The degree of freedom of response choice in the adaptation process of perceptual-motor skill learning

Abstract

In my previous paper (Tani, 1980) related to the adaptation process of perceptual-motor skill learning, the following hypothesis was tested. If skills are learned only as fixed motor patterns, then a low performance level may result in an adaptation situation. On the other hand, when skills are learned as flexible motor patterns supporting delicate adjustments, a higher performance level in an adaptation situation may result. And it was thought that in order to acquire flexible motor programs, some degree of freedom is necessary in response choice during the learning process. Three learning conditions based on the degree of freedom in response choice were set up and the experiment was conducted in the real-life situation of the classroom. In general, the results showed support for the hypothesis, in that the group which performed under the higher degree of freedom showed a high performance level in the adaptation situation. But one problem emerged. Although all three groups showed a decrease in performance in relation to timing in the adaptation situation, this tendency was stronger in the group which performed under the higher degree of freedom. Taking into consideration the above results, the following hypothesis was constructed. In order to acquire flexible motor programs, the degree of freedom in response choice is an important factor. But in some stage of the learning process, it is important to learn motor programs that are relatively fixed. Twenty four female undergraduate students participated in this experiment. They were divided into two groups (G.A and G.B) each with twelve subjects. The task was a serial learning of basketball skills. Five dependent measures were analyzed in this experiment: number of trials, execution time of trials, successful trials, anticipation and timing. The results can be summarized as follows. The group which performed under the higher degree of freedom (G.B) showed a higher performance level in relation to all the above mentioned measures. And in relation to timing, in contrast to the results obtained in the previous experiment, a higher performance level was retained in the adaptation situation in comparison to the group that performed under a lower degree of freedom (G.A). The results showed support for the hypothesis and were interpreted as evidence in favor of the assumption that as the teaching program becomes stricter, the degree of freedom of the learner's response choice becomes lower, and as a consequence it becomes more and more difficult to acquire flexible motor programs.