The Development of Generalized Motor Program in Constant and Variable Practice Conditions.

Stanisław H Czyż,Elric Pretorius,Martin Zvonař

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02760

Abstract

The main objective of our study was to determine whether constant and variable practice conditions lead to the development of different memory representations (GMP) and as a result, they benefit performance of a skill differently. We compared one of the Generalized Motor Program (GMP) invariant features, i.e., relative timing, of the same variation of skill developed in constant and variable practice conditions. In two experiments, participants, naïve to the basketball, were practicing free throws, receiving the same amount of practice. In constant conditions they practiced at one distance only (4.57 m), whereas in variable conditions they practiced at seven (2.74, 3.35, 3.96, 4.57, 5.18, 5.79, and 6.4 m) and five (3.35, 3.96, 4.57, 5.18, and 5.79 m) distances, in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. We found that relative timing of skills developed in constant and variable practice conditions is the same, confirming that these practice conditions form the same memory representation. However, we also observed that constant practice (CP) conditions resulted in overall shorter movement time as compared to the skill practiced in variable conditions. We hypothesized that it may be due to the facilitation of parameters assignment as it takes place in especial skill.

Highlights

Motor learning dynamic has been described by several models and theories
Our secondary objective was to replicate the results of the study by Breslin and colleagues, i.e., we wanted to determine whether limited practice in constant conditions leads to the development of an especial skill
Likewise in Experiment 1, we calculated the relative time as a percentage of overall movement time to reach five landmarks (Table 5) and computed a linear mixed model with a random intercept, test, group (CP1 – VP1) and test∗group interaction

Summary

Introduction

Motor learning dynamic has been described by several models and theories They share a common assumption that people acquire motor skills in a similar way, i.e., going through distinct stages (Magill and Anderson, 2017). One of such models, i.e., Gentile’s model of motor learning (Gentile, 1972, 2000) recognizes two levels: an initial stage and latter stages of learning. A learner has to acquire a movement coordination pattern and has to learn to discriminate conditions that determine the movement characteristics from the one that does not influence it In the latter stages of learning, a goal of learning differs depending on the type of skill.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion