In1975,Schmidtpublishedhisarticle “ASchemaTheoryofDiscreteMotorSkillLearning”, ,whichstatesthatvariedpractice (“SituationA” intransferterminology) islikelytoenhanceperformanceinanewsituation (SituationB).Whatisinterestingisthattherelationshipisnotconsideredasafunctionofsamenessbetweentwosituations, (Shapiro ＆ Schmidt,1982;Shea ＆ Wulf,2005;Sherwood ＆ Lee,2003).
LetuslookatatypicalstudycarriedoutbyMoxley (1979).Eightychildren,aged6to8yearsold, (acarpet) withashuttlecock.Inoneoftheconditionsthechildrenthrew20timesfromfivedifferentangles,eachfromthesamedistance,.
KerrandBooth (1978) carriedoutasimilarstudy,inwhichthetaskwasagaintohitanobject,,.
Thepracticeforthespecificitygroupconsistedofagreatnumberofthrows,,,practicingsomethingotherthanwhatwastestedwasmoreeffectivethanpracticingexactlywhatwastested.
Althoughthevariabilityofpracticehypothesisreceivedmuchempiricalsupport,Schmidt's (1975) theoryhasbeenseriouslyquestioned (seeShea ＆ Wulf,2005;Sherwood ＆ Lee,2003).IwouldalsoliketointerpretthevariabilityofpracticehypothesisinawaythatdiffersfromSchmidt',andthatthelearnersmustdiscerncriticaldifferencesbetweensituationsinordertobeabletoadjusttonewsituations.
MakingSystematicUseofVariationtoEnhanceLearning
