Sports, Exercise and Health Science | Motor learning

🧠 C.2 Motor Learning: Mastering the Moves

Welcome to the Motor Learning chapter! This is where Sports Psychology meets the physical world. Instead of just focusing on muscle growth or rules, we look at the incredible process your brain uses to turn clumsy attempts into smooth, effortless movements—like learning to ride a bike or perfect a tennis serve.

Understanding motor learning is vital because it teaches us how to practice effectively, how to coach others, and why some skills take longer to master than others. Let’s dive into the science of becoming skilled!

1. Defining Motor Learning: From Clumsy to Capable

What is Motor Learning?

Motor learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in the capability to perform a skill, resulting from practice or experience.

• Relatively Permanent: This is key! If you learn a skill on Tuesday and forget it completely by Wednesday, you didn't truly learn it; you just performed it temporarily. True learning means the change persists over time.
• Capability: Learning is measured by potential. Poor performance in a game doesn't mean you haven't learned the skill; it means performance was inhibited (perhaps by stress or fatigue). Learning is the underlying ability.

🔥 Quick Tip: Learning vs. Performance

Performance is temporary, observable, and influenced by immediate factors (mood, fatigue, luck).
Learning is inferred, long-lasting, and requires retention and stability.

Example: A basketball player hits 10 free throws in a row during practice (high performance), but misses them all during the high-pressure final quarter (poor performance). However, the skill is still learned, as evidenced by consistent performance in practice.

2. Classifying Skills: The Movement Map

To understand how to teach and practice skills, coaches classify them based on various characteristics, usually using a spectrum or continuum.

2.1. Muscle Involvement (Gross vs. Fine)

This continuum looks at the size of the muscles used.

• Gross Motor Skills: Involve large muscle groups and movements (legs, arms, torso). They focus on force and speed.
  Examples: Running, swimming, high jump.
• Fine Motor Skills: Involve small muscle groups, emphasizing precision and coordination.
  Examples: Archery, darts, tying a knot, spinning a cricket ball.

2.2. Environmental Stability (Open vs. Closed)

This is crucial for understanding sport context.

• Closed Skills: Performed in a predictable, stable environment. The movement can be planned in advance and is often habitual.
  Examples: A golf swing, a free throw in basketball, serving in badminton (if there is no pressure).
• Open Skills: Performed in an unpredictable, changing environment. The performer must constantly adapt their movement pattern based on external factors (opponents, wind, speed).
  Examples: Passing a football in a game, returning a tennis serve, running down a river in a kayak.

2.3. Pacing (Self-Paced vs. Externally-Paced)

Who controls the start and rate of the movement?

• Self-Paced: The performer controls the rate and timing of the skill.
  Examples: A bowler in cricket beginning their run-up, a javelin throw, diving off a platform.
• Externally-Paced: The timing is controlled by external factors, often the opponent or the environment.
  Examples: Receiving a penalty kick in football, blocking a volleyball spike, responding to a punch in boxing.

2.4. Continuity (Discrete, Serial, Continuous)

Does the skill have a clear start and end?

• Discrete: Brief, clear start and end point.
  Examples: Throwing a ball, striking a golf ball, hitting a switch.
• Serial: A group of discrete skills strung together in a sequence.
  Examples: A triple jump sequence (hop, step, jump), a gymnastics floor routine, the transition in a triathlon.
• Continuous: The skill has no obvious beginning or end, and the movement is repetitive.
  Examples: Running, swimming, cycling, rowing.

3. The Stages of Learning (Fitts and Posner Model)

Learning a complex motor skill is not a sudden jump; it’s a progression through three distinct phases. The most famous model describing this journey is the Fitts and Posner model.

3.1. Stage 1: Cognitive Stage (The Beginner)

The name says it all—this stage relies heavily on mental effort and understanding.

• Characteristics:
  • Mental Picture: The learner tries to understand the movement requirements (what to do and how to do it).
  • High Error Rate: Mistakes are frequent, and they are usually large and inconsistent.
  • Reliance on Extrinsic Feedback: The learner needs constant external guidance (verbal cues, demonstrations).
  • "Clumsy" Movements: Movements lack flow and efficiency; the learner is often rigid and tentative.
• Analogy: Imagine a teenager learning to drive a manual car. They must consciously think: "Clutch in, shift to gear one, foot off clutch slowly, foot on gas..."

3.2. Stage 2: Associative Stage (The Practice Phase)

The learner "associates" the movement components with the desired outcome.

• Characteristics:
  • Refinement: Errors decrease, become less substantial, and movements are smoother.
  • Use of Kinaesthetic Feedback (Intrinsic): The learner starts to feel what is right and wrong without constant input from the coach.
  • Practice Concentration: The focus shifts from "what to do" to "how to do it smoothly and consistently."
  • Motor Programmes Form: Basic movement patterns are starting to be stored in the long-term memory.
• Analogy: The learner is still driving, but changing gears is becoming automatic. They can now associate the sound of the engine with the need to shift.

3.3. Stage 3: Autonomous Stage (The Expert)

The skill is performed automatically and with little conscious thought.

