Motor skills learning – key factors

Another more recent article by Wulf:

Wulf, G., Shea, C., & Lewthwaite, R. (2010). Motor skilllearning and performance: A review of influential factors. Medical Education, 44, 75-84.

This is a shorter article than the one on last weeks’ blog. The article discusses motor skills learning as contextualized to the learning of medical / surgery skills. Observational practice, focus of attention, feedback and self-controlled practice are all summarized.

A very useful article providing the salient findings from the large volume of work on motor skills learning. As much research on motor skills learning in based on laboratory studies, this article, providing examples / applications warrants study. The article from last week’s blog provides greater detail and much more in-depth discussion for those who are interested in pursuing the topic further.

To summarise:

Observational practice, especially if combined with physical practice, is an important component of mimetic practice. Observational practice not only important as a visual introduction to the motor movements, but also of the goals of movement, the subtle and coordinative actions that are part of complex task completion.  Observation provides time for the learner to undertake some reflection on the tasks, before actual trial / performance.

Recommends the use of dyad practice – i.e. practice in pairs as it generates opportunities for both to observe and to practice while observed. So learner not only tries motor action, but has someone to provide timely feedback on performance.

Focus of attentions should be ‘external’ on the goal / task rather than ‘internal’ on placement, movement itself. So, for baking example, when piping out cream rosettes, focus on producing the rosettes to requirements (size, shape, each rosette the same, etc.) rather than amount of pressure exerted from hand holding the piping bag.

Positive feedback much more effective than negative. So learners’ goals become focused on good practice rather than trying to correct ‘mistakes’.

Self-controlled practice refers to learners setting their own goals, rather than trying to meet instructor-set goals. Learner choice as to how to practice and what to practice, leads to better attainment of motor skills in the long term. 

Learning by watching

Writing up the final report for the learning a trade project and expanding on the section on 'learning by watching'.

I have had a look through both editions of  – Skill Acquisition in Sport: Research theory and practice to bring together various recommendations for improving learning through observations.  The chapters of most relevance in Edition 1 are chapters 8 (instructions, demonstrations and the learning process), 9 (observational learning) and 11 (deliberate practice and expert performance) and in Edition 2 are chapter 2 (how to schedule observational practice), 6 (mental imagery, action observation and skill learning) and 11 (motor skill coordination)

From these chapters, three main topics arise. These are learning by observation; motor skills learning and relationship to deliberate practice; and role of mental imagery in learning motor skills.

Learning by observation:

Observational learning occurs through processes of copying, emulation and echokinesis. Some of the processes are innate, which is why motor skills learning can be difficult to describe and articulate through voice or text. Examples from my own experience abound whereby teaching a motor action, also involves ‘going through the motion’ as well. Learners trying to explain their action, also tend to use bodily action to ‘explain’ what they have done.  Therefore, there is a need to ATTEND to how motor skills are being learnt with a proviso to not overly analyse until basic movements are attained.

‘Stages of learning by observation’ include the need to pay focused attention at the initial stages. Visual and verbal cues from coaches are helpful in ‘priming’ a learner up and providing the learner with the ‘whole picture’. Initial practice needs to be well-supported with appropriate feedback. Feedback can be from others, but also importantly from the learner (knowledge of result – KR) as aspects, small steps, nuances of motor skill learning are sometimes difficult for observers / coaches to pick up. Here is where videos can come in handy, to record initial learning and then for coaches to assist learners to pin point areas to be improved.

Once initial learning and practice is completed and the learner is building up competency, error detection and correction (from individual and others) is undertaken. By this time, the reference points for correct posture, performance and/ or process also need to be established. Otherwise, the learner is unable to self-correct as they have unclear KR.

Motor skill learning through deliberate practice:

More on this aspect in a previous post as ‘practice’ comes up highest on list of ways of learning for apprentices. Suffice to say, ‘practice makes perfect’ and the requirement to engage in repetitive work tasks, is a cornerstone of much of human learning.

Mental imagery and motor skill learning:

The role of mental imagery is signalled in stage one of the learning by observation process. The learner needs to have some form of ‘model’, physical or mental, to base deliberate practice on. Learning can be ‘on-line’ through situated practice or ‘off-line’ through mental practice. Off-line can take the form of reviewing the steps before actual physical action or reflection after physical action. Off-line learning also required to bed down and consolidate new learning, hence importance of rest, sleep and recreation. Bringing the tenets of deliberate practice together with mental imagery is an aspect not explored in the learning of vocational trade skills.

Therefore, still the three areas of learning to work on. 

1) Individuals’ learning strategies can be improved through deliberate practice, coupled with metacognition of learning progress and perhaps assisted through use of mental imagery. 

2) Guidance from others may be direct (as per coaching) or indirect (learning by observing others) and learners need to learn the skills of how to apply suggestions from others. 

3) Workplace organisation or structure of learning need to take into account and provide support for deliberate learning processes.

Motor control and skill development in vocational education

As a continuation to last week’s blog, contributions from the field of sports psychology, dance pedagogy and the training of surgeons are summarised with relevance to the learning of trade 'motor' skills.


Learning a trade requires the acquisition of a range of motor skills. However, the literature is sparse when it comes to vocational trade skills learning and teaching. Each of the following disciplines studies motor skill learning from slightly different angles.

In sports psychology, behaviourists and cognitivists theories are brought together to study how to improve sports performance. For instance, a continuum of skill learning includes the cognitive, associative and autonomous phrases (Christina & Corcos, 1988; Fitts & Poster, 1967) with recommendations on whole vs part practice. Specific terms of relevance include proprioception – the sense of head, trunk and limb movement and exteroceptive – vision and hearing. Books in CPIT library include 'Motor control, learning and development' by Otley and Astill (2008); and 'Applied sport psychology: personal growth to peak performance' edited by J.M. Williams (2010).

From dance pedagogy we have an example from the book ‘Meaning in motion’ by Jane Desmond (2003) Here there is the linking of motor skills development with roots in behaviourist learning theories to regarding the ‘body, tool use and cognition’ bringing together aspects of embodiment, identity, how the brain represents and make connections between the many sensory inputs.

Medical education includes many speciality areas requiring the learning of practical skills. Here is an example on teaching surgical skills by Reznick & MacRae (2006). The paper advocates the use of simulations to assist medical students to learn and deliberately practice the mechanics of the skill before they have to use subsets and variants of these skills in an actual operating theatre.

Therefore, there is a specific language from psychology, to describe various aspects of motor control and skills learning and examples from other disciplines studying, describing and some advocating strategies for application to learning and teaching. Next step for me is to to think through the interconnections, interfaces and synergies between the various approaches to understanding learning how to become a trade worker.