Understanding Attentional Capacity and Motor Skill Learning

What factors influence Attentional Demands?

Environmental complexity
Task complexity
Performer's skill level
Number of cues

Environmental Complexity

as the environment tasks increases, attentional demands increase
(a) Reduces the amount of attentional space

Task Complexity

Difficulty level of a task affecting attention needed.

Performer's Skill Level

Beginners have difficulty attending to more than one task at a time when learning a new skill
(a) Highly complex skills are overwhelming for beginners
(i) Breaking these skills into parts for initial practice is key

Number of Cues

Quantity of signals impacting attentional focus.

When are Attentional limitations exceeded?

when a performer tries to think about too many things while learning a new skill

What should you do to not exceed attentional limitations?

1) Focus only on a small number of meaningful cues
(2) Provide only one or two cues for feedback (more is overwhelming)(3) Teach learners to selectively attend relevant cues and ignore irrelevant cues

Kahneman's Model

Attention model that posits that Attention is a Limited Resource

Limited Attentional Capacity

- An individual can only pay attention to a limited number of activities

Role of arousal

optimal arousal is in the middle of the spectrum

Enduring dispositions

involuntary which concern those things that seem to grab our attention naturally

Momentary intentions

a conscious decision to allocate attention to certain tasks

Evaluations of demands on capacity

decide on which tasks to attend to

Allocation policy and possible activities

When tasks leave spare capacity the allocation policy can remain unchanged, but if demands of several tasks are too high then the allocation has to be changed.

Attentional Focus

The process of selectively attending to or concentrating on specific environmental information

Width of Attention

- Refers to amount of information and size of the perceptual field
- Ranges from broad (large quantity) to narrow (one or two cues)

Direction of Attention

Ranges from internal (thoughts and body movements) to external (environment)

Broad-External Focus

rapidly assess a situation
ex. surveying the defense to see who's open, etc

Narrow-External Focus

focus exclusively on one or two external cues
ex. quarterback receiving ball from center

Broad-Internal Focus

used to analyze and plan
ex. point guard getting the play from the sidelines and going over the strategy

Narrow-Internal Focus

used to mentally rehearse an upcoming performance or control emotions
ex. recognizing anxiety and taking a breath to relax

Practical Implications of Attentional Focus

i) Don't assume learners will be able to disregard irrelevant information
ii) Ironic Effects example: "Don't think about falling."
iii) However, disrupting attentional focus may help to distract an opponent

What should learners focus on?

1. Their own body's movements (internal attentional focus)
2. The effects of their movements (external focus)

Do internal or external focuses of attention enhance learning and performance?

external focus of attention
ex. Reach closer toward the cup" (rather than "straighten your elbow as you reach")

Arousal

- Critical factor that influences available attentional resources
- "A general physiological and psychological activation of the organism that varies on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement"
- Differs from anxiety

Anxiety

- Emotional result from a perception of a situation as threatening
- However, changes in anxiety affect arousal levels

Inverted-U Principle

- Captures the relationship between arousal and performance
- There is an optimal level of arousal for peak performance
- This optimal level is not constant
- Depends on both task and performer characteristics

Task Arousal

- As task complexity increases, lower arousal will be optimal
- Higher levels of arousal are optimal for simpler tasks

Trait Anxiety

whether the situation is perceived as threatening (increased arousal) or non-threatening (decreased arousal)

What are arousal and performance affected by?

i) Predictability
(1) Success vs. Failure
ii) Control
iii) Physical Stress
iv) Competition

Why Does Arousal Influence Performance

- muscle tension
- attentional changes
- increases awareness of movement
- resource consumption by task irrelevant thoughts

Muscle tension

1) interferes with coordination
(2) lose fluidity on movement
(3) lose the 'feel' because muscles aren't used to working under higher tension levels
(4) ex. golf, hoops

Attentional Changes

1) loss of concentration
(2) Attentional/perceptual narrowing
(a) broad vs. narrow

