Motor learning

Learning The foundations for learning are doing much, suffering much and studying much. Catherall Learning is lifetime process, which starts in every man from the time of his birth. Although the conventional education is completed after a certain age but learning is an endless process. Learning involves any action of man including thoughts, customs, attitude, personality characteristics and even his perception is the result of his learning, so it is true that there will be no progress without learning Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior clue to experience. The definition distinguishes between the performance changes due to maturation and those changes are brought about by experience. The definition also emphasis on the knowledge whether it is the verbal or skill learning.

Types of learning
There are basically two types of learning 1. Verbal learning . !otor learning

Motor learning
!otor learning is also called skill learning. "veryday life is full of activity that demand motor learning. #t can be defined as$ erforming an act in !hich the individual needs to have command over a particular function of human organs. "hen !e ac#uire through learning a coordinate series of responses !hich are performed !ith proficiency. This type of learning is called s$ill learning or motor learning. The type of learning which involves the use of muscles is called motor learning. #n this type of learning the individual ac%uires new muscular coordination. #n other words motor skill re%uires coordination between environment and internal body. &kill learning is accomplished through instrumental learning often facilitated by conscious imitation or by direct verbal instructions. Development of interest The study of skill learning had begun before the end of last century its study has a surprising uneven history in the development of psychology. #t is only recently that the study of motor learning has a renewed spirit of interest.

Examples in our daily life To play piano To drive a car To swim To play games To drive automobiles 'lying an airplane (perating a submarine All of the above are examples of motor learning Skills: )&kill is nil without will* &kill is when we ac%uire a coordinate series of responses that are performed with proficiency like to play a piano or to drive a car are all skills. Characteristics of Motor Learning The study of motor learning did not have a founding father. !otor learning is a fascinating sub+ect to study for variety of reasons. (ne of them is ,resistance for forgetting- shown by any motor skill, such as riding a bicycle, swimming or skating can be readily reviewed even after years of disuse. &econdly, well.practiced skill performance can reach a ,state of mobility- in the sense that conscious attention seems no longer necessary for its execution /performance0. The learning of motor skill is gradual according to the old saying, )1ractice makes a man perfect* The learning of a new motor behavior is not limited nor isolated to the muscles directly involved in a skill. Thus, learning can be transferred to other body parts e.g. hand writing learned with right hand can even be done with right foot. Discrete motor skills #f a skill re%uires one distinct movement having an identifiable beginning and endpoint, we characteri2ed the skill as discrete motor skill. 3iscrete motor skill includes flipping light switch, depressing the clutch of an automobile and hitting a piano key. "ach of these skills re%uires one distinct movement that begins and ends at clearly defined points. Continuous motor skill These contain movements that are always repetitive. 4e can classify skill such as steering an automobile, tracking a moving cursor on a computer monitor with +oystick, swimming and walking as continuous skills. The process of skill learning The initial stages of learning or motor learning involve a great deal of intentional control. #n many motor skills there is often a teacher that gives the instructions. 'urthermore, the learner may repeat instructions while performing the skill. Thus, at beginning stages- learning a motor skill re%uires great cognitive efforts. 5owever, once he became an expert he re%uires no longer cognitive efforts.

!otor learning is chaining of individual-s stimulus.response association. "ach component must be learned before the entire se%uence can be put into operation. The correct order of se%uences is important to the final goal. &ome elements in the se%uence follow each other naturally, or easily than other. 6esponse to each stimulus serves both as stimulus for the next response and as a source of information that the response has been correctly performed. Closed motor skill #f the environment is stable i.e. if it does not change while the person is performing the skill then we classify it as closed motor skill. 'or these skills ob+ect we acted on does not change during the performance of a skill. pen motor skill #t is a skill that a person performs in a non.stable environment where the ob+ect of content changes during performance of a skill. Types of motor learning 1. Total learning: it is also called complete skill fullness. . !artial learning: the people who get partial learning are called semi.trained. Serial order process: !otor skill usually involves learning in a serial order. Measurement: #n measurement of motor learning the emphasis is on exact nature of movements and on the results achieve by them. Stages of skill learning There are three main stages in skill learning, "# Cognitive stage #n the first stage of skill learning an individual re%uires understanding of instructions, completing a few trials and having information about work set up. $# %ssociation stage #n the second stage some excellence of technical learning is attained. !oreover there is an association between the past learning and technical learning. &# %utomation stage #n this stage the skill becomes automatic and the person is no longer re%uired to think about the performing task. #t can be said that learning has been mechani2ed. 'nterdependency of motor and ver(al learning Although we can distinguish between skill and verbal learning but it is hard to find only one kind of learning in our daily life, because human behavior consists of different and complex responses. )elationship (et*een ver(al instructions of skill learning !any researches have been conducted to see the relationship between verbal instructions and skill learning. They also came to know that instructions are very important before simple skill work but are not effective in complex skill work.

+orgetting of ver(al learning instead of motor learning #t is also true that we forget verbal learning very soon but remember motor learning for a long time due to the reason that we learn motor skill after a very long exercise. 1. . 9. :. +actors involved in skill learning 7nowledge of results 8onceptuali2ation versus practice 3istribution of practice Transfer of training 1ositive transfer ;egative transfer

,no*ledge of results or psychological feed(ack !any experimental facts point out that the person will learn about his progress, or if the person is e%ually capable but unaware about his progress will knew through the knowledge of results and eventually accelerate the learning speed. Today psychologists use the term psychological feedback instead of knowledge of results. #n fact psychological feedback is the process in which the person comes to know about the mistakes of his previous action and changes his behavior by correcting his mistakes, which is necessary for skill learning +unctions of psychological feed(ack 10 #t gives us information about our actions 0 #t provides positive and negative reinforcement according to the appropriateness and inappropriateness of our reactions. T*o *ays of psychological feed(ack 1sychological feedback can be given either of the two ways 10 1sychological feedback is given after every trial. 0 1sychological feedback is given after general progress. Experimental evidence 8. 4. <ury explain an experiment in which some soldiers are being trained for artillery division and they are verbally informed before, during and after shooting practice. The soldiers were divided into three groups= group one is trained generally for normal practice, second group learn with mutual cooperation of participants and the third group was informed by the instructor that the bullet was fired at aim or not. They were informed about the results immediately and after every training interval they were informed about their scores. #t was seen that the learning speed of the third group is more