About
112
Publications
71,006
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
11,246
Citations
Publications
Publications (112)
The authors reflect on the dire state of motor learning at the time of Brooks’s book and consider reasons why research was resurrected in the 1980s and flourished in the ensuing years. In so doing, they provide an overview of the various research topics that have been studied, discuss the influence of motor learning on other fields of study, and co...
Nerve paresthesia is a sensory impairment experienced in clinical conditions such as diabetes. Paresthesia may “mask” or “compete” with meaningful tactile information in the patient’s sensory environment. The two objectives of the present study were: (1) to determine if radiating paresthesia produces a peripheral mask, a central mask, or a combinat...
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader with a better understanding of the theory and practice of providing effective levels of challenge for people with motor disability, using rehabilitation robotics to provide the safety and assurance that is necessary to prevent physical harm and mental frustration. First, we describe the therapeut...
Background/study context:
A manipulation check was used to investigate whether there is an age-related difference in the adherence to specific external- and internal-focus instructional constraints.
Methods:
Participants stood on a force platform and were to maintain a feedback cursor (representing their center of pressure) along the horizontal...
The influence of nominal and functional task difficulty during the acquisition of a motor skill was examined in two tests of transfer of learning. The task involved a ballistic, target-directed, finger action. Nominal task difficulty was defined as the distance of the target from the home position. Functional task difficulty was created by manipula...
The authors report 5 experiments that explored the role of error in motor learning. Participants practiced 4 distinct keypress sequences that varied in the amounts of advance information (i.e., choice) about which key to press next in the sequence. The amount of advance information resulted in differing levels of error during practice, which in gen...
Background:
Although task-related walking training has been recommended after stroke, the theoretical basis, content, and impact of interventions vary across the literature. There is a need for a comparison of different approaches to task-related walking training after stroke.
Objective:
To compare the impact of a motor-learning-science-based ov...
Somatosensory evoked potentionals (SEPs) can be used to elucidate differences in cortical activity associated with a spinal manipulation (SM) intervention. The purpose of this narrative review is to overview the origin and application of SEPs, a neurophysiological technique to investigate neuroplasticity. Summaries of: 1) parameters for SEP generat...
Participants: 12 healthy young adults (19-30 years) and 12 healthy older adults (65-84 years). Procedures: Participants stood on a force plate with their feet together. The participants were instructed to shifted their weight in the mediolateral (ML) direction in order to track a center of pressure (COP) feedback cursor to a spe-cific target loca...
ABSTRACT Easy-to-difficult and difficult-to-easy progressions of task difficulty during skill acquisition were examined in 2 experiments that assessed retention, dual-task, and transfer tests of learning. Findings of the first experiment suggest that an easy-to difficult progression did not consistently induce implicit learning processes and was no...
Abstract The purposes of this study were to determine if induced radiating paresthesia interferes with (a) acquisition and/or (b) utilization of complex tactile information, and (c) identify whether interference reflects tactile masking or response competition. Radiating ulnar (experiment 1) and median (experiment 2) nerve paresthesia was quantifie...
Recent work on the role of knowledge of results (KR) in motor learning has challenged some traditional assumptions. In particular, the guidance hypothesis suggests that there is a detriment to learning when KR guides the learner toward correct performance. Three experiments that explored this hypothesis are reported here. These experiments contrast...
Crocker’s (1981) comment on the Lee and Hirota (1980) paper essentially raises two issues. First, objection is made to the applicability of the encoding specificity principle to the results found in our study. Second, on a more general level, Crocker questions the heuristic value of utilizing theoretical issues in non-motor domains to guide scienti...
ABSTRACT The authors replicated and extended results from the gunfight paradigm (A. Welchman, J. Stanley, M. Schomers, R. Miall, & H. Bulthoff, 2010a) in which participants moved faster when reacting to the perceived initiation of an opponent compared to initiating an action themselves. In addition to replicating these movement time effects, the au...
Previous investigations regarding activity during the post-knowledge of results (KR) interval have considered the performance of interference groups over KR-supplied acquisition trials as indicative of effects upon learning. The absence of transfer tests in these studies, however, preclude such an assumption. Indeed, the use of a retention test in...
“Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand” (Confucius, 450 B.C). Philosophers and scientists alike have pondered the question of the mind-body link for centuries. Recently the role of motor information has been examined more specifically for a role in learning and memory. This paper describes a stud...
A key feature of skilled object control is the ability to correct performance errors. This process is not straightforward for unstable objects (e.g., inverted pendulum or "stick" balancing) because the mechanics of the object are sensitive to small control errors, which can lead to rapid performance changes. In this study, we have characterized joi...
