LEARNING I: TYPES, THEORIES, STYLES AND
MEASUREMENT
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Learning objectives
• be able to define learning
• understand the nature of explicit and implicit learning
• understand the nature of mental rehearsal
• understand selected cognitive theories of learning
• understand how dynamic systems theory explains learning
• understand how learning and coaching/teaching styles affect learning
• understand the practical implications for coaches/teachers and
performers
• understand how we measure performance in order to infer learning
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Learning
• A relatively permanent change in performance resulting from practice
or experience (Kerr, 1982)
• Performance is a temporary occurrence fluctuating from time to time:
something which is transitory (Kerr, 1982)
• We mostly infer learning from performance, therefore we should be
aware of the differences between the two
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Types of learning
• Explicit learning
• The ‘normal’ way of learning
• Normally we are given instructions or demonstrations
• We may set out to copy someone
• We consciously form explicit rules
• It is a working memory task
• In the early stages of learning sports skills, the prefrontal cortex, primary
motor cortex, basal ganglia, parietal cortex and occipital cortex are the main
areas activated
• Prefrontal cortex is probably responsible for the acquisition of explicit rules
• Motor and perceptual regions are responsible for the learning of the perceptual-motor
factors involved
• During the consolidation phase, the hippocampus is activated
• When the skill becomes automatic it is controlled by the motor cortex,
supplementary motor area, basal ganglia and parietal cortex
• Cerebellum may also be involved
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Types of learning
• Implicit learning
• Non-intentional automatic acquisition of knowledge about structural relations
between objects or events (Frensch, 1998)
• No formation of explicit rules
• The learning is subconscious
• The knowledge acquired by implicit learning is non-declarative knowledge
and is stored in non-declarative LTM
• During the early stage of learning implicitly, the motor cortex, supplementary
motor area, basal ganglia and parietal cortex are highly activated
• Same areas are activated during automatic stages
• Cerebellum also plays a large role in the later stages of the learning of some skills
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SMA
PRIMARY
MOTOR
CORTEX
SOMATOSENSOR
Y CORTEX
DLPFC
BASAL
GANGLIA
SOMATOSENSORY
ASSOCIATION
AREA
b
PREFRONTAL
CORTEX
VISUAL
ASSOCIATION
AREA
AUDITORY
ASSOCIATION
AREA
VISUAL
CORTEX
AUDITORY
CORTEX
HYPOTHALAMU
S
CEREBELLUM
HIPPOCAMPUS
AMYGDAL
A
RETICULAR
ACTIVATING
SYSTEM
a
Major brain regions involved in learning, highlighted in yellow. a) shows a lateral view of the lefthemisphere. The basal ganglia are not visible: their position within the brain is depicted in b).
DLPFC dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: PMC premotor cortex: SMA supplementary motor area
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Types of learning
• Mental rehearsal
• Mental rehearsal only works in conjunction with physical rehearsal
• If we think about doing something, the brain learns the same, or almost the
same, as when we actually carry out the task
• By thinking about the skill, we build up a picture or model in our brain of how
the skill should be performed
• The most common form of mental rehearsal is through mental imagery
• Using external imagery the person sees themselves performing a skill as though they
were looking at a film of themselves
• Using internal imagery the person sees and feels the movement ‘from within’ their brain
and body
• This is more effective
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Learning theories: Fitts and Posner’s threestage theory
• Cognitive stage
• Person tries to make sense of instructions
• They make a great deal of use of verbal labels
• In skills requiring perception and decision-making, there are often mistakes
made and the person attends to irrelevant as well as relevant stimuli
• The motor component is characterized by crude, uncoordinated movement
• Prefrontal cortex is highly activated
• Associative stage
• Practice is required to perfect the skill
• Autonomous stage
• Person can perform consistently and with little overt cognitive activity
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Learning theories: Gentile’s model of learning
(Stage 1)
• Initial acquisition stage
•
•
•
•
•
Learner gets the basic idea of what the movement involves
Learns to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant cues
Selective attention is developed
Action plan is formulated
Individual uses feedback to correct inappropriate responses and to reinforce
correct movements
• LTM store is developed
• Perception, decision, efferent organization and feedback are seen as the key
factors
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Learning theories: Gentile’s model of learning
(Stage 2)
• Skill refinement stage
• Fixation
• refinement of closed skills
• Diversification
• ability to use movements in open skills
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Learning theories: Adam’s closedloop theory
• We develop two memory traces
• Perceptual trace
• Memory for the feel of the movement
• This allows us to correct inappropriate actions
• Memory trace
• Memory for selection and initiation of the movement
• Two stages of acquisition
• Verbal-motor stage
• Use of verbal labels
• Person attends to irrelevant as well as relevant stimuli
• The motor component is characterized by crude, uncoordinated
movement
• Practice required
• Motor stage
• Performance is autonomous
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Learning theories: Schmidt’s schema theory
• A schema is a set of generalized rules or rules that are generic to a
group of movements
• We develop two memory traces
• Recall memory
• Memory for choice and initiation of action
• Recognition memory
• Memory for feel of the movement
• Allows evaluation of ongoing movement and making changes to that movement
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Schmidt’s schema theory: acquisition of
