Rule formation and table tennis performance following explicit and analogy learning over 10,000 repetitions.

Abstract

We investigated acquisition and performance during explicit and analogy learning over many repetitions, with a specific interest in changes in the robustness of performance under increased pressure. Explicit and analogy learning groups performed 10,000 table tennis forehand strokes, evenly distributed over six weekly sessions. Explicit learners reported more explicit rules about movement execution than analogy learners, even though this number declined from 1,400 to 10,000 repetitions. Furthermore, performance of the analogy group seemed to asymptote after 1,400 repetitions, while that of the explicit group continued to increase. Despite differences in rule formation, neither group appeared to show performance decrements under pressure or secondary task loading after 1,400 or 10,000 repetitions. All in all these findings do not provide grounds for minimizing the accumulation of explicit knowledge in learning in view of its potentially detrimental effects on performance. 45 Introduction Providing verbal instructions is a common practice in many forms of perceptual-motor teaching under the supervision of a coach or trainer. In the course of skill acquisition, such instructions amass to a pool of explicit knowledge, that is, knowledge about movement execution that the learner is aware of and thus can verbalize. In recent years, however, the effectiveness of providing verbalizable rules in perceptual-motor acquisition has been questioned. Evidence has been presented indicating that withholding learners from accruing explicit rules about movement execution results in performance advantages when performance pressure increases or when performing under secondary task loading To explain these findings, it has been argued that under increased performance pressure, stored explicit rules can be activated in working memory to interfere with proceduralized movement control, thereby disrupting fluent and automated movement execution (Masters & Maxwell, 2004). This line of reasoning is known as the reinvestment or explicit control hypothesis. The greater dependence of explicitly learned skills on working memory would also result in a capacity overload when a secondary task is introduced, whereas implicitly learned skills would allow execution of a secondary task without performance decrements as a result of reduced demands on working memory. The aforementioned evidence of impaired performance of explicitly learned skills under certain demanding circumstances suggests that working memory involvement in learning is not necessarily advantageous. However, in an unrestricted environment, perceptual-motor learners are bound to test movement-related hypotheses in working memory, potentially leading to the accumulation of explicit rules about movement execution To insure that learning is implicit, such hypothesis testing should be prevented. Masters …