Skill Flashcards
(30 cards)
What is skill and its types
SKILL is the consistent production (practice) of goal oriented (forceful or precise to achieve a particular outcome) movements that are learned and specific to a task.
MOTOR: Movement with little thinking or perception required. Examples: Running, weight lifting, swimming, jumping, catching, hitting.
PERCEPTUAL: Senses provide information based upon surroundings/environment. These skills cannot be seen but are judged by the skill outcome. Examples: Reading a green in golf, decisions made based upon opponent/teammate/weather.
COGNITIVE: Careful, thoughtful approach to a task, little movement required. Skills that can’t be seen but are inferred to exist based upon performance. Examples: Game intelligence, spatial awareness, pattern recognition.
PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR: Interpretation of environment, followed by a movement response. These skills cannot be seen but are judged by the skill outcome. Example: Movement triggered by positioning of opponent/teammate. Boxing. Basketball.
Different approaches to classifying motor skills & Skill profiles for contrasting sports
GROSS and FINE movements: dependent on the size of the muscle that is recruited. A gross movement is using large muscles areas such as running, whereas fine movement is using smaller muscles for a more precise outcome such as archery or darts.
ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY: OPEN and CLOSED. An open skill is performed in an unstable environment, like wind, opponents. A CLOSED skill is in a very stable environment. You can set yourself before you play the skill., like a golf shot.
MOVEMENT DISTINCTIVENESS: DISCRETE, SERIAL and CONTINUOUS. Discrete skills have a distinct start and end point, such as a tennis shot. Serial skills are a series of discrete skills in order, like a gymnast or trampolinist. Long jump, high jump with a run and then a jump. A continuous skill is performed on a loop, like run, swim, cycle. The start and the end of the movement is not really clear.
MOVEMENT INITIATION: INTERNALLY PACED and EXTERNALLY PACED. Internally paced means it is you within you. You set the pace of the skill. Golf is a great example. No time restraints. In externally paced skills, the time management of the skill is dependent on the scenario. The decision to execute a skill is based upon an object or a ball coming to you and you have to decide what to do quickly.
AMOUNT OF INTERACTION: INDIVIDUAL, COACTIVE and INTERACTIVE. Individual skills: just you. This doesn’t mean that there is no competition with somebody else, but you are performing your skill on your own. In coactive skills, you’re competing with somebody but there is no confrontation, like lanes in a swimming pool separating the swimmers. The same happens with sprinters. In interactive skills, one is interacting with the opponents. Usually on a court or a pitch, coming in close contact with the opponents. The skills are decided because of this close contact.
Ability
A general trait or capacity to career out a skill linked to a performance.
Difference between ability and skill is that skill is something that is learned through consistent production. It can be improved. Ability cannot really be improved. It is genetically determined from birth.
Differences between Fleishman’s physical proficiency abilities (physical factors) and perceptual motor abilities (psychomotor factors)
EDWIN FLEISHMAN is an American psychologist known for his work on physical proficiency abilities and perceptual motor abilities.
PHYSICAL PROFICIENCY refers to gross movements/use of large muscle groups. Dynamic strength, extent flexibility, explosive strength, static strength, trunk strength. None of them require you to perceive a situation.
PERCEPTUAL/MOTOR ABILITIES refers to a combination of how we make sense of our environment (perception) and how we act (motor control). Control precision, multi-limb coordination, reaction time, response orientation, speed of arm movement. Controlling and precise movements. Combining motor skills and how you perceive the scenario you are placed within.
Technique
The way in which a skill is performed.
You can improve a skill and you’re able to do that because you understand the teaching points behind the skill itself, behind the technique that makes up the skill.
Relationship between ability, skill and technique
They are linked to achieve the skill itself.
A successful production of a skill is dependent on somebody’s ability and their selection of appropriate technique.
Ability + technique = skill.
Differences between a skilled and a novice performer
SKILLED PERFORMERS are very advanced when their skills are compared to NOVICE PERFORMERS.
ACCURACY: A skilled performer has a high consistency, pinpoint accuracy. A novice performer is capable of producing the same accuracy as a skill performer but sporadic. Low consistency.
CONSISTENCY: A skilled performer has repeated accuracy, control and fluency. High. A novice performer is capable of accuracy, but not consistently. Low.
CONTROL: A skilled performer has high control, this allows for accuracy and consistency. A novice performer can demonstrate some control, but it’s ineffective overall. Control and precision allow for accuracy and consistency. A novice performer has ineffective control.
