Deck 16: Practice Variability and Specificity

Question 1

Examination of brain activity associated with blocked and random practice provides support for:

A) The reconstruction hypothesis
B) The elaboration hypothesis
C) The reconstruction and elaboration hypotheses
D) None of the hypotheses associated with the contextual interference effect

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In the contextual interference experiment by Lee and Magill, the practice schedule that yielded the same results as the random schedule was the ________ practice schedule.

Answer 2

serial

Question 3

The practice schedule that involves the lowest amount of contextual interference is the ________ practice schedule.

Answer 3

blocked

Question 4

According to Gentile's learning model, to practice an open skill it is essential to vary the ________ conditions related to the skill.

Question 5

The practice schedule that involves the highest amount of contextual interference is the ________ practice schedule.

Question 6

When different levels of contextual interference during motor skill practice are compared, results typically show that:

A) Low contextual interference schedule is better during practice, but the high contextual interference schedule shows better transfer performance
B) High contextual interference schedule is better during practice, but the low contextual interference schedule shows better transfer performance
C) Low and high contextual interference schedules are similar during practice, but the low schedule shows better transfer performance
D) Low and high contextual interference schedules are similar during practice, but the high schedule shows better transfer performance

Question 7

The especial skills effect:

A) Is best accounted for by the practice variability hypothesis
B) Is best accounted for by the practice specificity hypothesis
C) Cannot be accounted for completely by the practice variability or specificity hypothesis
D) Is only seen in children

Question 8

When a person experiences a practice condition where the likelihood of making errors early in practice is high, transfer performance is generally:

A) Better than that of a practice condition that kept errors to a minimum
B) Worse than that of a practice condition that kept errors to a minimum
C) Not different from that of a practice condition that kept errors to a minimum
D) Like starting to practice the skill all over again

Question 9

The hypothesis that explains the contextual interference effect based on the argument that between-trial interference causes individuals to forget critical information encoded on the previous trial is the:

A) Action plan reconstruction hypothesis
B) Elaboration hypothesis
C) Interference hypothesis
D) Recognition schema forgetting hypothesis

Question 10

Research has shown that beginning badminton players learned the long, short, and drive serves best when they followed a ________ schedule to practice the serves.

Question 11

Which of the following situations does not support the specificity of practice hypothesis?

A) The cognitive processing characteristics required during practice
B) The environmental context characteristics of the practice experience
C) The practice schedules used to practice multiple variations of a skill
D) The type of sensory or perceptual information available during practice

Question 12

Simon and Bjork (2001) found that when participants were asked to judge their performances on a retention test, participants who experienced a blocked schedule typically:

A) Accurately estimate their retention test performance
B) Overestimate their retention test performance
C) Underestimate their retention test performance
D) Make a prediction based on the type of skill they are practicing

Question 13

For open skills, regulatory conditions:

A) Can change from one performance to another, but do not change during the movement execution
B) Can change from one performance to another and during the movement execution
C) Cannot change from one performance to another and do not change during the movement execution
D) Do not change from one performance to another

Question 14

Contextual interference can be considered as a continuum ranging from low to high for the amount of interference created by the practice schedule. Which of the following describes a low-to-high continuum of practice schedules?

A) Blocked-Serial-Random
B) Blocked-Random-Serial
C) Serial-Random-Blocked
D) Random-Serial-Blocked

Question 15

Hall and colleagues (1994) demonstrated that the contextual interference effect is:

A) Applicable only in laboratory skill learning situations
B) Applicable to skilled performers
C) Not applicable to baseball skills
D) Not applicable to skilled performers

Question 16

An example of a type of practice that fits well with the view that errors can benefit learning is commonly referred to as ________.

Question 17

According to Gentile, variable practice experiences for closed skills should focus on varying:

A) All aspects of the skill
B) The regulatory conditions related to the skill
C) The nonregulatory conditions related to the skill
D) No specific aspects of the skill

Question 18

Regulatory conditions in a motor skill performance situation include:

A) Speed of a tennis ball during a rally
B) Score of a baseball game
C) Number of spectators at a game
D) Color of a pen that you need to pick up

Question 19

Goode and Magill (1986) found that a ______________ practice schedule facilitated the retention and transfer of badminton service skills.

A) Blocked
B) Random
C) Serial
D) Blocked-random combination

Question 20

Research suggests that blocked practice consistently leads to poor performance:

A) For open skills only
B) For closed skills only
C) On transfer tests that involve novel skill variations or performance contexts
D) On retention tests

Question 21

Research has shown that people who practice in a blocked practice schedule tend to overestimate how well they are learning during practice.

Question 22

The term practice variability refers to the variety of movement and context characteristics the learner experiences while practicing a skill.

Question 23

A schedule that organizes the practice of several skill variations in a serial order is an example of a practice schedule that involves a low amount of contextual interference.

Question 24

Experiments designed to demonstrate the benefit of practice variability typically compare the retention test performance of a constant practice condition and a variable practice condition.

Question 25

A limitation of the contextual interference effect is that it has been demonstrated in laboratory conditions but not in conditions outside the laboratory.

Question 26

The explanation of the contextual interference effect that proposes that the benefit of a random practice schedule is that variations of the skill can be simultaneously compared and contrasted in working memory is known as the ________ hypothesis.

Question 27

Research evidence has provided support for both the elaboration and action-plan reconstruction hypotheses that have been proposed to account for the contextual interference effect.

Question 28

The guideline for implementing practice variability for the learning of open skills is to vary both regulatory and nonregulatory conditions.

Question 29

The term that means "what we know about what we know" and is used in reference to people making judgments about how much they are learning is ________.

Question 30

A limitation of the contextual interference effect is that it applies only to beginners and not to skilled performers of motor skills.

Question 31

According to Proteau's hypothesis about the specificity of learning, motor skill learning is specific to the sources of ________ information available during practice.

Question 32

"Home field advantage" can be explained in part by what we know about incidental learning as it relates to the environmental context.