schemas
• We develop two schemas
• Recall schema. We remember
• the desired outcome
• the initial conditions (e.g. the display at the beginning of the movement)
• the response parameters (i.e. changes in specifics of the movement for this particular
response)
• Recognition schema. We remember
• the desired outcome
• the initial conditions
• the sensory consequences (what we expect the movement to feel like)
• The development of the schemas is controlled by error labelling
• Comparison of desired and actual outcomes
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Learning theories: Anderson’s adaptive
control of thought (ACT*) theory
• We firstly develop declarative knowledge
• Explicit knowledge of rules about what and how to perform a skill
• The we develop procedural knowledge
• Being able to carry out the skill
• Declarative knowledge leads to procedural knowledge
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Learning theories: Bandura’s
observational learning theory
• We learn by observation of the behaviour of others
and the consequences of that behaviour
• Observation can be deliberate or incidental
• Mental imagery and verbal coding aid learning but
• Physical practice is essential
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Dynamic systems theory and learning
• Practice leads to attunement to affordances
• Learning by trial and error or guided discovery
• Manipulation of constraints (task, environmental and
organismic) aids learning
• This will lead to attunement to affordances and
• Self-organization
• In the early stages of learning, the degrees of
freedom should be ‘frozen’ to make acquisition easier
• In the later stages they should be ‘unfrozen’ to allow for
higher levels of skill
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Learning styles
• Four basic styles have been identified
• Individuals may utilize more than one style
• Activists or accommodators
• Open-minded and willing to became involved immediately in trying out the new skill
• Males more activist than females
• Reflectors or divergers
• Think through a problem before trying to perform a skill
• They will work out alternative methods of performing a skill
• Like to work in small groups or pairs
• Theorists or assimilators
• Analytical
• Pragmatic or convergent
• Like to find out the answers using action rather than reflection
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Learning and coaching/teaching styles
• Martens (1987)
• Command-cooperative continuum
• Command
• Practice and training are organized by the coach
• Coach tells the athletes what to do.
• Cooperative
• Coach involves the athletes in organization and decision making concerning what is to be
done and even how it is to be done
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Mosston’s teaching styles
• A continuum
from autocratic
styles through
cooperative to
self-teaching
Style
Description
Command
Coach makes all decisions and instructs learners during practice:
everyone practices the same tasks, at the same level of difficulty
Practice
Coach makes all decisions but learners progress at own rate
depending on their ability level
Reciprocal
Athletes coach one another
Self-check
Athletes assess their own success and failure
Inclusion
Athlete and coach decide on what is to be learned and the
coaching methods to be used
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Guided discovery
Athlete makes all decisions guided by the coach
Divergent
Coach sets problems for athletes to solve
Individual programme-learner’s design
Learner decides on what is to be coached
Learner’s initiated style
Coach only helps when asked
Self-teaching
Athlete takes sole responsibility for all aspects of learning
Measurement of learning
• We can not actually measure learning, we can only infer it based on
performance
• Types of measurement
• Retention tests
• Retention is the persistence of performance over a period of no practice
• Transfer tests
• Performing the skill in a different setting
• Performance curves
• Plotting graphs of trials
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Retention tests
PRE-TEST
Typical design for measuring the
effectiveness of a learning
treatment. A transfer test could
replace the post- and retention
tests.
TREATMENT
POST-TEST
RETENTION
TEST
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POST-RETENTION
TEST
Dependent variables
• Dependent variables are the measures or scores that we use
• Distance in a long jump
• Time in a race
• Subjective judgment in a gymnastics competition
• We should never just use one score because performance varies
• We need to measure several attempts or trials
• It is better to include a measure of variation as well as mean or total scores
• We can compare pre-treatment totals or means to post- and retention
totals or means
• We can calculate changes from the pre-test score known as delta (Δ)
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Performance curves
S
C
The dots represent
scores on each trial. The
dotted line is a smoothed
curve which gives us a
better idea of how the
learner is developing.
O
R
E
1
2
3
4
5
6
TRIALS
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7
8
9
10
Types of curve
Steady progress
from start.
Somewhat rare,
only occurs with
easy tasks.
Slow start
but then
accelerates
POSITIVELY
ACCELERATED
LINEARLY ACCELERATED
Fast start
but then
slows
NEGATIVELY ACCELERATED
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OGIVE OR S-SHAPED
Very slow start, no
learning shown.
Followed by rapid
acceleration but
then plateaus.
Learning is
probably occurring
in early stage but
not enough to
show physically.
Plateau effect
There is a period of no
apparent learning. As with
the ogive curve, it probably
is occurring but not
sufficiently to be shown
physically.
PLATEAU
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Summary
• Learning can be explicit or implicit
• Information processing theories of learning place the emphasis on
the development of memory representations in the brain
• Dynamical Systems theory sees practice and learning as being
synonymous
• By practising you become attuned to affordance and develop self-organization
of muscles, nerves and limbs
• We can not actually measure learning but merely infer it from
practice
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