• Characteristics:
  • Effortless Performance: Movements are highly consistent, efficient, and well-grooved (stored as a perfect motor programme).
  • High Confidence: The performer can correct errors quickly and efficiently.
  • Focus on Strategy: Since the basic skill is automatic, the performer can focus their attention on tactics, opponents, and the changing environment.
  • Resistance to Stress: Performance holds up well under pressure.
• Analogy: The driver can now change gears, talk to a passenger, listen to the radio, and navigate complex traffic simultaneously, all without consciously thinking about the gear shift.

4. Transfer of Learning: Borrowing Skills

Transfer of learning refers to how prior experience or learning a separate skill affects the learning of a new skill.

4.1. Types of Transfer

• Positive Transfer: When a skill learned in one context aids or speeds up the learning of a new skill. The principles are similar.
  Example: A person skilled at hitting a baseball finds it easy to learn the basic mechanics of a hockey swing.
• Negative Transfer: When a skill learned previously hinders or slows down the learning of a new skill, often due to misleading or conflicting cues.
  Example: A badminton player uses their wrist too much when switching to a game of tennis, where a firm wrist is needed. This interference must be actively overcome.
• Zero Transfer: When there is no measurable impact (positive or negative) of a previously learned skill on the new skill.
  Example: Learning to juggle has no effect on learning to dive.
• Bilateral (or Cross-Lateral) Transfer: The learning of a skill using one limb is transferred to the opposite limb.
  Example: Practicing a throw repeatedly with your right arm slightly improves your throwing capability with your left arm. This is great for rehabilitation!

5. Practice Strategies: Getting the Most Out of Training

How a skill is practiced heavily influences the speed and quality of motor learning.

5.1. Structuring Practice (Massed vs. Distributed)

• Massed Practice: Involves long practice sessions with very little or no rest breaks.
  When to use: Good for simple, discrete skills; suitable for highly motivated/expert athletes; helpful for grooving closed skills.
  Drawback: Causes fatigue (physical and mental) and can lead to a lack of attention.
• Distributed Practice: Involves shorter practice periods with more frequent or longer rest intervals.
  When to use: Necessary for dangerous or complex skills; ideal for beginners (Cognitive Stage) to process information; essential for tasks causing high fatigue (like marathon training).

5.2. Context of Practice (Fixed vs. Varied)

• Fixed Practice (Drill Practice): Repeating a specific skill in a stable, unchanging environment.
  When to use: Perfect for Closed Skills where the movement pattern never changes (e.g., shooting a free throw, practicing a single swimming stroke).
• Varied Practice: Practicing a skill in multiple contexts or environments, introducing constant change.
  When to use: Essential for Open Skills where the movement must be adapted (e.g., practicing different types of passes in different pressure situations).

5.3. Approach to Skill (Whole vs. Part)

• Whole Practice: Practicing the skill in its entirety without breaking it down.
  When to use: Best for skills that are simple, highly organized, and low in complexity (e.g., putting a golf ball).
• Part Practice: Breaking a complex skill down into smaller, sequential sub-routines, practicing each part, and then chaining them together.
  When to use: Essential for Serial Skills or highly complex skills (e.g., the complex sequence of a triple jump, or practicing the leg kick and arm stroke separately in swimming).

6. The Guidance System: Types of Feedback

Feedback is the information a performer receives about their attempt at a skill. It is essential for learning because it allows the learner to identify and correct errors.

6.1. Origin of Feedback (Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic)

• Intrinsic Feedback (Internal): Information the athlete receives from their own senses (sight, touch, sound, but most importantly, kinaesthesis—the feeling of the movement).
  Example: A gymnast intrinsically feels they didn't land squarely, or a golfer feels the club struck the ground before the ball.
• Extrinsic Feedback (External): Information received from an external source (coach, teammate, video replay, score sheet).
  When to use: Essential in the Cognitive Stage, as the beginner cannot reliably detect their own errors.

6.2. Content of Feedback (Knowledge of Results vs. Knowledge of Performance)

• Knowledge of Results (KR): Information about the outcome of the movement (the score, the distance, whether the shot went in). KR is often verbal but can be visual (e.g., seeing the ball land).
  Example: "You scored 7 points out of 10," or "Your javelin flew 50 meters."
• Knowledge of Performance (KP): Information about the quality of the movement or the technique used.
  Example: "Your elbow dropped during the follow-through," or "You need to shift your weight later." KP is highly valuable for the Associative stage where refinement occurs.

6.3. Timing of Feedback (Concurrent vs. Terminal)

• Concurrent Feedback: Given during the performance of the skill.
  Example: A coach shouting "Keep pushing!" during a rowing race.
• Terminal Feedback: Given after the skill has been completed.
  Example: A coach reviewing video footage with an athlete after their competition.

Summary Review: Motor Learning Essentials

• Learning is a permanent change in performance capability.
• Skills exist on continua (Open/Closed, Gross/Fine, etc.).
• The journey of skill mastery goes through Cognitive, Associative, and Autonomous stages.
• Practice must match the skill type (e.g., Open skills need Varied practice).
• Feedback guides learning: KP focuses on technique, KR focuses on outcome.