Abstract
The authors investigated the time scales of the learning of a mirror-tracing task to reexamine G. S. Snoddy's (1926) original claim and the received theoretical view (A. Newell & P. S. Rosenbloom, 1981) that motor learning follows a power law. Adult participants (N = 16) learned the tracing task in either a normal or a reversed visual-image condition over 5 consecutive days of practice and then performed 1 day of practice 1 week later and again 1 month later. The reversed-image group's performance was poorer than that of the normal-image group throughout the practice. An exponential was the best fitting function on individual data, but the power-law function was the best fit on the group-averaged data. The findings provided preliminary evidence that 2 characteristic time scales, (a) fast, dominated by warm-up, and (b) slow, dominated by persistent change, capture individuals' performance in the learning of the mirror-tracing task.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 503-515 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Motor Behavior |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2007 Nov |
Keywords
- Exponential
- Mirror tracing
- Motor learning
- Power law
- Time scales
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience