41 exam-style questions on Motor learning processes — topic C.2.1 of Sports psychology and motor learning in the IB Sports, Exercise and Health Science syllabus — with answers and explanations. Samples below; the full set is free with an account.
A novice basketball player watches her own hands while dribbling, makes large and inconsistent errors and needs the coach to tell her the outcome of nearly every attempt. Which stage of learning described by Fitts and Posner is she in?
Answer: The cognitive stage
In the cognitive stage the learner is still working out what to do, so attention is on the movement itself and errors are large and irregular; only in the associative stage do errors become smaller and more consistent.
A midfielder has already picked up the run of the covering defender. She now compares that pattern with options held in long-term memory and chooses a pass rather than a shot. Which part of the information-processing model is described by that comparison and choice?
Answer: The decision-making mechanism
Comparing the situation with stored patterns and selecting a response is the decision-making stage, which sits between input and output; this is why experience shortens choice reaction time without any change in the eyes or the muscles.
A tennis coach ends each session by mixing serves, volleys and groundstrokes in an unpredictable order instead of practising thirty of each in blocks. What does research on random practice predict?
Answer: Poorer performance in the session but better retention
Random practice raises contextual interference, so the learner must reconstruct the movement plan on every attempt; that slows performance during the session but produces stronger retention and transfer to the varied demands of a match.
A badminton player taking up tennis keeps adding a flicked wrist action to the forehand drive. Which type of transfer of learning does this illustrate?
Answer: Negative transfer
Negative transfer means an established skill actively interferes with the new one, which is not the same as zero transfer, where the old skill simply has no effect; the wrist action is useful in badminton and harmful in the tennis drive.
A goalkeeper faces a penalty taker who can now shoot to four corners rather than two. What does Hick's law predict for the goalkeeper's choice reaction time?
Answer: It rises with the logarithm of the number of choices
Choice reaction time increases with the logarithm of the number of alternatives, so doubling the options adds a roughly constant amount rather than doubling the delay; this is why attackers gain more from the first extra option than from the fourth.
A coach teaches a tennis serve by having the beginner practise the ball toss on its own, then the toss with the swing, then the whole action. Which practice method is being used?
Answer: Progressive part practice
Elements are practised separately and then chained together in growing units, which suits a serial skill whose parts can be meaningfully separated. Whole practice would rehearse the complete serve from the start, and it is preferred for skills whose parts lose their meaning when isolated, such as a continuous cycling action.
That was 6 of 41 Motor learning processes questions.
Practise all 41 freeDistinguishAO2 · 1–4 marks
Make the difference clear for BOTH terms — a definition of one of them is only half an answer.
DescribeAO2 · 1–4 marks
Give a detailed account of what it is or how it happens — steps, features, pattern — without saying why.
OutlineAO2 · 1–4 marks
A brief account or summary: the main points in two or three sentences, no evaluation.
41 Motor learning processes questions — free with an account. Spaced repetition, streaks and full exam simulations included.
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