Task Difficulty and the Time Scales of Warm-Up and Motor Learning

Abstract

The authors investigated the influence of task difficulty on warm-up decrement and learning across practice sessions. Three groups of participants practiced a star-tracing task over 3 consecutive days with different levels (e.g., easy, medium, hard) of task difficulty. The performance data were modeled with a 2 time scale function that represented the transient, fast time scale process of warm-up decrement superimposed with the persistent, slow time scale process of learning. Movement time decreased as a function of practice with the most difficult condition exhibiting the greatest reduction though still the longest movement time. The 2 time scale model provided a better fit to the data than an exponential or power law function and showed that the 3 difficulty conditions exhibited similar rates of change for the respective slow (i.e., learning) and fast (i.e., warm-up decrement) time scale processes that varied by an order of magnitude. Task difficulty was inversely related to the initial level of warm-up decrement but not the rate of performance recovery early in a practice session. The findings support the postulation that there is a persistent learned component to the initial conditions in subsequent practice sessions but that there is a common time scale of accommodating the transient process of warm-up decrement.

Better with each throw—a study on calibration and warm-up decrement of real-time consecutive basketball free throws in elite NBA athletes

“…The longitudinal effect of detraining is well known in the field of sports science, but warm-up decrement or calibration seems to result in similar acute effects in a shorter period. The findings of the present study are in line with previous findings regarding fast time scale processes which explain the gain of competency (warm up-increment) in the initial part of a new training session (Joseph, King, & Newell, 2013). Although the tasks specified by Joseph et al (2013) were mechanically simpler to a free throw, both studies may still point at similar underlying mechanisms.…”

“…The findings of the present study are in line with previous findings regarding fast time scale processes which explain the gain of competency (warm up-increment) in the initial part of a new training session (Joseph, King, & Newell, 2013). Although the tasks specified by Joseph et al (2013) were mechanically simpler to a free throw, both studies may still point at similar underlying mechanisms. Further research is required on the effects of calibration, with time gaps of varying length between a familiar and highly trained sensorimotor activity.…”

The Role of Task Difficulty in Learning a Visuomotor Skill

“…However, there are also studies reporting no optimal point of task difficulty. In a tracing task, the bandwidth represented task difficulty and affected warm-up decrements, but not the rate of improvements (13). In a dart-throwing task, motor learning was also independent of difficulty level, i.e., target size (14).…”

“…Based on pilot experiments, we adopted and modified the star-tracing task (22,23). The modifications compared with previous studies consisted of: 1) performing the task on a 24 by 16.95 cm Apple iPad Air; 2) visualizing the iPad surface through a mirror to make the task even more challenging, and 3) creating three levels of tracing difficulty by changing the bandwidth of the star (13). Participants sat in a chair and placed both hands on the surface of a table in front of…”

When Is a Test Score Fair for the Individual Who Is Being Tested? Effects of Different Scoring Procedures across Multiple Attempts When Testing a Motor Skill Task

“…The generalizability, of course, will vary across tests and tasks, perhaps particularly across tasks of different complexity and degrees of difficulty (Fitts, 1954; Joseph et al, 2013). However, it can be argued that it is fairer to the participants (here: players) to use a ‘best of’ rule, at least when scoring relatively few test attempts, compared with a ‘mean of’ rule, as the latter would place undue weight on poor attempts (which may occur out of pure mishap).…”