Amount and

Distribution
of Practice
Kin 322 Week 4
Amount and 1. Define overlearning and
Distribution of explain the positive and
Practice negative effects is has on
Learning motor learning
Objectives
2. Define massed and
distributed practice
3. Understand the challenges
with massed practice
 • Concept: The _amount
Amount of practice and the
and _spacing distribution
Distributio of that practice can
n of affect both practice
performance and
Practice learning of motor skills
Overlearning (Over Training)

• Overlearning= continued practice _beyond__ the

amount necessary to achieve a specific performance
criterion or goal
• Implemented by determining the amount of practice
necessary to achieve criterion and then practicing
MORE
Overlearning Example
• Performance criterion = get a score of 0.5 on the star-
mirror tracing task
• # of trials it takes to earn 0.5 = 10 trials
• Overlearning protocol:
• 100% overlearning = 20 trials
• 150% overlearning = 25 trials
• 200% overlearning =30 trials
Overlearning: Effect on performance
• Overlearning usually has a
__positive__effect on retention
performance (Driskell et al., 1992;
Schendel & Hagman, 1982)
• Greater amounts of
overlearning may lead to
greater improvements in
performance

Magill & Anderson (2021)

 “Skills that include a combination
of cognitive and motor
components and require
performance of a series of
relatively simple movements.”
(Chapter 17, Magill & Anderson
Procedural skill: 2021)
• Movements may be easy/simple
Defined

Magill & Anderson (2021)

• Selection and __order___of
movements is important
• Examples:
• Changing oil in a car
• Assembling a bike
• Knee replacement surgery
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

• Purpose:
• To assess the relative costs and benefits of training
approaches for maintaining performance of a machine
gun disassembly/assembly over a prolonged interval
• Participants:
• 38 US Army reserve soldiers
• Ages 18-59 years (average 28 years)
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

• Protocol:
• Practice assembling and disassembling a machine
gun
• Performance criterion = 1 correct
assembly/disassembly
• Overtraining = 100% more trials than it took to
reach criterion
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

• Groups:
1. “Immediate” overtraining (OT)
• Overtraining during first practice session
2. “Refresher” overtraining (RT)
• Overtraining 4 weeks later
3. Control
• No overtraining
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

• Retention test:
• 8 weeks following first practice session
• Measurement:
• # of errors
• During first trial of retention test
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

Results:
*
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

• Conclusions:
• Immediate overtraining (OT) and refresher
overtraining (RT) groups learned the task better
than control group
• No difference in performance between immediate
and refresher overtraining group
• The Amount of training was more important than the
timing of that training
 • Reflection questions:
• What are the similarities and
Overlearning: differences between the two
overtraining protocols?
Procedural skills
• If you were training someone
(Schendel & on a procedural skill, which of
Hagman, 1982) the two protocols used in this
study would you use and
why?
Overlearning: Procedural skills
(Schendel & Hagman, 1982)

• Implications:
• Provide overtraining experience to enhance
retention of a procedural skill
• Immediate overtraining is recommended over
delayed overtraining because it is more cost- and
time-effective

Magill & Anderson (2021)

 Point of diminishing returns =
amount of practice where the
Overlearning: benefits are not proportional
to the amount of practice
Point of
diminishing __negative_____ effect of
returns overlearning

Magill & Anderson (2021)

Overlearning:
Point of
diminishing
returns

Image from: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/have-you-hit-the-point-of-diminishing-returns-as-a-developer

Magill & Anderson (2021)

 What would account for poor learning?
1. Reduced _Cognitive__ Effort:
• Extended practice of relatively simple skills
Overlearning resulted in learners not continuing to engage
in appropriate amounts of cognitive effort
Strategy Can (Lee et al., 1994)
Lead to Poor • A certain amount of attention is required to
improve a skill- if zone out from boredom,
Learning less learning occurs.
2. No improvement to ___Adaptability___:
• Extended practice of the same relatively
simple movement result in decreased
capability to remember the movements as
well as to transfer to a movement variation
• Need for practice variability (next lecture)
Overlearning: Yes or no?
• Learning cannot take place without practice
• Overlearning proposed practicing beyond the attainment of a
certain goal/criterion
• Most overlearning research suggests overlearning is NOT
essential
• Other factors have a stronger influence on motor learning

Magill & Anderson (2021)

 • The practice distribution problem:
• You have a specific amount of time to practice
for a future test
• What is the best way to schedule the available
Distribution time in terms of:
• The length and frequency of the practice
of Practice sessions?
• Ie) Fewer but longer, more but shorter
• The length of rest intervals between trials
during each practice session?
• Ie) No rest, short, long
Practice distributions defined
Massed practice
• A practice schedule with
very short intervals of rest
between sessions or trials
• Sessions: _longer_ and
fewer
• Rest Intervals: None- short
or very short
Magill & Anderson (2021)
Distributed practice
• A practice schedule with
relatively long intervals of rest
between sessions or trials
• Sessions: Shorter and
_more__
• Rest Intervals: Longer than
massed. Relatively short
Challenges with massed practice

1. Increased chance for _fatigue__ to negatively influence

massed practice
• No time to put into memory the way we need to store it
2. Massed practice reduces the amount of cognitive effort
• Learners get bored or practice is monotonous
3. Consolidation of memory representation of a skill may take
more time than is permitted in massed practice
• No time for Neurobiochemical processes to occur

Magill & Anderson (2021)

 Distribution of practice
(Shea et al., 2000)

• Purpose:
• To examine the effects of distributed practice on motor learning
• Participants:
• 14 undergraduate students

Magill & Anderson (2021)

Distribution of practice
(Shea et al., 2000)

• Protocol:
• Task: balance on stabilometer for 90 seconds
• Both groups received concurrent augmented,
visual feedback
• 2 sessions, 7 trials/session

- -
Adaptation of figure 1
from Shea et al., 2000

Magill & Anderson (2021)

Distribution of practice
(Shea et al., 2000)

• Protocol:
• 1-Day group: both sessions on same day
(massed)
• 20 minutes apart
• 2-Day group: one session/day over
consecutive days (distributed)
• 24 hours apart - -
• Retention test:
• 7 trials without feedback 24 hours following Adaptation of figure 1
practice from Shea et al., 2000
• Measurement:
• RMS error from horizontal (degrees)

Magill & Anderson (2021)

Distribution of practice
(Shea et al., 2000)

• Results:

Figure 3 from Shea et al., 2000

Magill &(similar to Figure 17.2 in textbook)
Anderson (2021)
Distribution of practice
(Shea et al., 2000)

• Conclusions:
• Distributed practice was more beneficial
than massed practice for learning a
continuous balance task
• Implications:
• Distributed practice across days benefits
performance and learning of continuous
motor skills compared to massed practice
within one day

Magill & Anderson (2021)

Which distribution is more
massed/distributed?
(Note: all schedules totalled 60 hours)
(Baddeley & Longman, 1978)
Practice hours/session Sessions/day Weeks of
schedule training
A 1 2 6
B 2 2 3
C 2 1 6
D 1 1 12

Magill & Anderson (2021)

References

• Magill R, & Anderson D. (2017). Motor Learning and Control: Concepts

and Applications. 11th edition. McGrawHill Education, New York, New
York.
• Chapter 17
• Driskell, J. E., Willis, R. P., & Copper, C. (1992). Effect of overlearning
on retention.
• Schendel, J. D., & Hagman, J. D. (1982). On sustaining procedural skills
over a prolonged retention interval. Journal of Applied Psychology,
67(5), 605.

Magill & Anderson (2021)