The purpose of the present review was to provide a theoretical understanding of the learning advantages underlying a self-controlled practice context through the tenets of the self-determination theory (SDT). Three micro-theories within the macro-theory of SDT (Basic psychological needs theory, Cognitive Evaluation Theory, and Organismic Integratio...
Although task-oriented training has been shown to improve walking outcomes after stroke, it is not yet clear whether one task-oriented approach is superior to another. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the Motor Learning Walking Program (MLWP), a varied overground walking task program consistent with key motor learning pr...
Theoretical views of movement representation in memory range from positions which rely upon response-produced feedback as an integral part of the stored representation to perspectives which claim that a memory record is abstract in nature, void of any sensory details. Previous investigations that varied the storage-test conditions using a short-ter...
This study was designed to probe the capacity of persons with dementia to learn motor tasks. The activity selected was the Nintendo Wii bowling game. The experimenters followed three case studies throughout a 9-week training session, with a 5–6 month follow-up retention test. The participants had a dementia diagnosis, with disease duration ranging...
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of vision and audition in the coordination of in-phase and anti-phase movement patterns at increasing frequency of oscillation in a bimanual linear slide task. The dependent variables were mean error of relative phase and standard deviation of relative phase. Results indicated that vision...
The authors examined the effects of self-regulating task information, identical in content, either before (proactive) or after (retroactive) a motor action. Participants were required to learn unique typographical script used to enter data into a personal data assistant. Consistent with previous findings, presenting task information proactively dur...
Purpose
The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of masking noise on laryngeal resistance for breathy, normal, and pressed voice in vocally trained women.
Method
Eighteen vocally trained women produced breathy, normal, and pressed voice across 7 fundamental frequencies during a repeated CV utterance of /pi/ under normal and mask...
Recent evidence suggests that massive amounts of practice of the basketball free throw (a "set shot") results in the development of a specific memory representation that is unique to this one shot distance and angle, and that is distinct from set shots taken at locations other than the free throw line. We termed this unique capability an especial s...
Learners (n = 48) practiced three multisegment movements with distinct target movement times. Four practice groups were compared: blocked, random, and two groups who had a win-shift/lose-stay schedule (WSLS1 and WSLS2). For these latter groups switching between practice tasks was performance-contingent: within 5% of target time for 1 or 2 consecuti...
The putting patterns of five expert and 11 less-skilled golfers were examined to understand the nature of head movement that occurred during the putting stroke. As expected, the less-skilled golfers moved their heads in the direction of the backswing, then reversed and moved it in the direction of the downstroke during the putt. In contrast, and co...
The authors examined the patterns of expert and less skilled golfers in putting on an indoor surface to 1 of 3 circular targets (1, 3, and 5 m away) in trials with a ball present (and putted) or not present (a practice stroke). As expected, the experts performed better than the less skilled golfers on a large number of outcome and kinematic measure...
The timing of augmented information, either prior to or following a memory retrieval attempt has profound, and opposing, influences on immediate performance and retention. This effect was investigated in 2 experiments in which participants learned typographical symbols used to enter information into a personal data assistant. The effects of the spa...
Research suggests that allowing individuals to control their own practice schedule has a positive effect on motor learning. In this experiment we examined the effect of task difficulty and self-regulated practice strategies on motor learning. The task was to move a mouse-operated cursor through pattern arrays that differed in two levels of difficul...
The present research examined two variables regarding the acquisition of a new bimanual coordination pattern: the role of previous experience and the nature of augmented feedback. Two groups of participants acquired a new coordination pattern (135 degrees relative phase) following two sessions of practice of another novel pattern (90 degrees relati...
Anchoring has been defined as synchronizing a point in a movement cycle with an external stimulus (W. D. Byblow, R. G. Carson, & D. Goodman, 1994). Previously, investigators have examined anchoring during in-phase and antiphase movements. The present authors examined anchoring during acquisition of a novel bimanual coordination pattern. Participant...
Two purposes motivated this study: (a) to quantify the difficulty in learning various symbols of the alphabet used to enter data into a personal digital assistant (PDA), and (b) to investigate the interaction of item difficulty with practice conditions that promote varying levels of cognitive effort. Levels of compatibility between members of the P...
Differing viewpoints concerning the specificity and generality of motor skill representations in memory were compared by contrasting versions of a skill having either extensive or minimal specific practice. In Experiments 1 and 2, skilled basketball players more accurately performed set shots at the foul line than would be predicted on the basis of...
