Motor Learning and Performance

Timothy D. Lee, PhD, is a professor emeritus in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He has published extensively in motor behavior and psychology journals since 1980, has served as an editor for the Journal of Motor Behavior and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, and has been an editorial board member for Psychological Review. Before his retirement, his research was supported primarily by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Lee has been a member, secretary-treasurer, and president of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) and a member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), the Psychonomic Society, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. In 1980, he received the inaugural Young Scientist Award from SCAPPS, and in 2011 he was named a fellow of the society—its highest honor. He was named an international fellow by the National Academy of Kinesiology in 1999 and awarded the Distinguished Scholar Award by NASPSPA in 2017. His leisure-time passions include golf and music. Richard A. Schmidt, PhD (1941-2015) was a professor emeritus in the department of psychology at UCLA. At the time of his death, Schmidt ran his own business, Human Performance Research, conducting research and consulting in the area of human factors and human performance. Widely acknowledged as one of the leaders in research on motor behavior, he had more than 40 years of experience in motor learning and performance. The originator of both schema theory and impulse-variability theory (also called Schmidt’s law), he founded the Journal of Motor Behavior in 1969 and was editor for 11 years. He authored the first edition of Motor Control and Learning in 1982 and the first edition of this book, Motor Learning and Performance, in 1991. Schmidt was highly recognized for his contribution of a lifetime of research and writing. He received honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1992 and the Université Joseph Fourier in France in 1998. He was a longtime member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), where he served as president in 1982 and received the organization’s two highest honors: the Distinguished Scholar Award (for lifetime contributions to research in motor control and learning) in 1992 and the President’s Award (for significant contributions to the development and growth of NASPSPA) in 2013. He was also a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Psychonomic Society and received the C.H. McCloy Research Lectureship from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. His leisure-time passions included sailboat and Porsche racing.

Chapter 1. Introduction to Motor Learning and Performance
How Skills Are Studied
Why Study Motor Skills?
The Science of Motor Learning and Performance
Focus on Research 1.1 Paul M. Fitts
Focus on Research 1.2 Franklin M. Henry
Defining Skills
Components of Skills
Classifying Skills
Measuring Skilled Performance
Understanding Performance and Learning
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Part I. Principles of Skilled Performance

Chapter 2. Processing Information and Making Decisions
The Mental Side of Human Performance
The Information-Processing Approach
Focus on Application 2.1 Intent to Blow Whistle Rule in the NHL
Reaction Time and Decision-Making
Focus on Research 2.1 Hick’s Law
Focus on Application 2.2 Population Stereotypes
Focus on Research 2.2 Studying the Expert Advantage
Focus on Application 2.3 Cost–Benefit of Anticipating in Sprint Starting
Errors in Decision-Making
Memory
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 3. Attention and Performance
Information-Processing Limitations
Focus on Application 3.1 William James on Attention
What Is Attention?
Attentional Limitations in Stimulus Identification
Focus on Research 3.1 A Stroop-Like Effect in Basketball
Attentional Limitations in Response Selection
Focus on Research 3.2 Distracted-Driving Research
Attentional Limitations in Movement Programming
Focus on Research 3.3 The Double-Stimulation Paradigm
Attentional Focus During Action
Decision-Making Under Stress
Focus on Application 3.2 Driver Panic and Unintended Acceleration
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 4. Sensory Contributions to Skilled Performance
Feedback Processing in Motor Control
Sources of Sensory Information
Focus on Application 4.1 When Vision Distorts Performance
Processing Sensory Information
Focus on Application 4.2 Force Escalation Between Siblings
Vision and Motor Control
Focus on Research 4.1 Blindsight Reveals Dorsal and Ventral Stream Processing
Focus on Research 4.2 Gaze Control and the Quiet Eye
Audition and Motor Control
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 5. Motor Programs
Motor Control of Brief Actions
Motor Program Theory
Evidence for Motor Programs
Focus on Research 5.1 The Henry–Rogers Experiment
Focus on Application 5.1 Checked Swings in Baseball
Focus on Research 5.2 Initiating a Motor Program
Motor Programs and the Conceptual Model
Problems in Motor Program Theory: Novelty and Storage
Generalized Motor Program Theory
Focus on Research 5.3 Invariances and Parameters
Focus on Application 5.2 Relative-Timing Biometrics
Focus on Application 5.3 The Stereo System Analogy
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 6. Principles of Speed, Accuracy, and Timing
Controlling Simple Movements
Fitts’ Law
Focus on Research 6.1 Fitts’ Tasks
Focus on Application 6.1 Trading Off Speed and Accuracy
Focus on Application 6.2 Fitts’ Law in Daily Activities
Schmidt’s Law
Exceptions to Fitts’ and Schmidt’s Laws
Applying the Principles: Baseball Batting
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 7. Performance of Complex Movements
Differing Approaches to Understanding Coordination
The Differential Approach
Focus on Application 7.1 The Relative-Age Effect
The Ecological Approach
Focus on Research 7.1 Head–Arm Coordination in Golf Putting
Focus on Application 7.2 Usain Bolt Versus Tyson Gay
Focus on Research 7.2 Relative Phase: An Index of Coordination
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Part II. Principles of Skill Learning

Chapter 8. Introduction to Motor Learning
Concepts and Methods in Research and Application
Motor Learning Defined
How Is Motor Learning Measured?
Focus on Research 8.1 Learning Curves: Facts or Artifacts?
Distinguishing Learning From Performance
Focus on Application 8.1 Self-Assessments of Learning
Transfer of Learning
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 9. The Motor Learning Process
Practice, Retention, and Transfer
Two Principles of Practice
Focus on Research 9.1 The 10,000-Hour Rule Myth
Focus on Application 9.1 Learning Versus Performance During Practice
Benefits of Practice
Retention of Skill
Transfer of Skill
Focus on Application 9.2 From Esport to Real Sport
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 10. Organizing and Scheduling Practice
How the Structure of Practice Influences Learning
Distribution of Practice
Variability in Practice
Focus on Research 10.1 Especial Skills: An Exception to Variable Practice?
Focus on Research 10.2 Impact of Shea and Morgan
Motivation for Learning
Observational Learning and Mental Practice
Focus on Application 10.1 Mental Practice in Stroke Rehabilitation
Focus on Application 10.2 Practice Distribution Revisited
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 11. Augmented Feedback
How Supplemental Feedback Influences Learning
Feedback Classifications
Functions of Augmented Feedback
Focus on Research 11.1 Early Views on How Augmented Feedback Works
What Feedback to Give
How Much Feedback to Give
Feedback Timing
Focus on Application 11.1 Physical Guidance in Stroke Rehabilitation
Focus on Application 11.2 Physical Guidance in Learning to Swim
Summary
HKPropel Activities

Chapter 12. Theoretical Perspectives on Motor Learning
Understanding How Learning Occurs
Stage Theories
Adams’ Closed-Loop Theory
Schema Theory
Challenge Point Framework
Dynamic Pattern Theory
Constraints-Based Framework
OPTIMAL Theory
Summary
HKPropel Activities