Motor Skill Learning Dr. Anshul Singh Thapa

Introduction When people run, walk, throw a basket ball, hit a tennis ball, play the piano, dance, they are engaged in the performance of a type of human behavior called motor skill. Physical education and sports involves movements which needs to be learn by the students of physical education and at the same time physical education teachers has to make their students to learn these skills. To understand the meaning of motor skill learning physical education teachers and coaches must be able to differentiate motor skills from other commonly used terms related to the term motor skills.

Related terms used for motor skills Skills: (a) an action or task that has a specific goal to achieve. (b) An indicator of quality of performance Motor skill: a skill that require voluntary body and/or limb movement to achieve its goal. Action: a goal directed activity that consist of body and / or limb movement Movement: behavioral characteristics of the body, the head, and/or a specific limb or combination of limb

According to Mark G. Fischman and Joshep B According to Mark G. Fischman and Joshep B. Oxendine, “motor skill learning is a set of internal processes, leading to relatively permanent changes in the capability for skilled movement behavior.” Definition

Nature of Motor Skill Learning As athletes progress in learning motor skills from the novice stage to an advanced level, they go through different phases or steps. A model of this process was developed by Fitts and Posner (1967), who described three phases in motor skill learning: The Cognitive Phase The Associative Phase The Autonomous Phase

The Cognitive Phase In the cognitive phase, or beginning phase of skill learning, learner focuses on gaining an understanding of how the skill is to be performed. The coach or teacher explains or describes the skill, he may use picture or demonstration to make the skill more clear. During this phase the learner use cognition, or mental processes, to gain an understanding of how the task is to be performed. The cognitive phase is characterized by much verbal activity by the learner; they talk themselves through the movements.

Contd.. When athletes listen to an explanation of a skill new to them and then observe a demonstration of the skill, they began to develop a motor program for that skill. A motor program is an internal program similar to computer program and contain a set of instructions to guide movement. The process is characterized by much conscious attention to the details of the movement. The dominant sensory system in the cognitive phase of learning is vision. One of the critical aspect during the cognitive phase of learning is the demonstration of the new skill for the learner. The coach must tell the athletes specifically what to look for. The athletes attention must be drawn to the most critical aspect of demonstration.

Contd… The cognitive phase of learning is relatively short period in overall learning process. It may last only a few minutes, as in teaching a simple skill to advance players, or it may involve a long period if skill is complex and the athletes are novice. The cognitive phase is complete when the athletes can reasonably execute the skill the way it was demonstrated and can now begin practicing.

The Associative Phase The associative or intermediate phase of skill learning is a much longer period than the cognitive phase, ranging from perhaps a few hours for learning simple skills to several years for mastering complex ones. During this phase the learner practices the skill to the point that it is performed accurately and consistently. Instruction during this phase mainly involves planning and implementing effective practice conditions. With proper practice and feedback athlete’s motor program for the skill became better than it was in cognitive phase of learning.

Contd…… As learner progress through the associative phase, they will have to attend less and less to physical execution of the skill. As the movement become more automated, some attention can be devoted to the other aspects of environment. Visual control of the movement which was dominant during the cognitive phase of learning was gradually replaced with proprioceptive control or feel. It takes many practice that the athlete associate the feel of their movement with the outcomes which these movement produced.

Contd….. During associate phase athletes gradually eliminate extraneous movement and errors. In general athletes improve their movement in this phase of learning to the point of mastery.

The Autonomous Phase The autonomous phase of learning emerges when the learner can perform the skill with perfection. As the term implies, performance is quite automatic; the learner seems to require very little conscious thoughts or attention to the details of the movement. In autonomous phase the learners’ understanding of the skill is excellent. Their motor program for generating the correct movement is highly developed and well established.

Contd….. Progressing from the cognitive through the associative and arriving at autonomous phase of learning require an amount of practice and a period of time that depends on the abilities of the individuals, the complexity of the task itself, the learners prior movement experiences and the efficiency of the learning environment. Instruction during the autonomous phase of learning basically serve two purposes: first, to help the athlete maintain their level of skill, and, second, to motivate the athletes to continue to want to improve. It would be a mistake on our part if we assume that learning has ended in the autonomous phase and that the performance cannot be improved.