EM

C2.1.1 Learning, including motor learning...

‘Motor learning is the process of acquiring motor skills, a set of patterns of movements required for skilled action’

Skill: ‘a specific action (or the level of performance of an action) that has been learned through practice and which has a predetermined outcome or goal’

  • Learning is a relatively permanent change in skill or behaviour caused by experience (not just growth or ageing)

  • Performance is a temporary display of a skill that can go up or down depending on the situation

    • We often look at changes in performance over time to infer that learning has taken place

Types of skill

Motors skils

Weightlifting, for example, is mostly a motor skill because it emphasises movement and does not require much thinking

Cognitive skills

Playing chess involves mostly cognitive skills because it requires lots of thinking. Success in chess is not associated with the execution of the movements.

Perceptual skill

Reading the green in golf is a perceptual skill. The golfer receives information about the type of surface, the distance of the ball from the hole and other environmental conditions through their perceptual senses.

Perceptual-motor skill

Combination of motor and perceptual - applying the correct movement following an interpretation, such as out-dribbling a defender in basketball

Ability in Sport

  • Ability is not the same as skill

  • Skills are acquired, and ability is innate

  • Abilities give us the capacity to perform skills

  • Perceptual-motor abilities are the awareness of the body during movement

  • Motor abilities are the ability to use muscles in certain ways

  • Skill = ability + selection of correct technique

Principles of skill learning

Learning vs Performance

  • Learning - a change in performance because of practice or experience

  • Performance - a single occurrence that changes over time

  • Learning is measured through observations of performance

  • A single performance demonstrating success (or failure) may not be indicative of skill, but consistency is

Differences in Rate of Learning

  • Not everyone learns at the same rate (inter-individual)

  • A single person doesn’t learn different skills at the same rate (intra-individual)

  • Some skills require physical training before being able to complete a skill successfully