EFFICIENCY: A skilled performer is efficient with technique, skill selection and energy preservation. High efficiency. A novice performer has inaccurate technique, and poor skill selection uses up energy.
FLUENCY: How smooth you can do the skill. A skilled performer is very smooth. They are capable of seamlessly linking skills in performance patterns. High fluency. A novice performer has a lower ability and a lack of training, performance is erratic.
GOAL-DIRECTED: A skilled performer selects and performs the skill to achieve desired outcome. Individual goals or tactical choice. Chooses skills based on scenarios. A novice performer, usually, has short term or non existent goals. The selection and performance of skill is the same despite the scenario.
LEARNED: A skilled performer learns new skills quickly, in mass quantity. Performs skills autonomously without much thought. A novice performer performs cognitively, the performer is thinking about how to perform the skill whilst performing.
Simple model of information processing
INPUT: Using the senses. It goes to the Central Nervous System, where a decision is made based upon the information the input is provided. The decision is made and then it is sent back down the neurons to the muscles to initiate contraction, OUTPUT. Input, decision making, output.
Welford’s model of information processing
SENSE ORGANS and INTERNAL SENSORS (receptors inside our body). Once these two have detected a change or a movement. This needs to be perceived and the way this needs to be perceived is within the Central Nervous System, and it is the relationship between this perception and memory. Initially, something goes into the SHORT-TERM MEMORY, there is a decision made. This decision can either progress into the EFFECTOR STAGE or it can go into LONG-TERM MEMORY in a loop, can come back and affect the perception and how you perceive the stimulus that is presented in front of you. If it goes to the EFFECTOR CONTROL and EFFECTORS. This is pretty much the output and what movement is being affected by this decision.
DETECTION: Sense organs and internal sensors.
PERCEPTION: Short-term memory decision making (doing it for the first time, for instance) and long-term memory.
EFFECTORS: They can also go back to perception and that leads us to understand and appreciate how to respond appropriately based on doing something over time and repetitively. The reason we practice is to strengthen the memory trace and we make our output better based on the stimulus that we are presented with.
Components associated with sensory input
EXTEROCEPTORS: Detect information from outside the body. Sight, smell, touch, taste.
INTEROCEPTORS: Detect information within the body. Baro (indicating change in blood pressure), chemo (temperature and acidity of the blood), proprioceptors (movement at the joints).
PROPRIOCEPTORS: Detect and inform CNS for body position and limb movements.
Signal-detection process.
SIGNAL DETECTION pretty much means perception. It is the process by which the brain makes sense of the stimuli received.
Short term memory stores large amounts of information for a very short time.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION looks out for anticipated stimuli. For instance, when playing a game, the attention does not go to the color of the T-shirts, it focuses on the game and the ball.
Selected stimuli are then compared to long term memory to select appropriate responses. For instance, someone is much more nervous on their first game compared to on their 100th, because they are used to it. In their long-term memory, they are used to this performance with the crowd with the noises, with all of the different clothes they are wearing or the different colors with things that are going on in the crowd. They are used to zoning out on that to focus completely on their sporting hand.
Often referred to as the DETECTION-COMPARISON-RECOGNITION PROCESS (DCR).
Characteristics of short-term sensory store, short-term memory and long term memory
SHORT-TERM SENSORY STORE: Unlimited in the capacity. For the first 0.5 seconds you will detect vast amounts of information from the stimulus around. So, if one were to ask you tomorrow everything you detected and sensed you wouldn’t have a memory of it. A lot of information goes into your mind and then straight out and that’s within the short-term sensory store.
However, what hits the short-term memory are the repetitive elements to the stimulus. The short-term memory can hold up to 10 pieces of information for 10 seconds. This is why selective attention is very important here, because it can sieve through the stimuli and pick out the important aspects that are required and it can hold it for 10 seconds.
Through practice and exposure, these elements to short-term memory can end up in long-term memory. Skill, practicing for a test, etc.
Long-term memory: Unlimited storage and a lifetime of storage. Of course, things have to be repeated because they can be lost out of long-term memory.
Stimulus, short-term memory, practice, long-term memory.
Relationship between selective attention and memory
SELECTIVE ATTENTION. Selective attention operates in the short-term sensory store. Only the relevant information is passed to short-term memory, where it is held for several seconds. What is “relevant” is determined through previous experience and information that is in the long-term memory. Experience allows for selective attention to filter out irrelevant noise (information), so that the athlete can focus on the task in hand. Selective attention is important in fast paced activities where immense focus is vital. The more practice, the stronger the bond with long-term memory.
