Craig A. Wrisberg

The Effect of Contextual Variety on the Practice, Retention, and Transfer of an Applied Motor Skill

Laboratory research in motor learning has consistently demonstrated higher retention and/or transfer when practice occurs under conditions of high contextual variety (e.g., Lee & Magill, 1983; Newell & Shapiro, 1976; Shea & Morgan, 1979;). In the present study, an attempt was made to determine whether a contextual variety effect could be demonstrated in a standard physical education instructional setting. During practice trials on the long and short badminton serves, male and female subjects performed under either blocked (i.e., all trials of one serve followed by all trials of the other) or varied (i.e., alternating trials of long and short serves) conditions. Retention and transfer tests (i.e., using the service area opposite that employed during the practice phase) were administered at the end of the badminton unit. Although little difference was observed in the performance of the two groups during practice, alternating-trial subjects demonstrated significantly higher retention of the short serve and significantly higher transfer of both serves than blocked-trial subjects. The performance of male and female subjects was not differentially influenced by practice structure conditions. It was concluded that a practice schedule that requires performers to change their plan of action from trial to trial may facilitate the retention and transfer of motor skills in applied instructional settings.

Further tests of Schmidt's schema theory: development of a schema rule for a coincident timing task.

The present study investigated the generalizability of Schmidts (1975) schema theory to an open-skill (Poulton, 1957) situation. Subjects attempted to time a preferred-hand button press so that it was coincident with the lighting of the last of a series of run way lights whose apparent velocity was 4023 mm/sec. Prior to five trials of performance on the criterion task, subjects received 40 trials in which they either (a) watched (low response requirements) or (b) responded with the nonpreferred hand (high response requirements) to a stimulus moving at (a) a constant (2235, 3129, 4917, or 5812 mm/sec) velocity (low stimulus variability) or (b) different velocities (high stimulus variability) from trial to trial. Subjects receiving high stimulus variability and high response requirements during training had significantly lower absolute error on the criterion task than did those in the other conditions. The results were discussed in terms of the type of practice which facilitates development of a schema rule for coincident-timing situations.

Note on Learners' Control of the Frequency of Model Presentation during Skill Acquisition

Learners (30 men, 15 women in three groups), given an opportunity to control the frequency with which they viewed a model during initial practice of the badminton long serve, acquired and retained a level of movement form that was equivalent to learners who viewed the model 100% of the time and significantly superior to learners who never viewed the model.

Male and Female Athletes' and Nonathletes' Expectations about Sport Psychology Consulting

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore expectations of athletes and nonathletes about sport psychology consulting. Tinsleys (1982) Expectations About Coun-seling-Brief form was revised using sport psychology terms. The revised instrument, Expectations About Sport Psychology Consulting (EASPC) questionnaire, was administered to 111 athletes (64 male and 47 female) and 166 nonathletes (72 male and 94 female) attending an NCAA Division I university. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the data fit the hypothesized 3-factor model (i.e., personal commitment, facilitative conditions, and consultant expertise). A 2 (College Sport Participation) 2 (Gender) MANOVA and follow-up discriminant function analyses revealed that females had higher expectancies of personal commitment than did males whereas males believed that consultants were more directive and more capable of solving problems quickly than did females. No significant differences were obtained between athletes and their peers. The results indicate that the EASPC instrument might be a valuable tool for determining expectations about sport psychology consulting.

The Effect of Knowledge of Results Delay and the Subjective Estimation of Movement Form on the Acquisition and Retention of a Motor Skill

This study examined the effects of knowledge of results (KR) delay and subjective estimation of movement form on the acquisition and retention of a motor skill. During acquisition, four groups of participants performed 60 trials of a throwing accuracy task under the following conditions: (a) immediate KR, (b) delayed KR, (c) immediate KR + form estimation, and (d) delayed KR + form estimation. Retention tests of throwing accuracy and outcome error estimation in the absence of visual KR were administered 5 min and 24 hours following acquisition. Throwing accuracy was significantly higher during acquisition but significantly lower during retention for immediate-KR participants than for delayed-KR participants. However, participants who estimated their movement form during acquisition produced significantly higher throwing accuracy and lower estimation error during retention than those who did not.

