Motor Learning Processes

C 2.1

Skill

• Learned through practice

• efficient use of energy

• Meet the performance goal with maximum certainty

• Goal-oriented so using the skill will achieve an end result

Types of Skills

• Motor skill

• Cognitive skill

• Perceptual skill

• Perceptual-motor skill

Motor skill

A skill that emphasises movement and does not require much thinking

• ex: weightlifting is a motor skill sport

Cognitive skill

A skill that requires lots of thinking and success of the skill is not associated with movement

• ex: Knowledge of the rules, game objectives and team tactics in rugby are cognitive skills

Perceptual Skills

A skill that requires the use of perceptual senses like vision, vestibular (balance), haptic (touch) and auditory

• ex: rock climbing where the climber has to assess the rock face before attempting the climb is a perceptual skill

Perceptual-motor skill

A skill that involves the interpretation of environmental stimuli and the motor response to this sensory information. Most sports require good perceptual-motor skills

• ex: being able to fake out a defender and dribble past them to score in basketball

Ability

• Traits that you are born with

• Perceptual and motor attributes that are inherited by parents

• give the capacity to perform a skill

Perceptual-motor abilities

enable the individual to process info about how and when to move

• ex: a forehand hit in tennis requires perceptual abilities like muscle-limb coordination and response

Motor abilities

abilities related to actual movement

• ex: running the 100m sprint requires explosive strength and speed of limb movement

Difference between skill and ability

• a skill is something we learn

• an ability is something we are born with

Performance

a temporary occurrence, changing over time

Learning

a relatively permanent change in performance resulting from practice or past experience

Factors contributing to learning

• Motivation is the most important factor that affects learning

• learner needs to want to learn

Transfer of learning

• the effect that practice on one task has on the learning or performance of another task

• can be positive, negative, or zero

Positive transfer of learning

when the practice of one task assists the learning or performance of another task

Negative transfer of learning

when the practice of one task prevents the learning or performance of another task

6 types of transfer of learning

• Skill to skill

• practice to performance

• abilities to skills

• bilateral

• stage to stage

• principles to skills

Skill to skill

one skill helps the learning of another

• ex: overarm throw in cricket helps with a tennis serve

practice to performance

training transfers to actual game situations

• ex: practicing free kicks helps with taking free kicks in game situations

Abilities to skills

natural abilities that support skill learning

• ex: good balance helps with learning gymnastics beam routines

Bilateral

transfer from one side of the body to the other

• ex: being able to pass in football with both feet

Stage to stage

skills learnt in one stage of learning help in the next stage

• ex: learning how to do each stage of a swimming dive will help with the next stage of learning

Principles to skills

understanding principles helps apply them to skills

• ex: knowing the principle of how a ball can spin will help with table tennis serves in the ball spin

Linear Pedagogy approach in motor learning - information processing model

• The input into the CNS is the environment that the performer may see, hear, and feel - in sport there are usually several inputs

• The output from the CNS is what the performer does - what shot a tennis player may play to return a ball and if that is successful or not

Sensory input

• responsible for relaying info about the environment to the brain

• information is interpreted based of past experiences in similar situations held in long-term memory

• three types of senses: exteroceptors, interoceptors, proprioceptors

Perception signal - welford’s information processing model

• relevant environmental info that guides the perform’s response

Perception noise - welford’s information processing model

• irrelevant info that distracts or interferes with detecting the signal

Signal detection

• probability of detecting a signal depends on

• intensity of signal vs. intensity of noise

Exeroceptors

provide info from outside of body and mainly involved with vision and auditory information

Interoceptors

provide info from within the body like info about heart rate, lung function, and digestive processes

proprioceptors

provide information about the body position and help maintain balance

multi store memory model

• all incoming info is briefly held in the SIS but most info is lost within 0.5 seconds

• the remaining info is passed to STM but must be rehearsed to ensure it stays longer than 10 seconds

• the remaining info is passed to LTM which is dependent on rehearsal 

Response time

• time from the introduction of a stimulus to the completion of the action required to deal with the problem

