I outline a framework for researching the effects of practice schedule on skill acquisition, based upon stage theories of information processing and stage theories of skill acquisition. Skilled performance requires stimulus identification, response selection, and response execution. I hypothesize that practice schedule affects learning in two types of information processing stages: stimulus-oriented and response-oriented stages. The loci of these effects differ based on the stage. In stimulus-oriented stages, practice schedule affects concept and categorization learning via contiguity of exemplars and feature saliency. In response-oriented stages, practice schedule affects the efficiency with which individuals produce a response by affecting response preparation. I evaluated this framework and theory with 4 experiments that manipulated practice schedule and amount of practice, in 2 domains with different information processing demands. Experiments~1~and~2 focused on response-oriented stages via a task that required participants to execute a multisegment movement according to a target time. Experiments~3~and~4 focused on stimulus-oriented stages via a task that required participants to categorize football play diagrams. Within the 2 task domains the amount of acquisition practice was manipulated to test whether different durations of acquisition training changed how practice schedules affected retention and transfer performance. The practice schedule manipulation had reliable effects on performance and learning when task performance involved either response preparation or induction of categorization rules. Practice schedule did not affect performance or learning when task performance involved categorization decisions, after the rules had been learned. Additionally, I report a novel method for quantifying amount of practice that allows comparisons across task domains.

Chronic neck pain is a widespread problem that causes individual suffering as well as large costs for the society. The knowledge about the pathophysiology is poor and therefore specific diagnosis and causal treatment are rare. Important knowledge for characterization of the disorders has been gained from research on sensorimotor functions in people with neck pain. Moreover, rehabilitation regimes including sensorimotor exercises indicate promising results. The main objectives of this thesis were to extend the knowledge on sensorimotor dysfunctions in chronic neck pain, and to develop a new exercise method for improving sensorimotor functions of the neck. The studies focused on aspects of postural control and movements of the arm and neck. These are vital functions for many activities of daily living. People with chronic (>3 months) neck pain were compared to healthy controls (CON). Neck pain related to trauma was referred to as whiplash associated disorders (WAD), while neck pain without association to trauma was referred to as non-specific (NS). Arm-functioning was assessed in a pointing task. WAD and NS had reduced pointing precision compared to CON. The reduced precision was associated with self-rated difficulties performing neck movements, physical functioning, and in WAD, also pain and balance disturbances. Postural control was assessed in quiet standing on a force platform without vision. The center of pressure signal was decomposed into it’s slow and fast components. WAD and NS were compared to CON. The results revealed an effect of age on the magnitude of the fast sway component, but no effect of group. The magnitude of the slow component was elevated in both WAD and NS. This increase was associated with self-rated balance disturbance, arm-functioning, difficulties to run and sensory alterations in WAD, while in NS, the increase in the slow sway component was associated with concurrent low back pain. Neck movements were assessed in a cervical axial rotation test with maximal speed. In total 8 variables representing basic kinematics, including variables reflecting movement smoothness and conjunct motions were calculated. NS were compared to CON. Linear discriminant modelling indicated Peak Speed and conjunct motions as significant classification variables that together had a sensitivity of 76.3% and specificity of 77.6%. Retest reliability was good for Peak Speed but poor for the measure of conjunct motions. Peak Speed was slower in NS compared to CON, and even slower in a sub-group of NS with concurrent low back pain. Reduced Peak Speed was associated with self-rated difficulties performing neck movements, car driving, running, sleeping disturbances and pain. The clinical applicability of a novel method for neck coordination exercise was assessed in a pilot study on persons with NS. The results supported the applicability and indicated positive effects of the exercise: reduced postural sway in quiet standing and increased smoothness in cervical rotations. Indications on improvement in self-rated disability and fear of movement were seen at six months follow up. In conclusion, sensorimotor functions can be altered in chronic neck pain, particularly in neck disorders with concurrent low back pain and WAD. The discriminative ability and clinical validity displayed in pointing precision, postural sway and cervical axial rotation speed imply that such tests can be valuable tools in the assessment of chronic neck pain patients, and for selecting and evaluating treatment interventions. Indications of improvements seen in the pilot-study support a future RCT.