MEMORY. Memory allows us to benefit from past experience. If we didn’t have it, everything we’d do would be approached as if we were doing it for the first time. All incoming information is held in the short-term sensory store and lost within half a second. Incoming information is only retained and processed if it is attained in short-term memory, otherwise 90% of information is lost in 10 seconds within short-term memory. Retention and passage to long-term memory are dependent on rehearsal (physical and mental). Short-term memory has limited storage, this is overcome by selective attention filtering out noise whilst long-term memory has unlimited storage.
Different methods of memory improvement
ASSOCIATION.
Linking new information with information the learner already knows, even if its from a different context to the new information. For instance, if I was teaching how to drive and how different driving is in golf to using an iron, I might draw on the experience of the performer’s softball or baseball and that technique and associate that to how it feels when you hit a driver compared to when you hit an iron, and it is more of a baseball style swing even though the body is in a different position. This technique taps into the previous experience the performer has of that body movement around the torso and I can then relate it to the golf drive itself.
BREVITY.
Giving the learner a small amount of information at one time to avoid overload. For instance, to practice golf swings. One day, practicing correct grip, another day, correct stance for club, another day correct takeaway, another day rotate backsing, then correct downswing, then transfer weight through impact, finally follow through. For example, for the first 35 minutes just focus on grip, once mastered, we move on to the next bit.
CHUNKING.
The information is taught in small bundles. It’s got more chance of transferring to long-term memory than if it is taught in its entirety. Similar to brevity, but we chunk small things together now. For instance, in brevity “focus on grip”, but grip has a number of things like stance, rotation and takeaway that are choked together in just that one word of grip. Like if I were to say “takeway”, there are a few things to consider as well (shoulders, hip, etc).
CLARITY.
Avoid teaching two similar but distinct items in the same session as the memory might overlap with the other and lead to confusion and lack of progress. For example, driver and iron in golf. Cannot do 20 minutes driver, 20 minutes iron. Better one session each.
CODING.
Naming or giving labels to information. For instance, you’ve got grip, stance, takeaway, backswing, downswing, transfer weight, follow through and connectedness. Names given to sets of information, to be able to say “grip was a bit off” or “takeaway wasn’t quite right”. The learner could draw in that information straight away. Learning can be quicker. Less teaching points to remember.
ORGANISATION.
Providing information in an order, allowing for meaningful learning. 1. Grip. 2. Stance. 3. Connectedness. 4. Takeaway. 5. Backswing. 6. Downswing. 7. Transfer weight. 8. Follow through.
PRACTICE.
Repeat the information over and over. This creates a memory trace which is repeated, shuffle between short-term memory and long-term memory. The more the shuffle, the more it consolidates in long-term memory.
REHEAR©.
Processed and prepared either mentally and or physically. In golf, there is a lot of physical preparation. Driving range, practice swing. You can really rehearse whatever it is that you’re focusing on. In a practice session or out on the course with a practice swing. Simulators are an option when wanting more information about the technology that comes with these simulators about the flight angle or the speed of release. Lastly, mental rehearsal. Vision of success.
Response time
Reaction time to a stimulus + the complete response movement.
Reaction time + movement time. That complete movement in response to you reacting to the stimulus.
Factors that determine response time + Hick’s law
RESPONSE TIME is an ability, having individual group variance (examples; decreases as we age, males respond faster than females).
Reaction time includes stimulus transmission, detection of stimulus, recognition of stimulus decision to respond, nerve transmission time and initiation of action. Reaction time includes a stimulus, so something happening to make you respond, detecting said thing, making you respond, recognition of that within your body and the time it takes to respond. Nerve transmission from the brain to wherever the body needs to respond and then the initiation of the action from that part of the body.
HICK’S LAW refers to reaction/response time increases as the number of alternative actions increase.
Usain Bolt is the fastest man ever but he doesn’t have the fastest reaction time ever. Perhaps because he is so fast he can afford to spend more time responding first and then getting ahead of them.
In the 100-meter sprint, Bolt reacts in 1/10th of a second. He’s waiting for the gun to go off. But if he hears a hooter instead of a gun that means he is going to turn and run the other way. Now he’s got options. So not only is he responding but needs to hear the sound. Was it a gun or a hooter? Run forwards or backwards? It would take longer to process that information. The more options, the slower the reaction time.