It has recently been reported that the spatial orientation of two moving limbs has a determining influence on the relative accuracy and stability of coordination patterns. The purpose of the present experiments was to test perceptual and neuromuscular explanations of these spatial orientation effects. Experiment 1 was an initial test of the hypothe...
What value is there in effective practice regimes if these same regimes do not, in themselves, engage the learner to continue to practice? This question was discussed in the context of two practice schedules that have been shown to be effective in studies of motor learning. But recent evidence has found these practice schedules to be either ineffic...
Changes in the planning and control of discrete aiming movements in response to the introduction and removal of the Ebbinghaus size-contrast illusion were examined. Movements were executed faster to targets that appeared larger following movement initiation. The differences in movement time were associated with the portion of the movement associate...
Following earlier work by Mechsner et al. (Nature 414 (2001) 69), the purpose of this experiment was to determine the perceptual and motoric contributions to bimanual coordination. Twenty right-handed, healthy, young adults performed continuous, horizontal, linear movements of both upper limbs at frequencies of 1.5 and 2.0 Hz. The goal was to contr...
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 in...
This experiment examined contextual interference in producing a bimanual coordination pattern of 90 degree angle relative phase. Acquisition, retention, and transfer performance were compared in a single-task control group and groups that performed 2 tasks in either a blocked or random presentation. Surprisingly, acquisition data revealed that both...
George Miller used to say to graduate students, “I can foul up any one of your experiments by an act of will” (Miller, 1986 p 221). Although Miller was making an editorial comment on the behaviorist tradition, an important lesson for all was that even the most clever experimental design can be compromised by the intentions of the research participa...
This paper is based on a symposium celebrating the 26th anniversary of the publication of "A Schema Theory of Discrete Motor Skill Learning" (Schmidt, 1975) held at the annual conference of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity in June 2001. We provide a brief historical context for schema theory and a review...
In this study, we examined the influence of internal and external attention instructions on the performance of a pitch shot by golfers who were either highly skilled (mean handicap = 4) or low skilled (mean handicap = 26). Ten golfers in each skill group used a 9-iron to pitch a ball as close as possible to an orange pylon, which was located at dis...
An experiment is reported that investigated the effectiveness of receiving the perceptual experience of a bimanual, 2:3 polyrhythm during motor practice of the unimanual parts of the polyrhythm. Thirty-six participants were randomly assigned to one of three practice groups: One group practiced both parts of the 2:3 polyrhythm coincident with both p...
A temporary and/or involuntary stoppage of movement is identifiable in the execution phase of writing, walking, and turning movements in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and may be referred to as freezing. However, the unpredictability of such akinetic impairments has made it difficult to study experimentally. The present study compared PD...
Although aging is normally associated with declines in motor performance, recent evidence suggests that older adults suffer no loss in some measures of bimanual coordination relative to younger adults. Two hypotheses for this finding were compared in the present research. One hypothesis was based on the assumption that these coordination patterns a...
Two experiments are reported that examined the influence of spatial orientation of the upper limbs in bimanual coordination. In both experiments, the upper limbs were oriented in either parallel, orthogonal, or obtuse spatial configurations and participants were asked to move their limbs continuously in temporal (1:1) synchrony, prepared in either...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aging and the role of augmented visual information in the acquisition of a new bimanual coordination pattern, namely a 90 degrees relative phase pattern. In a pilot study, younger and older adults received augmented visual feedback in the form of a real-time orthogonal display of both limb...
Performing minimal access surgery requires the use of 2-dimensional information to produce 3-dimensional movements, as well as precise motor control for manipulating laparoscopic tools. The added visuomotor demands of this task make it more demanding and complex than traditional open surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative...
Continuous coordinated movement of the upper limbs performed at different movement frequencies, and with different external timing conditions, was examined in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthy, age- and gender-matched controls. Participants performed symmetric in-phase movements toward and away from the midline of the body, and...
This third paper in our series on motor learning principles in physiotherapy examines the issue of augmented feedback. Augmented feedback refers to the provision of information about a person's movement either during or following the action. The primary focus of this paper is to consider the question: "Are there ways of optimizing the delivery of a...
In this final article in our series on motor learning principles in physiotherapy we discuss five potential future directions for new research regarding the effectiveness of motor learning principles in rehabilitation treatment. Following a brief review of the major principles discussed in the previous three papers (the performance/learning distinc...
The purpose of this study was to obtain demographic information on the opinions, personal preferences, and difficulties encountered when using automatic teller machine cards for direct payment purchases in Canada. A survey, administered to 195 university students, assessed demographic information related to direct payment use and included a simulat...