Understanding the neural processes underlying motor learning in humans is important to facilitate the acquisition of new motor skills and to aid the relearning of skills lost after neurologic injury. Although it is known that the learning of a new movement is guided by the error feedback received after each repeated attempt to produce the movement, how the central nervous system (CNS) processes individual errors and how it modulates its learning rate in response to the history of errors experienced are issues that remain to be elucidated. To address these issues we studied the generalization of learning and learning decay – the transfer of what has been learned, or unlearned, in a particular movement condition to new movement conditions. Generalization offers a window into the process of error credit assignment during motor learning, since it allows us to measure which actions benefit the most in terms of learning after experiencing an error. We found that the distributions that describe generalization after learning are unimodal and biased towards the motion directions experienced during training, a finding that suggests that the credit for the learning experienced after a particular trial is assigned to the actual motion (motion-referenced learning) and not to the planned motion (plan-referenced learning) as it had previously been assumed in the motor learning literature. In addition, after training the same action along multiple directions, we found that the pattern of learning decay has two distinct components: one that is time-dependent and affects all trained directions, and one that is trial-dependent and affects mostly the direction where decay was induced, generalizing narrowly with a unimodal pattern similar to the one observed for learning generalization. We finally studied the effect that the consistency of the error perturbations in the training environment has on the learning rate adopted by the CNS. We found that learning rate increases when the perturbations experienced in training are consistent, and decreases when these perturbations are inconsistent. Besides increasing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying motor learning, the findings described in the present dissertation will enable the principled design of skill training and rehabilitation protocols that accelerate learning. / Engineering and Applied Sciences

Simulation and Web-based Learning (WBL) are both educational approaches that are increasingly applied in medical education. However, little is known about how these two instructional approaches may be integrated to improve learning outcomes. A prospective three-arm experimental study of different WBL preparation materials was conducted. Thirty undergraduate medical students with no prior experience in central venous catheterization (CVC) were randomly assigned to one of three preparatory interventions: tradition reading materials (TM), observational practice (OP), or OP and educational networking (OPEN). Participants then completed a simulation-based training workshop in CVC and a delayed retention test. Performance was assessed by a task-specific checklist, global rating scale (GRS) and by measuring time to competency. Main findings reveal a significant linear trend across the TM, OP and OPEN groups in time to competency. This exploratory study demonstrates the potential utility of Web-based observational practice and collaborative learning for improving the efficiency of simulation-based training.

Simulation and Web-based Learning (WBL) are both educational approaches that are increasingly applied in medical education. However, little is known about how these two instructional approaches may be integrated to improve learning outcomes. A prospective three-arm experimental study of different WBL preparation materials was conducted. Thirty undergraduate medical students with no prior experience in central venous catheterization (CVC) were randomly assigned to one of three preparatory interventions: tradition reading materials (TM), observational practice (OP), or OP and educational networking (OPEN). Participants then completed a simulation-based training workshop in CVC and a delayed retention test. Performance was assessed by a task-specific checklist, global rating scale (GRS) and by measuring time to competency. Main findings reveal a significant linear trend across the TM, OP and OPEN groups in time to competency. This exploratory study demonstrates the potential utility of Web-based observational practice and collaborative learning for improving the efficiency of simulation-based training.

No description available.