Psychological refractory period (PRP)
Occurs when two stimuli are presented close together so that the reaction time to the second stimulus is slower than normal. If we detect a stimulus, and are processing the information whilst a second stimulus is presented, we are unable to process the second stimuli until the primary stimuli is processed (single channel mechanism). Subsequently, our reaction time is lengthened for the second stimulus to account for this. This increase is referred to as the PSYCHOLOGICAL REFRACTORY PERIOD.
Basket. The defender wants to take the ball from you, you step to one side and then run to the other. The defender first has to respond to the step, to process it, and then to try to catch you. Responding to the fake. You get time to move and do the move that you actually wanted.
Motor programme
MOTOR PROGRAMME is built up by things called SUBROUTINES (many parts of the complete technique).
Sprinting. The start out the blacks, actual response time, how you respond to that and coming out in a straight line, initial drive phase, middle phase trying to prolong optimal speed, finish where you try to remain with that technique as fast as you can.
All of the subroutines together: EXECUTIVE PROGRAMME, which is the full technique or the full skill being performed.
Motor programmes from both open and closed looped perspectives
OPEN LOOP PERSPECTIVE.
A memory trace is created between short-term memory and long-term memory. Shuttling between the two. With practice, this skill can become autonomous and subconscious. The subroutines are structured in a hierarchical way and this creates the executive programme. Once the skill is learned it can be executed without feedback being used to control the movement. Examples are any sporting action that is determined by a non stable, unpredictable environment, where an object is in motion which dictates the start point for the skill.
Open loop: We don’t know when it is going to start, but by practicing and practicing, you can subconsciously react to that scenario around you. In basketball, you don’t know in which part of the court you are going to be taking the shot.
CLOSED LOOP PERSPECTIVE
Structured in the same way as open loop, however feedback can be used to correct the outcome of skill.
Kinesthetic and internal feedback is used. Closed loop movement is more effective with skills requiring slow limp movements or movements taking place over a longer period of time. Short-term memory compares with long-term memory, if there is a match the movement continues, if there is a mismatch the movement is corrected.
Examples are skills performed in a stationary environment, such as hitting a golf ball towards a tee, or shooting a bow in archery. Pool. Billiards. Conversion in rugby.
Role of feedback in information-processing models
INTRINSIC FEEDBACK: Comes from within the performer. A “feeling”. In golf, without even seeing the ball, you can feel if it’s come off the club well, you can feel it in your hand or body. You know if you made a mistake or if you nailed it. Cricket, too. The more you practice and play something, the more you develop an intrinsic appreciation for how good technique feels.
EXTRINSIC FEEDBACK: Is provided to the performer. Information provided on how to improve. Spectator, coach. A lot of the time you might not know what you did wrong or right and you might need that information provided to you. This can help you to improve.
KNOWLEDGE OF RESULTS: Outcome of skill is apparent. Decision made based upon outcome. In cricket, the player will not aimlessly bowl into a net with no wicket there, because they won’t have the outcome, they won’t know if they’ve got the length right, if the ball is bouncing upright, if they are accurate enough to hit the wickets. You wouldn’t practice a penalty in football without a goalkeeper in the goal. Need to practice with the outcome there. So you can get feedback from the outcome.
KNOWLEDGE OF PERFORMANCE: Outcome of skill is not apparent. Knowledge of how to perform the skill is drawn upon. Dribbling with the football in a closed area just to develop your ability to dribble. No defender in front of you. The outcome is unknown, but you’re improving your skill. In golf, aimlessly hitting balls into the wilderness can improve hand-eye coordination and feel. Intrinsic feedback can be developed here.
POSITIVE FEEDBACK: Praise and reinforcing language is used. Reassures and boosts confidence of the performer. But it depends on the performer. Some people respond really well to the positive feedback, some people find it patronizing or they don’t respond to it at all.
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK: Depends on the type of performer. Some people thrive on it. It upsets them and motivates them to prove them wrong and perform better. Focuses on the negative aspects. Can motivate, however, can demotivate. Need to get to know the performer.
CONCURRENT FEEDBACK: Feedback that can be used in game time and it can be altered in game time. Proprioceptory / kinaesthetic information provides in-game feedback. Performance can be altered in real time. Feedback of a bad goal shot or a bad pass, for instance. They can correct it. It can be provided to them if the coach can do it during the match. The skill can be altered during the performance.
TERMINAL FEEDBACK: Feedback provided after the performance has ended. Can be provided immediately after or after a cooling period.