• combination of reaction time and movement time

The psychology refractory period

Time gap between two stimuli where the reaction time of the second one is slower than the first reaction time

• ex: a player using a dummy move because if timing is correct then the defender will be slower to react compared to first reaction time

Efferent organisation

• process where the CNS selects and organises the motor program and sends instructions through motor neurons to the muscles to perform movement

Phases of learning

• cognitive phase

• associative phase

• autonomous phase

Cognitive phase

• individual tries to make sense of instructions

• lots of verbal labels but instructions do not need to be verbal

• ex: phrases pull, brake, switch, slide is used while teaching belay technique in rock climbing

Associative phase

• practice is required to perfect the skill and develop the consistent coordinative movement that demonstrates learning

Autonomous phase

• when an individual can perform consistently and with little cognitive activity

Positively accelerated learning curve

• when learning is slow until you reach a certain point where performance improves quicker

Negatively accelerated learning curve

• when learning is quicker at first but then slows down after a certain point

Linear learning curve

• learning an easy to perform skill

• very rare that skills are this easy

Plateau learning curve

• learning is positive and fairly quick at first but then there is a period where there is no improvement in performance (plateau effect)

• however if you keep practicing then there can be a breakthrough and more learning is shown

• learning is likely still occurring during the plateau phase but performance just isn’t increasing

Motor programme

• a set of muscle commands that allow movement to be performed without any peripheral feedback

• ex: hitting a tennis ball, catching a netball

Open-looped control

• how we can carry out fast movements without being able to use feedback

• ex: a boxer can throw a jap punch at 60-70ms which is too fast to use feedback to alter the movement

closed-loop control

• slower movement where feedback can alter the movement

• ex: returning a slow tennis serve

schema theory

• a set of generalized rules for a group of movements

• develops two kinds of memory for movements - recall & recognition

Recall Schema

memory with regard to the choice and initiation of action

Recognition schema

• memory for the feel of a movement

• allows you to make appropriate changes in the action

Generalized motor patterns

• fundamental movement patterns like running, throwing, kicking, and striking

• introduced and taught first

Subordinate motor patterns

• specific variations or refinements of generalized motor patterns 

• changes to basic movement patterns to suit specific tasks or contexts

• require more fine-tuned coordination, precision and timing

Non linear pedagogy

• ecological dynamics

• exploratory learning and individualised movement solutions

• skills practiced in realistic performance contexts

• teachers facilitate learning

• learner centered approach

Ecological dynamics theory

• how individuals continually re-organise the human movement system in response to perceived events

• movement is a result of the interaction between the person and their environment

Dynamic systems theory

• how complex systems with many interacting components self-organize

• how our bodies and brain work together to create movement and learn skills

Self-Organizing in athletes is shaped by

• personal constraints - height, weight, muscle to fat ratio

• task constraints - rules, surfaces, boundary markings

• environmental constraints - temperature, altitude, wind strength

Adaptation

the continuous reorganising of components to satisfy ecological constraints of competition

Perception-action coupling

• the relationship between an athletes actions and info from the environment in which those actions take place

• athletes directly perceive and act upon info from environment without needing to interpret or process that info

Affordances

• opportunities for action offered by the environment 

• perceiving how someone can act when faced with specific conditions in a performance environment

Constraints-led approach

• mind, body, and environment continually influencing each other to shape the behaviours of each individual

• promotes the understanding of how skills are acquired from a motor learning perspective

• benefits are: adaptations to environment/task/individual + increased self confidence

compare linear vs non-linear

linear

• skills learnt separate from performance

• technique drills, repetition, isolated skills

• coach led

• ignores context

Non-linear

• learning is essential part of performance

• activites consider variables of the sport

• athlete led

• considers context

Pychological needs

• autonomy

• competence

• relatedness

fitness testing

• flexibility - sit and reach

• muscle endurance - sit ups / push ups

• agility - illinois agility test

• strength - hand grip dynamometer

• speed - 40m sprint

• balance - standing stork test

• reaction time - ruler drop test

• power - vertical jump