The effect of anxiety on motor learning during a balance relevant task was investigated. Twenty participants (mean age 22.0 ± 2.7 years) were randomly divided into groups that completed the task whilst standing directly on the platform or on 9cm high pedestals, thus constructing Non-Anxious (NA) or Anxious (A) environments. Participants trained for 36 trials in a continuous, pseudo-random oscillating balance task consisting of pseudo-random amplitude translation at 0.5Hz for 45 seconds each on Day 1 and returned for Retention and Transfer tests on Day 2. Motor performance was impaired by training in an anxious environment and this effect persisted across retesting in both non-anxious and anxious environments. Anxiety also tended to further impair transfer of motor performance improvements to a non-anxious environment. These findings have implications for the success of balance training programs in patients who are anxious or afraid of falling. / ix, 103 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

O objetivo do estudo foi investigar a relação da freqüência autocontrolada de CR em adolescentes com níveis extremos de ansiedade-traço na aquisição do saque por cima do voleibol. Quarenta e oito escolares do sexo feminino, entre 12 e 14 anos, foram distribuídas em 4 grupos de acordo com os níveis de ansiedade (alto e baixo) e de freqüência de Conhecimento de Resultados - CR (autocontrolada e yoked). O experimento constou de cinco fases: pré-teste (5 tentativas), fase de aquisição (240 tentativas), fases de transferência imediata e atrasada e fase de retenção (8 tentativas cada). Os resultados, relativos à precisão do saque no alvo, mostraram que não houve diferença significativa entre os grupos altos e baixos ansiosos sob os regimes de freqüências autocontrolada de CR e yoked, tanto na fase de aquisição quanto nos testes de transferência e retenção. No entanto, duas tendências descritivas merecem destaque: (1) as meninas alto ansiosas apresentaram melhores desempenhos tanto na fase de aquisição quanto nos testes de transferência/retenção e pediram mais CR do que as baixo ansiosas na aquisição; (2) os grupos com freqüência de CR autocontrolada mostraram melhores resultados na fase de aquisição e transferência do que os grupos yoked. Além disso, o desempenho de todas as participantes foi superior nas tentativas com CR em comparação às tentativas sem CR e a maioria das adolescentes do grupo autocontrolado optou por receber CR após boas tentativas / The goal of the study was to investigate the relationship of the self-controlled frequency of knowledge of results in adolescents with extreme levels of trait - anxiety in the acquisition of the overhead serve in Volleyball. Forty-eight female students, between 12 and 14 years of age, were divided into four groups according to their levels of anxiety (high and low), and the frequency of knowledge of results (self-controlled and yoked). The experiment consisted of five phases: pre-test (5 trials), the acquisition phase (240 trials), immediate and late transfer phases, and the retention phase (8 trials each). The results, based upon the accuracy of the serve on the target, showed that there was no significant difference between the high-anxiety and low-anxiety groups in terms of self-controlled and yoked knowledge of results. This was as much the case in the acquisition phase as in the tests of transfer and retention. However, two discrete tendencies are worthy of closer examination: (1) the high-anxiety girls demonstrated better performance in the acquisition phase as well as in the tests of transfer/retention and requested more knowledge of results than those with low-anxiety during acquisition; (2) the groups with a frequency of self-controlled knowledge of results had better results in the acquisition and transfer phases then the yoked groups. Furthermore, the performance of all participants was better in the trials with knowledge of results when compared to the trials without, and the majority of adolescents in the self-controlled group chose to receive knowledge of results after good trials

No description available.