Role of feedback with the learning process
REINFORCEMENT OF LEARNING: Reinforcing correct technique and skill performance. Providing positive feedback will encourage a repeat in performance. It helps to embed that memory trace between short-term memory and long-term memory.
MOTIVATION: Dependent on the personality of the performer. Can work for or against the coach, depending how it is used and who it is used with. It can be impacted by all eight examples that we spoke about. Dependent on the relationship between coach and performer.
ADAPTATION OF PERFORMANCE: The more variety of feedback used, the greater change of performance adaptation. Improvement will be limited with limited feedback. If one just offers positive feedback, the player won’t know when they are doing something wrong. Better to add some negative feedback as well, or no feedback and allow the performer to use intrinsic feedback, or allow intrinsic feedback at first and then give extrinsic feedback.
PUNISHMENT: It can be used after a performance or during. Can be used to motivate performers. Not just shouting, but telling them they need to work harder, etc. Depends on the emotional intelligence of the performer. Punishing people because they made honest mistakes isn’t going to work. With elite athletes, the situation changes.
Differences between learning and performance
LEARNING: A relatively permanent change in performance brought about by experience. When you learn something it tends to stay in your memory. But it can take time for it to transfer and shuttle in between short-term memory and long-term memory, but ultimately it is a permanent change even if it’s a minor one that takes place. It happens because of experience and exposure to the stimulus of learning.
PERFORMANCE: A temporary occurrence that fluctuates over time. If this changes over time it’s often inferred that learning has taken place. With performance, you can have form. It is temporary because you can have high moments and low moments even though the learning has still taken place. It is temporary and it changes.
Phases of learning
3 phases of learning.
COGNITIVE: Early stage of learning. Thorough focus on technique, on fundamentals, body timing of subroutines, etc. Strong need for guidance. Explanations and demonstrations by a coach or by the internet, in order to provide feedback so they can attempt the skill for the first time. After a bit of practice…
ASSOCIATIVE: The performer understands how to perform the skill and must focus on practice to eliminate mistakes and to strengthen that memory trace, that shuttle between short and long-term memory. Throughout the practice the performer will focus on improving accuracy, consistency, fluency, precision and timing. The performer will draw upon previous performances alongside more detailed feedback by the coach. They will also require intrinsic motivation from themself and extrinsic motivation from others in order to develop learning.
AUTONOMOUS: You are more advanced, potentially elite. Can perform with little thought. Develop skill complexity and tactical approach. Spend time focusing on how to use the skill to better their overall performance. Skill complexity, variation of skill. Instead of thinking “this is my best skill, I’ll perform it”, they can consider through tactics which is the best skill to use in that scenario for the outcome as opposed to what they feel most comfortable with. They will also try to develop the speed, the accuracy and the complete precision of the skill and develop that on a consistent basis. However, this isn’t permanent and the performer must continually practice to maintain this stage of learning. Ten years after being an elite performer without practice, they would be somewhere in the middle of the associative and autonomous stage. The person will probably have to think a bit more about the technique than before.
Types of learning curves
LINEAR CURVE: The ideal curve. Practice is continually successful. Motivation and focus are high. You cannot get better without motivation, arguably better results increase motivation. Positive coach interaction. Before something is slightly off, the coach intervenes with fantastic feedback and advice, and the performer keeps improving their skill level. Practice in the x-axis, performance in the y-axis. Practice is continually successful. The more you practice, the better the performance gets. You won’t experience this forever even if you had this momentarily. One of the other learning curves will come into play. There is a ceiling on performance / practice.
POSITIVE ACCELERATED CURVE: In the early stages of practice, something wasn’t quite right and that is why the performance didn’t increase. However, about three quarters of the way through practice, something happened. Performance has rapidly increased. Either the task complexity was too high at the start, so therefore it was too hard for you to grasp or it was too easy at the start so therefore what you were practicing wasn’t impacting on performance too much. Other reasons could be the motivation has grown, the practices grown, so therefore you are more focused on improving, the practice is more purposeful. Or the coach interaction and the relationship evolved over time.
NEGATIVE ACCELERATED CURVE: You’ve made rapid levels of progress at first, but then there was a drop-off in performance. It could be a decrease in motivation over time, lack of input to take into the next stage or the relationship with the coach broken down.
PLATEAU: Level out of learning due to lack of training/injury/interest, coach is unable to progress performer/is trying to progress performer too much. Motivation decreased over time.