The purpose of the first article in this series is to define terms, concepts and principles of motor learning. We distinguish motor learning from such terms as performance, motor control, and skill and describe how these terms are assessed. Two stages of learning are defined - the cognitive and the automatic stages of skill. Clients who are relearn...
This second paper in our series of articles on motor learning principles in physiotherapy examines the issue of scheduling practice. Following a review of the problem-solving approach to motor learning, we review the literature that has involved rehabilitation clients or healthy older adults in motor learning research. The review is organized aroun...
Investigators have recently begun to examine the role of information prior to learning a motor skill and surprisingly have found that not providing instruction about how to learn often results in better learning and transfer than explicit instruction. To examine more specifically how these instructional manipulations influence learning, a temporal,...
Four groups of adults learned letters of the American manual alphabet with augmented information (demonstrations) provided by a model. The model was presented either before (proactive) or after (retroactive) attempted performances of the letter handshapes, thereby providing different learning contexts. Acquisition performance was enhanced when the...
Learning and transfer of a new bimanual coordination pattern were investigated in 9 adolescents (mean age 18.8 yrs) and 9 elderly Ss (mean age 72.7 yrs). The pattern consisted of continuous horizontal flexion–extension movements with a 90 degree phase offset between the upper limbs. All Ss practiced the task under augmented feedback conditions, inv...
Two experiments are reported in which the question of whether or not contextual interference effects are found in motor tasks that require the acquisition of new coordination patterns was examined. Participants (N = 18, Experiment 1; N = 12, Experiment 2) practiced 3 novel bimanual patterns (45 degrees , 90 degrees , and 135 degrees relative phase)...
The role of intrinsic and extrinsic information feedback in learning a new bimanual coordination pattern was investigated. The pattern required continuous flexion-extension movements of the upper limbs with a 90 ° phase offset. Separate groups practiced the task under one of the following visual feedback conditions: (a) blindfolded (reduced FB grou...
24 7-yr.-old children and 24 university-age adults practiced a ballistic aiming task under either low contextual interference (blocked practice) or high contextual interference (random practice). All subjects performed 90 acquisition trials, followed by 20 transfer trials and 15 retention trials. Similar to previous findings, the adults performed t...
Although there is evidence for age-related changes in both cognition and motor control, very little is known about the effect of age on learning of new motor skills. The present experiment addressed the interaction between aging and the role of knowledge of results (KR) on a motor learning task. Using a three-segment task on which each segment had...
According to dynamic pattern theory, intrinsically stable bimanual coordination patterns affect, and are affected by, the acquisition of a new coordination pattern. In Experiment 1, subjects practiced either a 45 degrees or a 135 degrees relative phase pattern for 4 days; in Experiment 2, they practiced a 90 degrees relative phase pattern over 6 da...
Two studies investigated the effects of delayed visual feedback on manual tracking. In Experiment 1, individuals practiced with visual feedback provided either immediately (0 delay) or with a 333-ms delay. During acquisition, the 0 delay group performed with less error than the 333-ms delay group. A retention test with 0 delay feedback was performe...
Increases in the oscillation frequency of bimanual movements produce a switch from an antiphase (180 degrees relative phase) to an in-phase (0 degrees relative phase) coordination pattern. This finding is observed when subjects are instructed not to intervene when they feel themselves slipping out of the anti-phase pattern. The question addressed i...
The purposes of the research reported here were (a) to examine changes in relative phase during the acquisition of a new coordination pattern and (b) to determine the effect of learning this pattern on the ability to perform other coordination patterns. Ten subjects practiced an upper limb coordination task that required a 90 degrees phase offset a...
Three experiments were conducted to examine the role of target information in manual aiming. The key manipulations in this experiment were the use of two target contexts (the two forms of the Mller-Lyer illusion) and the visual conditions under which subjects moved. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that the inward- and outward-pointing arrows biase...
The purpose of the present experiment was to examine further earlier suggestions that a reduced relative frequency of knowledge of results (KR) can enhance the learning of generalized motor programs (GMPs) but at the same time degrade parameter learning, compared with giving KR after every trial (Wulf & Schmidt, 1989; Wulf, Schmidt, & Deubel, 1993)...
An experiment is reported that contrasted two recent hypotheses about the guiding effects of knowledge of results (KR) on motor learning. Specifically, the purpose was to compare the impact of the nature of the KR itself versus the effect of the information conveyed by the KR on learning. We compared four groups of subjects, comprising a factorial...