Easterbrook's Cue-Utilization Theory

Changes in attentional focus occur according to arousal levels
(1) Low arousal results in a broad attentional focus
(a) If attention is too broad, both relevant and irrelevant cues attended
(2) Optimal level of arousal
(a) Enables performer to focus on relevant cues while ignoring irrelevant ones
(b) Zone of optimal functioning
(3) High arousal results in a narrow attentional focus
(a) Perceptual/attentional narrowing
(b) Could lead to ignoring relevant cues

Automaticity

Performing a skill without attentional requirements

Arousal - Practical Implications

To increase arousal:
(1) Increase rhythm/rate of breathing
(2) Listen to music
(3) Increase physical activity
(4) Stay motivated

How are Eye Movement Measured?

Selective visual search, selecting visual cues, & visual search strategies

Selective Visual Search

- Role vision plays in directing visual attention to environmental information
- We select cues according to our action intentions or goals
- We select cues because of distinctiveness or meaningfulness
- Process of directing visual attention to locate relevant environmental cues
- Process usually occurs during the preparation stage for performing
- Gaze fixation
1) When gaze lands on objects during active scan

How to select visual cues

- Feature Integration Theory
- Movement filter in the visual system allows visual attention to be directed
(1) Minimal essential information is needed for skillful performers

Visual Search Strategies

quiet eye, targeting skills, interceptive skills, tactical skills

Quiet Eye

(1) Final fixation on a specific target or object before initiating a movement
(2) Expert vs Novice
(3) Golf images

Targeting Skills

1) Typically involve accurately propelling an object towards a target
(2) Fixed target (foul shot), abstract targeting task (putting), moving target task(boxing)

Interceptive Skills

(1) Complex in nature, requiring performer to track moving stimulus, determine trajectory and time to contact (tau), and what movements to intercept
(2) Baseball video

Tactical Skills

(1) Require quick and accurate situational decisions, selective attention to relevant cues, and pattern recognition
(2) Expert vs Novice

Visual Search - Practical Implications

i.) General vision training lacks support
ii) Sport-specific perceptual and decision-training programs have shown effectiveness
(1) Pinder et al.
(a) High level of similarity between practice/training and real-life performance/competition
(2) Magill
(a) Instruction and feedback should direct learners to critical cues
(b) Situations should contain task-relevant cues
(c) Should include variability

Coordination

- Patterns of body and /or limb movements
(1) Performers choose a preferred pattern
(2) Become successful at performing the pattern
(3) A new/distinct pattern emerges from practice

Relative to the pattern of environmental objects and events

One adapts the pattern to changing environment

Degrees of Freedom Problem

- How does the nervous system control a given pattern?
(1) Reflects the number of independent components of the system
(2) Motor control theory accounts for how the nervous system solves the degrees-of-freedom problem

Open-Loop Control System (Schmidt, 1975)

i) Based on the concept of a motor program
ii) Accounts for behavior that cannot be accounted for by closed loop control
(1) Advantages
(a) the production of very fast movements in the absence of feedback
(b) feedback does not have to be processed during movement
(2) Disadvantages
(a) not effective when environmental conditions are constantly changing
(3) not good for very precise movements

Open control for:

discrete, well-learned, and rapid movements

Closed-Loop Control for:

Feedback used for continuous, slow, and unpracticed movements

Hierarchical Control

some higher level in the system is responsible for monitoring feedback and making adjustments, and that lower levels are in charge of carrying out those decisions

Early Motor Program Theories (original idea)

Theory proposals:
- For each movement, a separate motor program existed and was stored in memory
- When a specific action was required, the program was retrieved from memory and executed
Problems with theories:
- Storage requirements
- Production of new movements

