continuum)

Fitts and Posner Model: Three Stages

1. Cognitive (novice)

2. Associative

3. Autonomous (expert)

Fitts and Posner Model: Cognitive Stage

Person characteristics -questions concern what to do to achieve the goal of the skill -involved in cognitive and movement problem-solving activity -movements demand large amounts of conscious attention -aware of making errors, but doesn't know how to correct them

Performance characteristics -"in the ballpark" movement pattern -large number of errors -errors tend to be "big" -high amount of trial-to-trial variability (poor consistency). ex) skier falls down a hill and loses their equipment

Fitts and Posner Model: Associative Stage

Person characteristics -performer "associates" environmental cues with required movements -reduced amount of attention demanded at movement level -increased capability to perform simultaneous tasks -increased capability to detect errors

Performance characteristics -refinement of movement pattern -errors are fewer and smaller -trial-to-trial variability decreases ex) baseball batter takes in environmental features (ball, pitcher posture) while swinging

Fitts and Posner Model: Autonomous Stage

Person characteristics -very little, if any, attention demanded at movement level (automatic) -capable of performing simultaneous tasks -capable of detecting and correcting errors

Performance characteristics -consistent trial-to-trial movement pattern -errors are few and small

Gentile Model: Two Stages

1. Initial Stage

2. Later Stages

Gentile Model: Initial Stage

Characteristics -performance emphasis: develop movement pattern that allows some degree of success at achieving the action goal --"The action goal is not achieved consistently and the movement lacks efficiency". (Gentile, 2000) -person begins to learn to discriminate regulatory from non-regulatory environmental conditions -other performance characteristics similar to Cognitive Stage in Fitts and Posner model

Gentile Model: Later Stages

Person Emphasizes: -developing capability to adapt movement patterns to situation demands -becoming more consistent at achieving action goal -involves refining movement pattern developed in Initial Stage -increasing economy of effort (efficiency of effort--no "wasted effort") while performing the skill -achieving specific goals for performing closed and open motor skills

Gentile Model: Later Stages-Closed Skills

-goal: fixation -focus on increasing consistency of producing same movement pattern each time skill is performed -increase capability to adapt to non-regulatory conditions (ex: fatigue, anxiety, wind, noise)

Gentile Model: Later Stages-Open Skills

-goal: diversification -focus on increasing capability to adapt to changing spatial and temporal regulatory conditions -increase capability to modify movement characteristics of movement pattern as needed (ex: ping pong game)

7 Concepts that Explain the Stages of Learning

1. Rate of Improvement

2. Body & Limb Segment Coordination

3. Muscle Activation During Performance

4. Energy Cost

5. Kinematic Goal Achievement

6. Visual Attention

7. Demand for Conscious Attention

Rate of Improvement

-power law of practice ex) Crossman's study of cigar makers who ranged from 1 to 7 years of experience

ex) Langley Study of Beginning Bowlers: o assessed what students were trying to correct at the beginning, middle, and end of a 10-week bowling class -first week: general lack of ball control related to inconsistency and aiming -middle week: specific movement errors related to specific desired outcomes -final week: specific errors related to consistency and aiming of a hook

-What do people do as they improve performance so that the Power Law characterizes the rate of improvement? o change their emphasis on the types of performance errors they try to correct: -gross errors -movement errors -accuracy and consistency errors

Body and Limb Segment Coordination

-Progresses from "freezing to freeing" degrees of freedom -For a multi-joint movement: initial control strategy, person performs skill by moving some joints as only 1 joint (freezing); eventually develops a functional synergy of those joints (freeing)

Muscle Activation During Performance

-Decrease in number of muscles activated -develop sequences of muscle activation (ex: Jaegers dart throwing experiment) -Energy cost: increase in efficient use of energy (ex: decrease in energy cost) -Energy use involves: o physiological (O2, calories) o mechanical (=work rate/metabolic rate)

Kinematic Goal Achievement

progresses from spatial to temporal goals

Visual Attention

-from erratic to more specific visual search -develops faster visual focus on correct cues -increases capability to shift visual attention

Demand for Conscious Attention

-decrease due to CHUNKING -systematically increase number of parts in a "chunk" ex) learning to shift gears while driving a stick shift

Characteristics of "Experts"

-in sports, the level of expertise considered here is commonly referred to as an "elite" or "world-class" athlete

-some similarities across domains of expertise (ex: musicians, athletes, artists): minimum of 10 years of deliberate practice (involves regular schedule of intense, work like practice)

-some differences across domains of expertise: expertise is domain specific; little transfer of capabilities from expertise domain to one in which expert has no experience

Expertise: a Conundrum-2 Contradictory Occurrences

1. If 'experts' perform skill "automatically", why do they not perform perfectly all the time? -external factors -inconsistent with movement

2. Can an expert lose the capability to perform like an expert? - many stories of professional sports about athletes who "lost it" during the peak of their careers and never regained the previously achieved level of performance