Developing Coincident Timing Skill in Children: A Comparison of Training Methods

Abstract The present study attempted to determine whether the nature of training experiences influences the development of coincident timing skill in young children. The task involved visual tracking of a moving light sequence and a 43 cm arm movement to a padded target. Subjects attempted to tap the target coincident with the completion of the light sequence. Sixty first grade children were randomly assigned to one of five groups, with an equal number of males and females in each group. Subjects assigned to the training groups received 48 trials on each of two days, with stimulus speeds that were either slow (179 cm/sec or 4 mph), fast (313 cm/sec or 7 mph), varied-random (179, 224, 268, 313 cm/sec or 4, 5, 6, 7 mph), or varied-blocked (i.e., 6 consecutive trials with one speed before changing to another). Control subjects performed a neutral coloring activity during the training phase of the experiment. All subjects were then given 10 trials on a third day with each of two stimulus speeds not experience...

Diminishing the Effects of Reduced Frequency of Knowledge of Results on Generalized Motor Program Learning

Several recent studies have shown that, compared with presenting knowledge of results (KR) on every practice trial, withholding KR on some practice trials enhances the learning of generalized motor programs (GMPs; Wulf, Lee, & Schmidt, 1994; Wulf & Schmidt, 1989; Wulf, Schmidt, & Deubel, 1993). In this study, whether this effect may result from an uncertainty on the part of participants about when KR is to be presented was determined by examining the GMP learning of two 67% relative-frequency KR groups-one that received advance information regarding the delivery of each KR (67% AKR) during practice trials and another that received no advance information (67% KR)-as well as that of a 100% KR group. The task required participants to produce 3 movement patterns that shared the same relative and absolute timing and relative amplitude but differed in terms of absolute amplitude. KR was provided by displaying the root-mean-square error (RMSE) score and by graphically superimposing the participant-produced pattern on that of the goal movement. The results revealed no group differences in measures of GMP development or parameterization effectiveness during practice and no-KR retention. However, during no-KR transfer with a novel absolute amplitude, the 67% KR group demonstrated a more accurate and stable GMP than the 67% AKR and 100% KR groups. Possible explanations for why advance knowledge about KR delivery diminishes GMP development are discussed.

Stimulus Velocity and Movement Distance as Determiners of Movement Velocity and Coincident Timing Accuracy

Thirty right-handed subjects (J 5 males and 15 females) received trials on a timing task that required the completion of a ballistic arm movement coincident with the termination of a moving light pattern. Each subject performed 20 trials under each of nine possible combinations of movement distance and stimulus velocity. The results indicate that timing errors were inversely linked to stimulus velocity and were not related to movement distance. Movement velocity was associated more with variations in movement distance than with changes in stimulus velocity. Males responded with more accuracy and consistency than did females.

PAST RUNNING EXPERIENCE AS A MEDIATOR OF THE ATTENTIONAL FOCUS OF MALE AND FEMALE RECREATIONAL RUNNERS

In 1988 research under our controlled laboratory conditions suggested that, when subjects are instructed to focus on bodily cues while running on a treadmill, females perceive the activity to be more strenuous than do males. It was reasoned that this difference might be due to differences in either self-monitoring style or past exercise experience of males and females. The purpose of the present study was to survey recreational runners to ascertain the types of cues/thoughts to which they attended during exercise. 115 male and 72 female undergraduate and graduate students at a major university completed an attentional focus questionnaire after a routine jogging session. Demographic information was also obtained regarding each subjects experience with running activities (e.g., frequency, intensity, past history, etc.). Analysis suggested that attentional focus during running was related more to running experience than to sex differences in self-monitoring style. Inexperienced subjects focused attention more on bodily stimuli associated with the activity while experienced subjects focused more on cues/thoughts unrelated to running (e.g., music, surrounding scenery, etc.). It was concluded that experienced recreational runners are more adept at diverting attention away from unpleasant bodily cues associated with exercise than are inexperienced runners.

Physiological and Psychological Responses to Exercise with an Induced Attentional Focus

In this study techniques were employed to induce exercising subjects to focus attention on themselves or on an external event. A total of 20 adult subjects (10 men and 10 women) were familiarized with a treadmill exercise protocol and then on two subsequent occasions performed sub-maximal exercise followed by a run to exhaustion under attentional conditions of self-focus (watching themselves in a mirror while listening to their breathing) and external focus (watching and listening to a movie). The order of focus conditions was counterbalanced among subjects. Analysis of postexperimental responses from subjects indicated that the procedures used to induce each type of attentional focus were successful. However, physiological and psychological responses in the two focus conditions were not always uniform for men and women, particularly during light work when men tended to have higher heart rates and significantly lower Rated Perceived Exertion while women had lower heart rates and higher Rated Perceived Exertion under self-focused conditions than under externally focused conditions. Possible explanations for the incongruence of physiological and psychological responses of men and women to the two types of attentional focus are discussed.