Recent research on the role of practice variables during the acquisition of motor skills is reviewed. These practice variables include (a) the effects of a model's skill level during observation, (b) how augmented feedback is provided to a learner, and (c) how practice conditions are arranged when learning multiple tasks. The results of research in...
The purpose of this study was to examine relative timing, relative distance, and effector independence characteristics of the triple jump. We videotaped expert and novice triple jumpers using standing and running starts. On some trials, the triple jumpers were required to take off from their nondominant leg. Gentner's (1987) interaction test was us...
This chapter discusses three legacies of bryan and harter: automaticity, variability, and change in skilled performance. The type of variability referred to inconsistencies in performance outcomes. However, the underlying reasons for variability in performance outcomes can be quite different, and these have been the focus of many theoretical discus...
The present experiments addressed the learner's capability to perform different upper-limb actions simultaneously with the help of various sources of information feedback. An elbow flexion movement was made in the left limb together with a flexion-extension-flexion movement in the right limb. Interlimb interactions were assessed at the structural a...
Contextual interference effects in motor learning usually were not found when the tasks to be learned presumably required the same generalized motor program (GMP) and differed only with regard to the movement parameters (see Lee, Wulf, & Schmidt, 1992; Magill & Hall, 1990). Thus, tasks requiring different motor programs (e.g., different relative ti...
Little research has been conducted on aging and the learning of motor skills. In this study, we examined the effects of different schedules of knowledge of results (KR) on the acquisition and retention of a movement timing task by young adults (20-23 years) and older adults (60-82 years). The results indicated that there were differences between yo...
The contextual interference effect in motor learning refers to the interference that results from practising a task within the concept of other tasks in a practice session. Several studies have shown that practice under conditions of high contextual interference (i.e. with a random practice order) degrades performance during acquisition trials, com...
Observation of a model prior to physical practice often facilitates the acquisition of motor skills. The majority of research studies on observational motor learning has used a skilled model for the demonstration. Recent research, however, suggests that observing an unskilled (learning) model may also be effective. The experiment reported here comp...
The nature of repetition and its contribution to the acquisition of motor skills in neurologically healthy subjects are examined in this article. We argue that cognitive processing is a key component of practice, which is undermined by repetitive performances. The effects on motor learning of contextual interference, knowledge-of-results delivery s...
Three experiments examined the influence of prior judgments on direct and indirect memory tests in gymnastic judging. Results for both perceptual and recognition judgments depended on an item's relationship between study and test. For perceptual judgments, moves performed the same resulted in the highest level of accuracy, new moves were less accur...
Motor learning is facilitated when knowledge of results (KR) is presented in accordance with a goal-centred bandwidth (i.e. when the error exceeds a tolerance limit about a movement goal). However, under different conditions of the bandwidth procedure the frequency with which KR is provided is also affected—the wider the goal-centred tolerance limi...
Adams (1986) found that observational learning was quite good when the observer watched an unskilled model improve on a task. By watching the unskilled model improve, the observer engaged in the types of problem-solving activities that characterize motor learning. Engagement in these processing activities was enhanced when the model's KR was also a...
On what basis should sources of information feedback be scheduled when de- livered to someone learning a motor skill? In two experiments, we examined the influence of several knowledge of results (KR) schedules on the acquisi- tion and retention of a multisegment movement timing task. In these experi- ments a blocked KR schedule was detrimental to...
Some of the cognitive activities operating to produce contextual interference effects were investigated by manipulating imagery practice and physical practice. In the first experiment, a factorial combination of physical practice conditions with imagery practice conditions was employed to examine the influence of random vs. blocked imagery practice...
Research on the benefits of distributed practice for the acquisition and retention of motor skills has a long history. The majority of this research has involved skill acquisition of continuous tasks. However, there is some evidence to suggest that distribution of practice effects are quite different for discrete tasks than for continuous tasks. In...
Previous findings by Langley and Zelaznik (1984) suggested two hypotheses why segmental (phasing) timing training produced a more superior transfer than nonsegmental (duration) timing training. One view (the higher order variable hypothesis) suggested that segmental training developed a timing skill that was flexible for various types of transfer t...
The concept of transfer-appropriate processing posits that the value of any particular acquisition or practice condition can only be evaluated when considered in the context of the particular transfer test used to evaluate learning. Further, learning appears to be 'optimized' when the processing activities promoted by the practice conditions are si...
Recent reviews about the effects of distribution of practice in motor learning have produced quite divergent conclusions. While there is agreement that massed practice depresses performance, the effect on learning has no firm consensus. One position is that massed practice depresses learning, although there are many that argue for no learning effec...