What is Motor Learning & Performance?

What is Motor Learning?

Motor learning is how we learn to move, or the acquisition of movement knowledge. An outsider cannot observe motor learning because it happens in the mind. Psychedelic right?

Rose and Christina (2006) define motor learning as “a process by which the capability for producing movement performance and the actual movement performance are reliably changed through instruction, practice, and experience.”

Motor learning is the act of gaining knowledge over time to reproduce a specific learned movement.

Motor performance is directly observable. It is the observation of the learned skill a person has spent hours practicing behind closed doors. Different skills require different movements. In motor performance there are at least five different types of movements:

• Fine
• Gross
• Discrete
• Continuous
• Serial

Fine motor skills require more precision and often deal with smaller, more precise movements from smaller muscles. Examples would be typing on a keyboard, playing a game on a smartphone, and playing a piano.

Gross motor skills require larger muscles and often more powerful fine motor skills but less precision. Examples include running on a track, lifting weights, and punching a bag.

Discrete skills have a distinct beginning and endpoint such as a cartwheel or turning a light on and off.

Continuous skills do not have an observable start and endpoint. An example would be watching a person ride a bike out of sight.

Serial skills require a series of discrete skills linked together in steps to complete an action. An example would be opening a program on your computer. First, you have to find a computer. Then you have to turn it on. Then you have to type in a password. Then you have to find the program and click on it to open it. Then you can finally start working in a specific program.

Motor performance during a free throw shot

The free throw is an underrated skill in basketball. The movement requires a series of steps to reproduce the skill in moments of intense pressure. These steps include:

• Lining the body up to the hoop
• Squaring the elbow
• Extending the elbow to the rim
• Follow through with the shot

The environmental predictability of the movement varies. During practice, a free throw is very much a closed motor skill. It is predictable. It is repeatable. The athlete decides when to start and finish the movement.

When teaching the free-throw athletes need to move through three specific phases to master the movement:

1. Cognitive
2. Associative
3. Autonomous

During the cognitive phase, athletes would watch film and observe coaches and perhaps other players form when shooting a free throw. They would take mental notes on how to perform the action themselves.

During the associative phase, athletes would practice the skill themselves. They would make a lot of mistakes. The lizard brain is afraid of mistakes and wants an athlete to stay in safe areas that they know. But without making a mistake you cannot learn a new skill.

During the autonomous phase, the skill itself becomes automatic. Athletes don’t have to think about the movement because it is ingrained in their muscle memory and they can reproduce the skill at will.

SOURCES
Fischman, M. G. (2007). Motor learning and control foundations of kinesiology: defining the academic core. Quest, 59(1), 67-76.

Qprmarsh. (2013, February 04). Skill Acquisition for Sports Performance 2010. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIbaPffaacw

Reiss, T. (2019) What is motor learning and performance? Retrieved from https://edge.apus.edu/portal/site/411368/tool/9d182f62-e7e9-49a5-9528-f315f074834d

Ragan, T. (2014, December 17). Learning - How it Works & How to Do it Better ft. Seth Godin. Retrieved August 11, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9WpHHJz5Dc