Motor Learning Principles

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Motor Learning Principles

• Debbie Rose, Ph.D.
• Co-Director, Center for Successful Aging
• California State University, Fullerton

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Important Motor Learning Principles

• How best to introduce a skill
• Modeling correct versus learning models
• Discovery Learning Techniques
• How to organize the practice environment
• Practice variability task demands versus
  environmental constraints
• How to provide feedback to clients in a
  meaningful way
• Augmented Feedback

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Stages of Learning

• Gentiles Two-Stage Model of Motor Learning
• Stage One Understanding the goal of the
  movement.
• Stage Two Adapting the movement pattern to the
  specific demands of the environment in which
  skill will ultimately be learned.

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I Getting the Idea of the Movement

• Learner begins to explore how different parts of
  movement must be coordinated to achieve the goal.
• Engages in trial-and-error practice.
• Learner begins to discriminate between
  environmental features important to the task.

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I Getting the Idea of the Movement

• Regulatory Conditions
• Environmental features that directly affect how
  the skill is to be performed.
• Non-Regulatory Conditions
• Environmental features that do not, or should not
  influence how the skill is to be performed.
• Example?
• Reaching for an object while standing on
  half-foam roller

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• Regulatory Conditions
• Size and shape of object
• Distance and height of
• object from body
• Width and compliance of
• support surface

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• Non-Regulatory Conditions
• Instructor clothing
• Color of object
• Proximity of other clients
• Background noise/music

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STAGE TWO

• Learner attempts to adapt movement pattern to
  specific demands of environment in which task
  will be performed.
• Stable
• Variable

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Learners Goal?

• Fixate or diversify the skill
• Dependent on the type of performance environment
  in which skill will ultimately be performed.

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Practical Implications

• Most daily activities require that skills be
  diversified
• Regulatory conditions related to task demands or
  environmental constraints should be manipulated.

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Introducing the Skill to be Learned

• Traditional method is to provide verbal
  description of movement skill followed by one or
  more visual demonstrations
• Why? Believed to convey greatest amount of
  information in most meaningful form.

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Visual Demonstrations

• Most effective when a new pattern of coordination
  is being learned.
• Observing initially unskilled models may be
  equally if not more beneficial than observing a
  correct model. Why?
• Learner more likely to engage in problem-solving
  activities versus imitation.
• Underlying strategy used to accomplish skill not
  observable in case of skilled model.
• Most effective when demonstration is supplemented
  with corrective feedback.

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Practical Implications

• Small group activities one person serves as
  learning model and others in group are observers.
  Instructor provides corrective feedback on
  multiple trials before group practice begins.
• Alternative strategy - Performance checklists
  describing key elements of skill.
• Fosters better understanding of skill to be
  learned.
• Facilitates management of groups.

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Discovery Learning

• Self- or guided-discovery.
• Many skills to be learned in FallProof ? program
  are best learned implicitly.
• Example Helping clients learn how and when to
  transition from one type of postural control
  strategy to another (ankle to hip)
• Verbally posing a movement problem or
  manipulating task demands and/or environmental
  guides learner to solution and fosters more
  problem-solving.

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Varying the Practice Environment

• Important to vary practice environment during
  second stage of learning
• Challenge can be manipulated by varying task
  and/or environmental demands
• Results in more varied practice environment that
  benefits learning of current and future skills.
• Valuable to vary practice environment when
  learning to fixate or diversify skill.

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The Practice Environment

• How practice environment is structured depends
  on
• Learners current level of skill
• Characteristics of skill to be learned
• Final performance environment stable
  (unchanging) versus variable (changing).

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Varying the Practice Environment

• Regulatory and non-regulatory conditions should
  be manipulated when learning to diversify a
  skill.
• Non-regulatory conditions should be manipulated
  when learning to fixate a skill.

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Varying the Practice Environment

• How variations of one or multiple skills are
  practiced can also be varied.
• Increases level of contextual interference or
  variety introduced into practice environment.
• Variety further manipulated by varying practice
  according to a blocked or random practice schedule

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Varying the Practice Environment

• Blocked Practice Schedule
• Particular skill is practiced for given number of
  repetitions before new variation of same skill or
  new skill is practiced
• Random Practice Schedule
• Learner performs a skill or variation of skill
  only once before practicing a different skill or
  variation of skill on next repetition. Practice
  order is randomized
• Random schedules more cognitively effortful but
  appear better for learning

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Increasing Cognitive Effort

• Suitable Progression
• Practice different variations of single skill
  according to blocked followed by random practice
• Follow same practice schedule (blocked to random)
  while practicing 2-3 different skills in same
  practice session.

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Varying the Practice
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Practical Example

• Stepping On and Off Benches
• Vary only height of bench and perform toe touches
  according to blocked then random practice
  schedule
• Practice different skill variations on different
  height benches according to blocked then random
  schedule.
• Can match level of practice difficulty to learner
  capabilities easily.

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Benefits of Varying the Practice Environment

• Leads to better learning of movement skills
• Improves learners ability to transfer what has
  been learned between different environments and
  skills
• Results in more enjoyable practice environment,
  albeit more challenging.

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Delivering Feedback to a Learner

• One of most effective ways to assist learners
  identify and correct errors in performance
• Augmented feedback supplements feedback derived
  from internal sensory systems
• Can be verbal, visual, or auditory in nature
• Can be delivered during of after a performance.

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Delivering Feedback to a Learner

• Augmented feedback can provide learner with
  information about outcome of performance
• Knowledge of Results (KR)
• Augmented feedback can also provide information
  about quality of the performance
• Knowledge of Performance (KP)

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Augmented Feedback

• During stage One of Learning it is important to
  provide prescriptive feedback
• Informs learners about what they are doing wrong
  and how to correct it.
• During Stage Two of learning type of feedback
  becomes more descriptive.
• Begin to ask questions following attempts at a
  skill to foster error detection and
  self-correction in this stage of learning.

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Augmented Feedback

• Which type of feedback is most beneficial to
  learner? BOTH
• KR is beneficial for Four reasons
• Can be used to confirm learners own assessment
  of internal sensory feedback
• Can help determine actual outcome in situations
  where own intrinsic feedback is insufficient
• Can motivate learner to continue practicing skill
• Limiting feedback to KR promotes self-discovery

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Augmented Feedback

• Important to remember that more is NOT better.
• Too much augmented feedback leads to over
  dependence
• Less feedback forces learner to rely on internal
  sensory feedback to make necessary skill
  corrections
• Less feedback leads to better learning and
  transfer of knowledge to activities of daily
  living.

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Conclusions

• Goal as instructor is to provide older adult
  learners with skills and strategies needed to
  accomplish variety of daily activities.
• Tasks vary in demands imposed and must be
  performed in different sensory environments
• Important to structure class sessions in manner
  that fosters problem-solving abilities