Practice and Feedback

Question 1

True or False: The more practice the better

Answer 1

• True!
• Also need to consider motivation and fatigue

Question 2

What does a performance curve typically look like when learning a new skill?

Answer 2

Often large gains quickly, followed by small progress (middle graph)

Question 3

What are the two main types of feedback?

Answer 3

• Intrinsic: Anything you can gather on your own about a skill; sensory input
• Augmented: things outside the body that give information; Knowledge of results (Yes/No), Knowledge of Performance (Specific element of a skill)

Question 4

Why is augmented feedback important?

Answer 4

• Facilitates goal achievement
• Motivates learner

Note: it can hinder learning if the individual creates a reliance on this type of feedback. Doesn’t allow them to be able to learn error detection and correction.

Question 5

How can knowledge of results be helpful?

Answer 5

• Confirm learner’s assessment (Yes/No)
• Motivates
• Promotes discovery learning - no dictating “how” to do something but confirms if results were “correct”

Question 6

How can knowledge of performance be helpful?

Answer 6

• Helpful when skill must be perfomed in a certain way
• Kinematic, kinetic, muscle activation patterns related to activity
• Ex: Land with soft knees, knees in a happy position

Question 7

When should we give feedback?

Answer 7

• Error information requires a bandwidth
• Factors: Stage of learner and Safety
• The earlier the stage of learner = less feedback given (need to create error detection correction)
• Later stage learner = more feedback
• Terminal vs Concurrent
  – Terminal: Discrete (multiple trials)
  – Concurrent: Continuous (less trials)
• Simple vs Complex
  – Simple: After 15 trials
  – Complex: After 5 trials
• Fading Schedule: as they progress in learning a skill and refine their own information, you slowly fade away in giving feedback
  Ex: IIII I I I I I
• When asked for feedback!

Question 8

What type of information should we give with feedback?

Answer 8

• Critical elements of the task
• Early Learning: Qualitative
• Adults: Precise Quanitative very useful in middle to later stages of learning
• Children: Precise quantitative can be confusing (they often learn based on observation)

Question 9

When should we place hands on patients?

Answer 9

Only apply hands when:
* They ask
* They practice the skill multiple times and cannot reproduce the movement at all

Hands on often has limited benefit for learning

Question 10

Types of Practice Conditions

Answer 10

Massed vs Distributed
* Massed: Short rest time between trials and/or session; Discrete tasks
* Distributed: Rest between sessions or trials is relatively long; Continuous tasks

Constant vs Variable (Practice content)
* Constant: Same skill, same parameters
* Variable: Same skill, different parameters

Random vs Blocked (Practice Structure)
* Blocked Schedule: different skills practiced in blocks; FT, 3 PT, Lay up all practiced seperately
* Random Schedule: different skills practiced in random order; FT, 3pt, lay up all right in a row

Part vs Whole Practice
* Part: Better earlier
* Whole: Better later

Simplification
* Task is easier than normal. Progresses to become harder.
* Ex: Sit to stand; difficulty getting out of the chair becuase it is so low. Use foam pads to be higher to build that strength and technique. As is gets easier slowly take away pads until they can perform a normal sit to stand.

Question 11

Random vs Blocked - Stages of Learning

Answer 11

Cognitive Stage
* Blocked - More repetition -> semi-blocked (later in this stage)

Associative Stage
* Semi-blocked (3 trials of one skill then switch) -> switch every trial (mid to late in this stage)

Autonomous Stage
* Random - Switching from one skill to another

Question 12

Why is random practice better than blocked?

Answer 12

• Contextual Interference
• Mixing up the different skills requires the individual to run the entire motor plan for every single skill

Ex: Golf tee off with driver, next shot is with iron, then short iron, then putt (normal pattern you do) – run entire process of skill (Contextual interference)
Ex: Driving Range: same shot over and over again (good early on not for later) – Not running entire process

Question 13

Practice Conditions - Specificity

Answer 13

Degree of similarity is important for:
* Sources of sensory/perceptual information (Determining what information is important)
* Environmental context
* Cognitive processing load (Ex: Dual Task)

Question 14

How do you reconcile variability/randomness of practice and practice specificity?

Answer 14

• Contextual Interference
• Most things that are functional tasks are variable! Therefore the variability must be specific to the task.

Question 15

Are mental and observational practice useful? Why or why not?

Answer 15

• Yes but not as good as physically doing the task
• GMP - “Monkey see, monkey do”
• Neural process is similar: Mirror Neuron
  – In order to understand someones movement, you run the same movement pattern in your brain to understand what that movement was.
  – How we understand body language and emotion (facial expression, motor pattern and understand that you do that for that same emotion). Start the session with a smile! This will make them run a happy motor program.