O ciclismo é um esporte altamente competitivo e extremamente técnico. Em função disso, o ensino da técnica da pedalada é fundamental para uma boa performance. Tendo em vista a reduzida quantidade de estudos sobre o ensino do ciclismo, o objetivo deste estudo foi de, no processo de ensino-aprendizagem da técnica da pedalada do ciclismo, verificar a influência do feedback aumentado oral e visual acerca da cinética do movimento, e com isso melhorar (1) o índice de efetividade (IE) ao longo do ciclo da pedalada, (2) o IE nas fases de propulsão e recuperação, bem como aumentar (3) a aplicação de força efetiva (FE) positiva e (4) diminuir a aplicação de FE negativa ao longo do ciclo da pedalada e (5) aumentar a economia de movimento (EC) durante a pedalada. Participaram deste estudo 19 sujeitos do sexo masculino, não-ciclistas, estudantes de uma escola estadual do município de Montenegro divididos em grupo experimental (n=10) e grupo controle (n=9). O desenho experimental constou de três etapas: (1) período de préexperimento, (2) sessões de aprendizagem e (3) período de pós-experimento. O período de pré-experimento foi dividido em dois dias de avaliação, sendo o primeiro para determinação do VO2máx e o segundo para a realização da normalização fisiológica da carga de trabalho utilizada nas sessões de aprendizagem, correspondente a 60% do VO2máx. As sessões de aprendizagem foram realizadas durante 7 dias, com a duração de trinta minutos para cada sujeito. Durante as sessões de aprendizagem, o grupo experimental recebeu feedback visual aumentado (FVA) e o grupo controle recebeu feedback aumentado (FA). O período de pós-experimento também foi dividido em dois dias de avaliação, o primeiro realizado logo após a última sessão de aprendizagem (momento pós) e o segundo realizado uma semana após a realização do momento pós (momento retenção). No período de pós-experimento, nenhum grupo recebeu feedback a respeito do seu padrão de pedalada. Para análise dos sinais de força dos indivíduos, foi utilizada uma média de 10 ciclos consecutivos de pedalada. Os resultados mostraram que o FVA exerce um efeito maior no ensino da técnica da pedalada do ciclismo do que o FA, pois o grupo experimental obteve aumentos significativos na média de IE tanto ao longo do ciclo da pedalada, quanto nas fases de propulsão e recuperação. Também foi observado, para o grupo experimental, um aumento significativo na média de aplicação de FE positiva ao longo do ciclo bem como uma redução significativa na média de FE negativa ao longo do ciclo da pedalada. O grupo experimental apresentou também maior EC ao longo da pedalada. Os achados deste estudo mostraram que o FVA apresenta-se como uma importante ferramenta no ensino da técnica da pedalada no ciclismo. / Cycling is a highly competitive and extremely technical sport. Therefore, the pedaling technique needs to be taught to improve cycling performance. Considering the reduced number of studies about the teaching of cycling, the aim of this study was, in the learning processes of cycling pedaling technique, verify the influence of augmented feedback oral and visual about the kinetics movement and thence-forth, to improve (1) the index of effectiveness (IE) along the pedaling cycle, (2) the IE in the propulsion and recovery phases (3) the application of positive effective force (EF), (4) to reduce the application of negative EF along the cycle and (5) to increase the economy of movement during the pedaling cycle. Nineteen male subjects (n=19), non-cyclists, students of a state school of the district of Montenegro participated of this study. They were divided into an experimental group (n=10) and a control group (n=9). The methodological procedures adopted for this study were divided into three stages: (1) pre-experiment period, (2) learning period and (3) post-experiment period. The pre-experiment period was divided in two days of evaluation: the first was use for determination of VO2máx and the second for the accomplishment of the physiologic normalization of the work load used in the learning period which corresponded to 60% of the VO2máx. The learning period lasted seven days, with a duration of thirty minutes per session for each subject. During the learning sessions the experimental group received augmented visual feedback (AVF) and the control group received augmented feedback (AF). The post-experiment period was also divided into two days of evaluation, with the first one, immediately after the last learning session, denominate post-test and the second one occurring one week after the post-test, denominated retention test. In the post-experiment period no group received feedback regarding their pedaling pattern. Force signals were analyzed by the calculating the average force of 10 consecutive pedaling cycles. The results showed that AVF exercises had a larger effect in the teaching of the pedaling technique compared to the AF. The experimental group obtained significant increases in the average of IE along the pedaling cycle, as well as in the IE of the propulsion and recovery phases. Also a significant increase was observed in the mean of application of positive EF and a significant reduction in the mean negative EF along the pedaling cycle. The experimental group also presented larger economy of movement along pedaling cycle. The results showed evidence that AVF is an important tool in the teaching of the pedaling technique of cycling.