Parameters or surface features

- Movement time
- Movement amplitude
- Variations in muscle and limbs

Invariant Features

a) Sequence of actions or components
b) Relative timing
c) Relative force

Relative Timing

a) Speed of a rapid movement (fast kick vs a slow kick)
b) Size of the action (large handwriting compared to small handwriting)
c) Forces used to produce the action (throwing a baseball vs throwing a basketball)
d) Trajectory of the movement (trajectory of the body of jumping over a can vs jumping over a foot stool)

How does a GMP operate?

a) Schema is a set of rules stored in CNS that provides basis of decisions
i) Generalized motor program controls the general characteristics of classes of actions
ii) Motor response schema provides specific information governing an action in a given situation

Supporting Evidence of how a GMP operates

i) Preparation
ii) Sensory
iii) EMG
iv) Stopping
v) Deafferentation Experiments

Dynamic Systems Theory

a) Movement patterns emerge, or self-organize, as a function of interactions among various constraints:
b) Various constraints:
i) Learner
ii) Environment
iii) Task

Constraints

- All of the factors-limiting and enabling- within the practice environment that influence skill acquisition and performance
- The boundaries that have a bearing on an individual's movement capabilities
- Types:
a) Individual (internal)
b) Environment (external)
c) Task (external)

Individual Constraints

i) Also known as organismic constraints
ii) A person's biological and functional characteristics
iii)
Examples
(1) Body attributes
(2) Personality characteristics
(3) Fitness variables
(4) Perceptual and decision-making skills
(5) Injury and disease

Environmental Constraints

Examples:
1) Gravity
2) Temperature
3) Natural light
4) Wind direction
- Social environment constraints: Social expectations, cultural norms, spectators, family and peer networks

Task Constraints

i) Goals
(1) All tasks are governed by goals that relate to the product or outcome of the action.
ii) Rules
(1) Sport skills typically have rules that dictate the specific coordination pattern that must be produced
iii) Implements or machines
(1) Results from the interaction of the individual with an implement or machine

Emergence of Movement Patterns

i) Movement: a function of a system self-organizing and compressing available degrees of freedom into a single unit designed to carry out a specific task
ii) Movement pattern: the result of the ever-changing constraints imposed by a given situation
(1) Rather than the specific instructions provided by a pre-existing motor program(GMP)

Stability and Movement

i) Attractor—Preferred state of stability in a system
ii) Control parameter—Variable that, when changed, leads to corresponding changes
(1) Direction, force, speed, perceptual info
iii) Rate limiter—An individual constraint that holds back or slows the emergence of a motor skill
(1) Injury
iv) Emergence of Movement Patterns

Movement

a function of a system self-organizing and compressing available degrees of freedom into a single unit designed to carry out a specific task

Movement pattern:

the result of the constraints imposed by a given situation

Shallow vs. Deep Attractors

i) Attractors function much like basins in which observable behaviors pool; their depth is an indication of the stability of the system:
(1) Deep attractor basins: stable systems, difficult to change'
(2) Shallow basins: less stable, more susceptible to change

Changes in Movement Behavior

i) Changes result from a series of transitions in a system's state of stability (phase shifts):
(1) Shallow attractor state: a phase shift can occur abruptly
2) Deep attractor state: intervention strategies have to cause instability, which leads to an increase in movement variability
ii) Over time, the pattern will reorganize, the new technique will take over, and a phase shift will occur to a new attractor state

Non-linear pedagogy

i) Learner searches through a range of potential movement solutions for the optimum strategy
ii) Perceptual-motor workspace

Constraints-Led Approach

i) Purposeful manipulation of key constraints in an effort to acquire movement skills and decision making behaviors
ii) Hands-off practitioner

Learning

i) A change in the capability of a person to perform a skill that must be inferred from a relatively permanent improvement in performance as a result of practice or experience.
(1) Improvement
(2) Consistency
(3) Persistence
(4) Adaptability

Performance Curves

Evaluate permanent changes in performance.

