Comparing the Effect of Massed & Distributed Practice in Different Stages of Discrete Motor Task Learning

How to distribute the duration of practice and rest at each session is a matter of concern in organizing the practice of motor skills. In this connection, most studies have introduced the nature of motor task as a determining factor and suggested that if the discrete skills are practiced according to massed method and continued skills according to distributed method, then better results can be obtained. But, it seems that the stage of the learner prior to the test, also as one of the effective variables in this process, has not been taken into consideration. To this end and in order to determine the role of learning stage in the mechanism of distributing practice and rest during a session, 60 male students of Tabriz University were placed randomly in two groups. One group repeated one of the discrete motor tasks (throwing dart) during five sessions with two blocks at each session according to the massed and group two according to the distributed method. Off course, each block contained ten trials. During this course, the results of the subject's performance were recorded with repeated pre-and-post tests, and eventually, the subject's rate of learning became known by giving a retention test. After collecting the data and analysis of them according to T-Student method, the following results were obtained: the findings showed that the performance of both groups in pre-test and post-test had a significant difference. But, the performance of both groups of subjects did not have a significant difference in any of the stages of repeated pre-tests and post-tests. Off course, it should be noted that the group which had practiced according to massed method, did better than the distributed group on the delayed retention test which was taken at the interval of 48 hours after the last practice session although, this better result was not significant statistically. So, according to the findings of this research, the learner's stage while learning discrete motor task, is not considered as an effective and significant factor in the way of distributing the practice and rest duration. Although, for the subject to be clearer, much more & exact researches are recommended.