The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of various practice schedules on learning a novel speech task. Forty healthy Cantonese speakers were asked to learn to produce a Cantonese phrase with two target utterance durations (2500 and 3500 milliseconds). They were randomly assigned to one of four learning conditions, each completing a different practice schedule, namely Blocked only, Ran...

We sought to gain more insight into the effects of attention focus and time constraints on skill learning and performance in novices and experts by means of two complementary experiments using a table tennis paradigm. Experiment 1 showed that skill-focus conditions and slowed ball frequency disrupted the accuracy of experts, but dual-task conditions and speeded ball frequency did not. For novic...

Offline verbalization about a new motor experience is often assumed to positively influence subsequent performance. Here, we evaluated this presumed positive influence and whether it originates from declarative or from procedural knowledge using the explicit/implicit motor-learning paradigm. To this end, 80 nongolfers learned to perform a golf-putting task with high error rates (i.e., explicit ...

While self-controlled practice has been shown to enhance motor learning with various populations and novel tasks, it remains unclear if such effects would be found with athletes completing familiar tasks. Study 1 used a single case-study design with a world-champion kickboxer. We investigated whether giving the athlete a choice over the order of punches would affect punching velocity and impact...

Apraxia caused by left hemispheric stroke typically impairs skilled sequential movements. After stroke, apraxic patients need to reacquire motor skills by motor learning. The current study assessed for the first time incidental motor sequence learning in apraxic patients. Forty-eight human subjects (henceforth called "patients") with left hemispheric stroke affecting the middle cerebral artery ...

As we begin to acquire a new motor skill, we face the dual challenge of determining and refining the somatosensory goals of our movements and establishing the best motor commands to achieve our ends. The two typically proceed in parallel, and accordingly it is unclear how much of skill acquisition is a reflection of changes in sensory systems and how much reflects changes in the brain's motor a...

Dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area, the major midbrain nucleus projecting to the motor cortex, play a key role in motor skill learning and motor cortex synaptic plasticity. Dopamine D1 and D2 receptor antagonists exert parallel effects in the motor system: they impair motor skill learning and reduce long-term potentiation. Traditionally, D1 and D2 receptor modulate adenylyl cycl...

Factors that affect boat speed are important determinants of rowing performance and should form the basis of feedback to rowers and their coaches. Biomechanical analysis of rowing has led to variables that are causally linked to boat speed. With modern technology, these variables can be measured and feedback can be presented instantaneously on-water, or be presented simultaneously with video af...

Traditional studies of motor learning and prediction have focused on how subjects perform a single task. Recent advances have been made in our understanding of motor learning and prediction by investigating the way we learn variable tasks, which change either predictably or unpredictably over time. Similarly, studies have examined how variability in our own movements affects motor learning.

Extensive practice is associated with a higher level of learning than practice until performance stabilization. This is partially attributable to the changes in the variability of the structure that control the motor skill that occur during practice. However, because both conditions result in performance stabilization, the error in the task performance does not decrease further, and it is neces...