The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the performances of implicit and explicit learners would converge over an extended period of learning. Participants practised a complex motor skill--golf putting--for 3000 trials, either with a concurrent secondary, tone-counting task (implicit learning) or without such a task (explicit learning). The cognitive demands of the secondary task were pr...

Stability limits modulate whole-body motor learning 1 2 Gregory C. Manista and Alaa A. Ahmed 3 4 Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA 5 6 * To whom correspondence should be addressed 7 Alaa A. Ahmed 8 Department of Integrative Physiology 9 University of Colorado 10 Boulder, CO 80309-0354 11 office: +1.303.492.6063 12 email: [email protected] 13 14 15 Ru...

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 a...

The purpose of this study was to analyze the nature of the coordination evolution during the process of learning a gross motor skill. Participants had to learn to oscillate as smoothly as possible on an experimental swing during 10 sessions of 10 trials. Using tools and methods of dynamical systems theory, two qualitatively different coordination modes were observed during learning. The change ...

This experiment was designed to assess the combined influence of practice schedule (blocked or random), task similarity (similar or dissimilar), and amount of practice on motor learning. Participants were required to perform three movement times (200, 350, and 500ms) in a blocked or random schedule while pointing towards the target located in the front direction in the similar condition, or tow...

The authors describe the effects of practice conditions in motor learning (e.g., contextual interference, knowledge of results) within the constraints of 2 experimental variables: skill level and task difficulty. They use a research framework to conceptualize the interaction of those variables on the basis of concepts from information theory and information processing. The fundamental idea is t...

The self-invoking trigger hypothesis was proposed by Wulf and Lewthwaite [Wulf, G., & Lewthwaite, R. (2010). Effortless motor learning? An external focus of attention enhances movement effectiveness and efficiency. In B. Bruya (Ed.), Effortless attention: A new perspective in attention and action (pp. 75-101). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press] as a mechanism underlying the robust effect of attentional ...

This paper presents a framework for the integration of motor learning research findings with a neurodevelopmental treatment perspective. The importance of activity-based intervention is emphasized, and a strategy for activity synthesis is presented. Clinical problems seen in persons with hemiplegia are used to clarify concepts and illustrate therapeutic interventions.

We recently found that older adults show reduced learning rates when learning a new pattern of coordinated rhythmic movement. The purpose of this study was to extend that finding by examining the performance of all ages across the lifespan from the 20 s through to the 80 s to determine how learning rates change with age. We tested whether adults could learn to produce a novel coordinated rhythm...

The present study examined the hypothesis that feedback inducing an external focus of attention enhances motor learning if it is provided frequently (i.e., 100%) rather than less frequently. Children (10- to 12-year-olds) practiced a soccer throw-in task and were provided feedback about movement form. The feedback statements, provided either after every (100%) or every third (33%) practice tria...