TRANSFER OF TRAINING

Habit Interference

Learning:

Learning is more or less a permanent modification of behavior resulting from experience. The
modification of behavior in learning is to be distinguished from another modification of behavior which
may be the result of fatigue. The latter is temporary and disappears after rest. The change in behavior
produced by learning is marked by improvement in the behavior; the change due to fatigue results in
impairment of behavior. The improvement in behavior can be measured in terms of increment in number
of responses within a fixed time, decrement in time in performing the activity, increase in speed of
performance, or decrease in the errors made in performance. The same measures are used to determine
the change produced by fatigue. In this case, however, the change is in the other direction, i.e., decrease in
number of responses, or increase in time or errors (Mohsin, S. M (2016)).

Learning and performance can be distinguished. Performance is the observed behavior. Learning
is more or less permanent change within the organism which cannot be directly observed and can only be
inferred; the term retention is also used for the change within the organism. Thus, what is learned is
retained. The retained activity can be repeated afterwards in more or less the same manner because of its
retention. What is retained has also been called the after-effect of the performance (Mohsin, S. M (2016)).

While conducting the card sorting experiment of habit interference, the experimenter must be
aware of the above discussed concepts i.e., learning, performance and the two ways in which learning
occur that results in behavior modification; in order to understand how the subject performs the task and
to understand the factors that influence his/her performance. Habit interference is an experiment that
demonstrates how transfer of training occurs.

Transfer of training and Habit interference

Acquisition of a skill most of the times either facilitates or interferes with the acquisition of
other skills. This phenomenon is called transfer. That is, a previously learned skill /information influence
the learning of a new one. According to Mohsin (1998), the effect of one learning on another has been
called transfer, which may be either positive or negative. In positive transfer, the previous learning
facilitates the subsequent learning, that is, earlier acquired knowledge helps in the acquisition of new skill
and is called positive transfer of learning or training. In negative transfer what is learned earlier interferes
with what is learned later, that is, past experience renders more difficulty or slows down the acquisition of
a new skill or the solution of anew problem. When a negative transfer occurs between the two organs of
the body it is called bilateral negative transfer. Negative learning is also noticed between the two
situations, for example, learning of ‘T’ type maze may interfere with the learning of ‘Y’ type maze; such
type of negative transfer is called non-bilateral negative transfer. Negative transfer is also called habit
interference because sometimes a previously acquired habit comes into the way of acquisition of another
habit, for example, typing habit developed on type writer makes typing difficult on typing at the computer
(Hussain. A (2014)).

Two important theories have been developed to explain the phenomenon of transfer, one is the
theory of identical elements and the other is the theory of common method or common principles.
According to the theory of identical elements the basis of transfer is the presence of common elements in
the previous and the subsequent tasks. Whereas, the common method theory says that previously acquired
skills helps in the acquisition of the subsequent skill, provided the method or principle applying in the
acquisition of two skills are same or common. However, it is difficult to say which theory is more suitable
because one theory applies to one kind of task, while the other for another task. The transfer effect is
noticed both in the sensory motor learning, as well as in verbal learning (Hussain. A (2014)).

Sensory motor learning:

Sensory motor learning involves the process of acquiring and refining skills through the
integration of sensory information and motor responses. It’s how we learn to co-ordinate our movements
based on feedback from our senses, like sight, touch and proprioception. This type of learning is
fundamental for activities like sports, playing musical instruments, and even everyday tasks like walking
and typing.

Sensory-motor integration:

Sensory-motor integration is defined as the capability of the central nervous system to integrate
different sources of stimuli, and parallelly, to transform such inputs in motor actions. The sensory-motor
integration is a brain process that allows by complex neural operations, the execution of a certain
voluntary motor behavior in response to specific demands of the environment. In other word, it is the
dynamic combination of sensory information into intentional motor response. Thus, the behavior pattern
of subjects depends on the sensory-motor integration process. Many studies deal with the sensorimotor
integration process to elucidate the brain functions, to clarify the pathophysiological mechanisms of
movement disorders and to improve neuro-functional rehabilitation strategies based on the ability to re-
organize the central nervous system.