Stages of Learning

Chapter 5

Fitts and Posners Three Stage

Model

COGNITIVE STAGE

ASSOCIATIVE
STAGE

AUTONOMOUS
STAGE

Development of basic
movement pattern

Refinement of
movement pattern

Performance of
movement virtually
automatic

Practice

Cognitive Stage
High

degree of cognitive activity

Attentional

demands high, limited to movement

production
Movements

lack synchronization and appear

choppy and deliberate

Numerous
Lacks

errors, typically gross in nature

capability to determine cause of errors

or correct them

Associative Stage
More

consistent

Attentional

demands for movement production

decrease
Fewer,
Better
Begin

less gross errors

at detecting cause of errors

to develop appropriate error correction

strategies

Autonomous Stage
Highest
Not

level of proficiency

all learners will reach this stage

Attention

making

reallocated to strategic decision-

Consistent
Confident
Make

few errors and can generally detect and

correct those errors that do occur

Practical Application
Choose

a skill and generate a list of practical

tips practitioners could follow based on Fitts
and Posners characteristics of learners across
the three stages.

See Cerebral Challenge #1 on page 100

Gentiles Two-Stage Model

GETTING THE
IDEA OF THE
MOVEMENT

FIXATION
Closed Skill

Refinement of movement
pattern

Development of ability to
discriminate between
regulatory and nonregulatory conditions

DIVERSIFICATION
Development of basic
movement pattern

Open Skill

Adaptation of movement to
conform to ever-changing
environmental demands

Getting the Idea of the Movement

Goal

is to develop an understanding of
movements requirements

Have

to learn to discriminate between

regulatory and non-regulatory conditions

Fixation/Diversification
Goal

is refinement

Fixation

Closed skills

How should skills be practiced?

Diversification

Open skills

How should skills be practiced?

Practical Application
Choose

a skill and generate a list of practical

tips practitioners could follow based on
Gentiles two stages of learning.

See Cerebral Challenge #3 on page 103

Review Questions
How

does the role of the practitioner shift as

the learner progresses through Fitts & Posners
stages of learning? Through Gentiles two
stage model?
Explain the relationship of fixation/
diversification to closed and open skills.

Inferring Progress: Learner And

Performance Changes
Coordination

and control; freezing degrees of freedom

Muscle activity; reduction to only those needed
Energy expenditure; reduction as movement becomes
more efficient and coordinated

Consistency;consistently correct motion or incorrect?

Attention; less conscious attention; attention may be
detrimental; visual attention on relevant stimuli
Knowledge and memory; access information quicker,
solve problems more quickly with fewer errors

Inferring Progress: Learner And Performance

Changes continued
Error detection and correction; better able to interpret
sensory receptor info in recognition schema; may stop a
performance to avoid an inefficient movement
Self-confidence; more success breed more motivation to
continue; shoot for 80% success

Review Questions

Describe how a persons capability of detecting and

correcting error changes as a result of practice and
moving from early to later stages of learning. Provide
an example to illustrate this change.
Describe how novices try to control the degrees of
freedom of various limbs as they begin to learn a new
skill. Give an example.
Discuss how the muscles used change as a result of
practice, and explain why this happens.

Assessing learning from

coordination dynamics
One

observes stability and transitions of:

Temporal movement coordination patterns

Spatial movement coordination patterns

The

stability or instability of performance

across trials helps the observer characterize
learning

Performance Curves
Used

to assess progress over time

 Two

performance characteristics can be

observed with performance curves

Improvement
Consistency

Types of Performance Curves

Practice performance may

misrepresent learning

Practice

performance may overestimate or

underestimate learning

Practice artificially inflates performance

Transfer and retention test should be given

Performance

plateaus

Period when little or no improvement occurs

Performance Plateau
Period

of time during the learning process in

which no overt changes in performance occur

May be transitional period in learning process

Not always indicative of cessation of learning

Other

factors: fatigue, anxiety, lack of motivation

Limited

by performance measurement used

Retention and Transfer Tests

Both

measure persistence of improved skill

performance

Retention

Skill performance test give following a period of no

practice

Transfer

test

test

Measurement of the adaptability of a response

determined by testing learners ability to use a skill
in a novel context or manner

Assessing learning by
retention tests
A common

measure to assess the performance

characteristic of improvement
Typical administration of a retention test

Perform the skill in practice

Period of no practice
Retention test is administered to determine amount
retained

Assessing learning by
transfer tests
Assess

the performance characteristics of

adaptability
Performing a practiced skill in:

Novel context that changes

Without

augmented feedback
Physical environment
Personal characteristics

Novel skill variations

Review Questions
Why

arent performance plateaus indicative

that a person has quit learning?
What characteristics may be represented on a
learning curve?
Compare and contrast retention and transfer
tests.