Abstract

An implicit approach to motor learning suggests that relatively complex movement skills may be better acquired in environments that constrain errors during the initial stages of practice. This current concept paper proposes that reducing the number of errors committed during motor learning leads to stable performance when attention demands are increased by concurrent cognitive tasks. While it appears that this approach to practice may be beneficial for motor learning, further studies are needed to both confirm this advantage and better understand the underlying mechanisms. An approach involving error minimization during early learning may have important applications in paediatric rehabilitation.

Highlights

  • Motor learning is the process of acquiring movement skills [1]

  • This paper aims to briefly review evidence from recent studies that have examined implicit motor learning in children using an errorless learning paradigm [10,11] and to explore the theoretical basis of implicit motor learning in children

  • Motor learning approaches for children need to accommodate their evolving cognitive abilities

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Summary

Background

Motor learning is the process of acquiring movement skills [1]. Conventional (explicit) theories posit that motor skills are initially learned explicitly through cognitive processes that generate declarative knowledge [2]. Maxwell and colleagues [4] proposed that errorless learning paradigms should constrain the environment to minimize the amount of errors that are committed, thereby reducing the need to test alternative movement solutions to correct errors They showed that errorless learning resulted in motor learning that was largely implicit or non-conscious, with low accrual, or. Children who learned overhand throwing with few errors showed stable performance while engaged in a secondary cognitive task of counting backwards This observation was consistent with findings of implicit motor learning investigations in adults [2]. Results showed that while all participants achieved gains in throwing movement pattern and throwing accuracy, those who practised in an errorless learning environment were found to have greater improvements than those who practised in an errorstrewn condition Those children with ID who experienced fewer practice errors were capable of effective overhand throwing while performing a secondary cognitive task

Discussion
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