MOTOR SKILL LEARNING
People differ in what they find interesting, and these differences influence learning. We all make choices about the activities in which we choose to involve ourselves. Skill and knowledge are required, whether learning to play a musical instrument or a particular sport. Learning is the acquisition of new information and the ability to use that information in some way, and then to repeat it. Motor learning (or learning how to move in a particular way to achieve a goal) involves verbalization, observation, and visualization. What rewards us and reinforces our behavior varies from one person to the next. Because of this, our learning experience changes how we process the information.
When we practice, we are testing what we have learned; the repetition increases what we remember over time. We forget new information if it is not used. Psychological research has shown
that purposeful behavior shapes our learning. The act of learning something new is a motivator for most of us. Negativity slows our responses, causing us to find an alternate way of performing an activity.
With motor skill learning, we need to perform movement. The more practice and repetition we experience with a particular movement, the better will be our ability to make that movement.
The more the practice is distributed over longer periods with rest intervals in between, the better the retention of the motor skill. When we try to learn a new movement, we are usually assembling
bits and pieces of movements that we already know how to do. We also need feedback. We can’t just rely on repeated exposures and repetitions of the movement without any sense of whether we
are performing it correctly. As skill improves, we begin to rely on a second feedback system, the proprioceptive system, which is a system of sensory inputs and processing that tells us where
we are, how we are positioned, and even the relative tension or lack of tension in our muscles.
• The first stage of learning motor movements is often verbal and perceptive. Gains at this stage are rapid but generally not very effective, smooth, or reliably produced. How effectively a student produces a movement varies by ability and physical limitations.
• The second stage of development goes toward refining and automating a movement pattern so that it can be performed without deliberate thought. The difficulty in learning golf is that the movements have to be changed
in response to changing environmental conditions and distance variations. So, the refinement process takes significantly longer. The student needs to practice and be taught the motor movements in the varying conditions.
• The third stage is characterized by continued learning. The improvements are difficult to detect because the student is already performing well. The level of improvement is fairly small in comparison to what was learned so far, and that the movements are becoming more refined may not even be noticed.
A teacher verbalizing during early acquisition of a motor skill is helpful for the student. This allows the student to focus on the movement until it becomes automatic. Where and how we get students to focus attention during motor learning is important in order for the student to continue development. However, later in the learning process, verbalizing may actually disrupt the motor skills, depending upon just where the student has progressed from a skill level standpoint. There are two different ways of absorbing information, internal and external. An internal focus means to concentrate on self, which often happens with a novice. An external focus is directed outside the body and on the goal of movement, ball flight, trajectory, or target. The external focus is often better for motor learning than an internal one, especially with an advanced player.
In a study of a broad variety of sports related activities, it was found that an external focus improves the speed with which people acquire a motor skill, and it improves their level of performance with that skill. An external focus helps because, as we acquire more skill, our shift from jerky and uncertain movements to smooth, automatic movements happens via feedback loops that involve comparing what we actually accomplished with our movement and what we wanted to accomplish. These loops exist at both the conscious and non-conscious levels. At a nonconscious level, your proprioceptive system and visual system are interacting with one another,
and they are adjusting your movement without your deliberate thinking process.
An internal focus with deliberate thinking is slow and inefficient compared to the kinds of mental processes we have that are more nonconscious and automated. Therefore, an internal focus can interfere with the more automatic feedback loop that involves proprioception and vision, and it can shift us to the process of deliberate thought.
When we learn a motor skill, we often begin by observing others. Physical practice is better than just watching, but research has shown that it is helpful to watch someone engage in the activity, attempt what that person did, and then discuss some strategies on how to move forward. Although observation is clearly helpful, it can be more effective for some than for others, and the key difference is in the expertise of the person observing. A good instructor can then clear up some of the misconceptions.
Visualizing success in motor tasks is not only highly motivating, but also might be effective in helping people acquire a skill. Imagery is defined as the process of mentally rehearsing a motor act without moving the body. Imagining motor actions involves the same brain regions as performing the motor movements without the physical effort.
Whether the goal is motor skill learning or mental, the more advanced students require less verbal instruction, while the novice needs exposure to a variety of teaching techniques, direction, and guidance.
