Week 6: Intro to Motor Learning
Summary in your own words…
We learned a lot during week six. Fitts and Posner Model describing the Stages of Motor Learning says Cognitive is the first phase, then Associative Phase, and thirdly Autonomous Phase. Cognitive includes verbal reasoning the action out, having inconsistent performance through trial and error, and paying high attention to relevant information to learn the skill. Associative includes developing correct reference of what is right and wrong when it comes to mistakes, learner gains more confidence through having less mistakes happen, and coaching feedback starts have a positive contribution to gains made in motor learning. Autonomous includes minimal amounts of thinking about how to complete something, learner moving into planning and strategy, and coaching should be more detailed on specific parts of what the learner is executing. The Bernstein Model refers to the above stages as “Early”, “Middle”, and “Late” phases. In the early phase, degrees of freedom are “frozen” as movement is rigid, solid, firm, and tight. The middle phase, movement starts to become a little easier, not as tight, and the learner appears to look more confident and like they know what they are doing. In the late phase, movement is free-flowing and not restricted, and the learner is not afraid to make mistakes because they feel even more confident in knowing the skill to perform.
Felt Bloom’s Taxonomy was important:
Create: produce new or original work. Evaluate: justify a stand or decision. Analyze: draw connections among ideas. Apply: use information in new situations. Understand: explain ideas or concepts. Remember: recall facts and basic concepts.
In week six, we learned about movement outcomes being the success rate the intended physical movement had toward accomplishing the desired end-result. Neuromotor changes in the positive direction resulted in improved assigning of meaning to stimuli, decision-making, and motor-skill execution. Ways to assess and evaluate motor learning, include: form, accuracy, distance, speed, eye-tracking, electromyography of muscle activity, functional MRI of oxygenation of brain, and transcranial magnetic stimulation of intensity required for neural and interoceptive responses. Practice acquisition is the short term learning done in a short time period, retention is performing the skill after time-lapse without further instruction, and “transfer” is being able to transfer sport skills or ADL-related skills to other sports and to other activities in life.
Week 6 Intro to ML
Week 6 part 2
Week 7: Intro to OPTIMAL Theory
Summary in your own words
Optimal Theory of Motor Learning is what we learned about in week seven. Motivation: enhanced expectancies and interplay with autonomy, “goal-action-coupled” with “External Focus of Attention”, led to increased focus on the task at hand and a significant decrease in the amount of focus placed on the self, WHICH led to Motor Learning and Motor Performance being improved. Autonomy gave deeper processing abilities and more choices to the learners. Having control of practice conditions helped motor learning via tethering some instructional control with some learner control during lessons- and the learners are able to give themselves some feedback in this instance as well. Being aware of instructional language and being supportive of the learner noticeably improves retention by students. Giving students some control over choosing order of exercises, duration, and intensity makes the learning experience more about the learner and tailors the experience more toward the learner’s past experiences. Using positive feedback is highly important in evaluating competence of the learner, boosting confidence and motivation of the learner. Utilizing “Social-Comparative Feedback” and describing to a learner that they are doing better than average or better than most people, leads to less stress and more learning occurring. Self-modeling, reviewing game footage, visually seeing yourself doing well is crucial to developing high levels of intrinsic motivation in the learner. Shaping reality and perception of the task, as the teacher talking to the learner, lowers the stress level of the learner if you are using positive affirmations and describing the simplest most concise ways to complete the task with ease. Having a fixed view or growth mindset is something really important for both learners and teachers, having someone watch another learner, and telling the first learner that you will get to this point or higher someday, will do wonders for the student you are working with. Extrinsic rewards like medals and trophies can only take the learner’s motivation so far, and it is far healthier for the teacher and learner to work together to instill value of intrinsic motivational factors at an early stage in life and learning. Applying external focus of attention in teaching helps the learner focus more on the process than the actual self, and taking someone “out of their head” really helps get increases in speed and endurance. Having external focus of attention will also bring better energy of focus for the learner and better efficiency of completing tasks and skills.
Week 7 Intro to Optimal Theory
Week 8: Practice Types & Scheduling
Summary in your own words….
Five Considerations of Feedback
To give feedback or not
What information to give
How much to give
How precise
How often
Intrinsic is sensory feedback from within, extrinsic feedback is received from external source like a coach. Inherent example question, did you sense what you thought you were going to sense. External feedback, physical modeling before learner does attempts of the skill. Concurrent verbal guidance or hand-over-hand physical guidance may be necessary depending on the level of the learner ability and development-wise. Movement Outcome is knowledge of performance, and knowledge of results is information about the success of the learner. Functions of feedback can be motivating, encouraging, or discouraging. Intrinsic paired with extrinsic creates new attention, knowledge, and muscle memory for the learner. Faded frequency is relative frequent at first and reduced as learner progresses.
Felt this information about feedback schedule is important: Concurrent, Interval Delay, or Post Delay, are all options for when to give feedback.
Out of 100 trials:
0% Feedback: never give feedback to the learner (0 trials)
Learner is only using intrinsic feedback
25% Feedback: give feedback after every 4 trials (25 trials)
Learner is using 75% intrinsic feedback
50% Feedback: give feedback after every other trial (50 trials)
Learner is using 50% intrinsic feedback
100% Feedback: give feedback after every trial (100 trials)
Learner is using minimal intrinsic feedback
Leads to dependency on extrinsic feedback
Week 9: Motor Development Practice
Summary in your own words….
Blocked versus random practice, blocked is specific instruction about specific part of skill for specified time without practicing anything else during that time, and random practice is shaping play by allowing practice repetitions of multiple parts or the whole skill, during the random practice time frame.
Part-Whole Practice: some more complex skills are easier to teach and easier to grasp if broken down into parts. Some skills may be easier to pick up when teaching the whole skill all at once. Choosing part or whole practice depends on evaluation of level of complexity of the skill being taught and skill being performed by the learner.
Gryphon Antares Phoenix 