I know you missed me so much, so I
decided it was time for a second blog post. My last post was fairly general and
was focused on motor abilities and motor skills.
The goal of this post is to inform you
all on the stages of learning that a
person progresses through as they acquire motor skills, as well as some of the performance changes that occur across
the stages of learning.
Lets start by taking a look at a
prominent model of learning that was proposed by Fitts and Posner (1967), and some of the implications for the practitioner.
According to this model, there are three stages of learning:
1.
Cognitive Stage
· In this first stage of learning, the learner focuses on cognitively oriented problems
that are related to “how to” do the task at hand.
There are
a lot of attention demands that are being placed on the learner in this stage.
The learner may not be able to focus on every aspect of the movement.
To help
the learner focus on the most important aspects of the movement/skill, it can
be helpful to give clear instructions, demonstrations, and verbal cues.
· In this stage, the learner makes a lot of errors and the errors that are made are large.
This inevitably
means that the learner may become frustrated and lose motivation.
It is
important to give encouragement and emotional support during this stage of
learning.
· This stage is also characterized by a lack of consistency and high performance variability.
The learner is going to constantly need to make adjustments.
This
means that the learner will likely need frequent feedback to help them
understand what they did well and what needs improving after each trial.
2.
Associative Stage
· In the second stage, the performer tries to associate specific environmental cues with
certain aspects of the movement.
The learner is going to be searching for consistent aspects
of the environment and the feel of movement that they can use to remember the
motor pattern.
It is important to help the learner understand the correct
mechanics of the movement as well as to direct their attention to the most
important aspects of the environment for the completion of the movement.
· In this stage, the performance
variability decreases and the performer makes less errors.
The performer is becoming more consistent but is still making
errors, which can lead to frustration and lack of motivation.
Providing the learner with positive reinforcement and
encouragement can help them continue to progress and avoid performance plateaus.
· In this stage, the performer can begin to detect and identify some of his/her own
errors.
The performer can tell if their performance was spot on or
if it needs some adjusting, however, they still don’t know what to do to
correct their errors.
This is where feedback is extremely important. However, it
is important not to give feedback after every trial because this can cause the
learner to become dependent on feedback. (I will go into more depth on
effective feedback in a future post).
3.
Autonomous Stage
· In this final stage of learning, the skill become automatic (habitual) and can be done without conscious
thought.
The
learner has acquired the proper motor pattern and is able to complete the
movement with little to no cognitive effort.
This is
where feedback can be given very sparingly. The learner may need a reminder or
some minor feedback every now and then. At this stage of learning, short and
concise verbal cues can be used to help direct focus to important aspects of
the movement,
· The performer is able to detect
AND correct his/her errors.
The learner
has become increasingly aware of their body throughout the movement and can use
intrinsic feedback (information they gather through the use of their senses) to
detect and correct their own errors.
At this
point in the learning process, it can be helpful to videotape the learner and
have them analyze their own movement pattern. This practice can help the
learner actively engage in problem solving and further develop their understanding
of the movement coordination pattern.
· Not everyone gets to this stage of learning.
It is
important to realize that not all learners get to this stage of learning.
Whether
or not a learner reaches this stage of learning depends on:
1. the quality of instruction
2. the amount of deliberate practice
3. the specific movement being learner
4. individual differences
Now
that you understand the stages of learning, lets briefly take a look at the performance changes that occur across
the stages of learning.
Power Law of Practice
Large
amounts of improvement occur early on during practice, but as practice
continues, the rate of improvement decreases.
Movement
Coordination
Beginners
who are learning new movements often have old/preferred movement patterns that
they attempt to apply to new skills/movements. Sometimes its is necessary to go
backwards (regression) and teach the basics correctly before a client can move
forward (progression).
Reorganization
of the Motor Control System
When a
beginner first attempts a new skill, they often use more muscles than are
needed and have incorrect timing and activation of the involved muscle groups.
As practice continues, the performer learns to use the correct muscles and
activate them with proper timing.
Changes in
Energy Costs
As a
performer continues to learn a skill, they experience a change in energy costs.
As the movement becomes more efficient, the physiological (e.g. metabolic) and
mechanical energy needed to produce the movement decreases. Additionally, the
rate of perceived exertion (RPE) decreases as well. This means that as learning
continues, the performer perceives the movement to be easier and less taxing.
Visual
Selection
Beginners
often look at too many things and inappropriate things. As the performer
progresses through the learning stages, they will be better able to direct
their attention to more important features of the environment and in less time.
Conscious
Attention
As
learning continues, the conscious attention required by the performer decreases
until the skill becomes automatic.
Error
Detection and Correction Capability
As the
learner advances through the learning stages, they will be better able to
detect, and eventually correct their own errors.
Hopefully I was able to give you some
new knowledge about the learning process (and if not, then you’re on top of
your game).
With this knowledge,
teachers/coaches/trainers can better understand how to help a client learn a
new motor skill and anticipate the changes that they will witness in their
client as the learning continues.
With this knowledge, those of you who are
learning new motor skills can identify where you are in the learning process
and better understand what types of changes you can expect to occur as your
learning continues.
I hope that this post gave you some new
insight into the learning process and was at least a tiny bit interesting and
just a tad entertaining (maybe…. just a little?). Either way, thank you for
sticking with me until the end.
Until next time,
- Joe Rinaldi
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