Skill acquisition

• Skills can be classified as closed skills (not effected by environment ) or open skills (effected by environment ).
• The three stages of learning are cognitive stage, associative stage, and autonomous stage.
• • Discrete skill- has a clear beginning and end e.g tennis serve
  • serial skill- contains several discrete skills in order to make a more integrated movement e.g triple jump
  • continuous skill- no clear beginning and end and often the end of one part is the skill of the start of the next part e.g cycling
• • positive transfer- when the learning of one skill helps the learning of another
  • negative transfer- when the action of one skill hinders the learning of another
  • zero transfer- when the learning of one skill has no affect on another as the two skills have no similarities
  • Bilateral transfer- when the learning of one skill is transferred across the body from limb to limb
• Methods of practice:

  • whole- practising the skill in it’s entirety e.g golf swing. Adv- good for simple skills dis- could be tiring
  • Progressive part- practising the first part of the skill and then the rest of the parts are added gradually E.g dance routine.
  • Adv- useful for cognitive performers
  • Dis- time consuming
  • Whole- part-whole: whole skill is attempted and then each separate part of the skill is practised.
  • Adv- can help motivate performer
• Types of practise:

  Massed-continuos, so there are no rest intervals between sessions. These are often used when there are unlikely to be any changes needed to the skill

  • advantage: good for fit, motivated autonomous performers enacting relatively simple skills.
  • Disadvantage: requires suitable fitness and motivation
  • Distributed: There are rest intervals between sessions. Often used when practicing open skill.
  • Advantage: good for beginners allows rest
  • Disadvantage: can be time consuming
• Types of practice:

  variable: drills and types of practice are changed so that the performers learn to adapt to change in the environment.

  • Advantage-provides variety and can motivate performers
  • Disadvantage- can be time consuming and confuse performers as to what their goal actually is.
  • Mental: the performer goes through the movement in their mind without any physical movement.
  • Advantage- builds confidence. Lowers anxiety
  • Disadvantage- performers may overthink and start to doubt themselves.
• Cognitive stage:

  • First stage of learning (beginner)
  • Understanding and subroutines are explored by trial and error
  • The performer has to consider their actions carefully and tends to rely on help and guidance from others
  • Example: a beginner at tennis
• Associative stage:

  • Second stage of learning
  • Motor programmes develop, leading to smoother performance
  • Interim stage as the performer transitions from a competent beginner to an accomplished performer
  • Example: a recreational golfer
• Autonomous stage:

  • Final stage of learning
  • Experienced by an expert when movement is detailed and specific motor programmes are fully developed, aiding in fine control of the action
  • Example: a professional athlete
• Learning plateau: A period of no improvement in performance

  Reasons for this:

  • lack of motivation
  • boredom
  • poor fitness
  • poor coaching
  • fatigue

  Methods to overcome this:

  • changing coaches
  • resting to combat Fatigue
  • more variety to avoid boredom
  • better quality feedback and guidance
  • improve fitness
• Methods of guidance:

  Verbal- spoken guidance, e.g listening to coach giving instructions.

  • Advantage- helps explain a visual image. Provides detail in relation to technique and tactics
  • Disadvantage- can be time consuming and may cause information overload.

  Visual: involves the performer being able to actually see something e.g demonstrations.

  • Advantage- good for cognitive performers. Creates visual image
  • Disadvantage- important that the demonstration is clear and correct otherwise it is ineffective
• Method of guidance:

  Manual: where the performer could actually be assisted in a physical movement. E.g supporting someone to perform a gymnastic vault

  • Advantage- eliminates danger and builds confidence
  • Disadvantage- performer may become to reliant on the manual guidance.

  Mechanical- involves the use of objects or aids

  • Advantage- eliminates danger and instils confidence
  • Disadvantage- Performer can become overly reliant and may feel like can not perform without it
• Types of feedback:

  • knowledge of performance: this involves receiving information about the performance itself, possibly regarding the technique used and how to improve it
  • knowledge of results: the feedback the performer gets through the end result of their performance
  • intrinsic: feedback from themselves
  • extrinsic: feedback from others
• Whitings model:

  • input from display
  • receptor system: receives information from the senses
  • perceptual mechanisms: selective attention DCR
  • translatory mechanism: converts information into coded information
  • effector mechanism: nerves that send coded impulses to the muscles
• • Reaction time: the time taken from the onset of a stimulus to the onset of a response
  • Movement time: the time for which the athlete is moving
  • response time = reaction time + movement time
• Factors affecting response time:

  • Hicks law ( reaction time increases as the number of choices increase)
  • psychological refractory period ( a delay when a second stimulus is present before the first has been processed)
  • Fitness level
  • anticipation
• Strategies to improve response time:

  • making use of mental practice
  • more effective use of anticipation
  • learning to focus on picking up the stimulus more quickly
  • improving aspects of fitness to improve response time
• Schmidt’s schema theory:

  Recall schema: stored information about how to produce a movement.

  1. Initial conditions: before we start, we work out where we are and where are limbs are
  2. Response specification: motor programmes we want to recall in order to satisfy the situation
• Schmidt‘s schema theory: Recognition schema: during and after movement, this information allows the performer to evaluate how well performance was.

  1. Sensory consequence: receive information from our muscles about if the movement was correct or not
  2. Response outcome: compare the outcome of the movement to what we hoped it would do
• Strategies to improve information processing:

  • improving reaction time through improved fitness
  • Concentrating on the input phase and making more effective use of the selective attention, decision-making process