Ways To Evaluate Performance and Learning

a) Used to infer that a relatively permanent change in performance has occurred
b) Retention Test
c) Transfer Test
i) Novel Context
ii) Novel Skill Variation

Two Models of Learning

- Fitts and Posner's Three Stage Model
- Gentile's Two Stage Model

Fitts and Posner's Three Stage Mode

i) Verbal-Cognitive Stage
ii) Motor (Associative) Stage
iii) Autonomous Stage

Gentile's Two Stage Model

i) "Getting the Idea of the Movement"
ii) Fixation/Diversification

Learner at the Cognitive Stage

- Introduced to a new motor skill
- Develops an understanding of the movements requirements
- Attempts numerous techniques and strategies; a trial-and-error approach
- Reformulates past movement experiences in an effort to solve the current movement problem
- Needs guidance to detect and correct errors

Learner at the Associative Stage

i) Is committed to refining one particular movement pattern
ii) Performs more consistently, with fewer errors
iii) Is better at detecting errors and developing strategies to eliminate them
iv) Needs constructive practice experiences and effective feedback from practitioner

Learner at the Autonomous Stage

i) Can perform a skill proficiently
ii) Can perform multiple tasks simultaneously
iii) Performs consistently and confidently, with few errors
iv) Can detect and correct those errors that are made
v) May become discouraged and unmotivated if proficiency comes slowly
(1) Practitioner serves as motivator

Getting the idea of the movement

i) Learner's goals:

(1) Develop an understanding of movement requirements and the environment in which the task is to be performed

(2) Organize a corresponding movement

(3) Attend to relevant information while ignoring irrelevant information. ii) Instruction and practice should facilitate the development of a basic movement pattern

Diversification

1) Open skills—unpredictable environment
(2) Example: Shooting a hockey puck from various angles and positions; golf putting

Fixation

(1) Closed skills—fixed, stable environment
(2) Example: Shooting a free throw

Observable Products of Learning

a) Knowledge and Memory
i) Declarative vs Procedural
b) Control Coordination
c) Freezing vs Freeing the Degrees of Freedom
d) Muscles Used
i) Co-Contraction
e) Movement efficiency and Energy Costs
f) Attentional changes
i) Visual and conscious
g) Error Detection and Correction

What defines an EXPERTS?

a) One becomes an expert from practice that is:
i) Intense (10 years)
ii) Deliberate Practice
iii) Specific Goal of Attainment
iv) Drive
b) Expert's knowledge - situational knowledge

What type of memory is most resistant to memory lost?

Procedural long-term memory

Which stage in the three-stage model of learning will require the most energy?

Cognitive stage

What term describes performing a skill or a component of a skill without needing large amounts of attentional capacity?

Automaticity

What is the biggest difference between the open and closed loop control systems?

Closed loop control system has feedback and open loop systems do not

What does the inverted U principle of arousal mean?

Having less room for attentional capacity in the extremes, meaning low or high. You want to be in the middle. Moderate arousal leads to one being the most successful

What term refers to purposeful manipulation of key aspects of the task, environment, or individual in an effort to require movement skills?

Constraint-based learning

What term refers to a pattern of body or limb movements that represent the process of organizing degrees of freedom?

Coordination

Motor skills can be performed involuntarily? T or F?

False

Is Fitts Stage learning a two or three stage model?

Three

Which stage is the learner making a loss of gross errors and trying to answer a lot of how to problems?

Cognitive (verbal) stage

Which of the following attentional related concepts is essential to deliver verbal instructions about how to perform a motor skill?

Limited Attention Capacity

Thinking about observable products of learning, what is an example of something that will increase as a person becomes more skilled?

- Control coordination
- degrees of freedom
- detect and correct errors
- knowledge and memory

Thinking about observable products of learning, what is an example of something that will decrease as a person becomes more skilled?

- Code contraction of muscles
- energy cost
- attentional resources
- number of muscles used

Is internal focus or external focus of attention more effective when learning?

External

Which motor control theory brings together the interaction of the environment, individual, and task?

Dynamic systems