Extended Practice in Motor Learning Under Varied Practice Schedules

Abstract

We examine motor learning under different training conditions by manipulating the order in which participants practice 4 multisegment movement tasks. We extend previous research on practice schedules by lengthening acquisition training sessions and evaluating a variant of a blocked schedule that is appropriate for longer training sessions. We have 2 primary goals: (1) to characterize if and how practice schedule affects acquisition and retention with extended practice, and (2) to evaluate a blocked-repeated schedule for extended practice. We find that with extended practice at the task, practice schedule effects remain. Acquisition performance continues to suffer under a random schedule and retention is worse for participants that were trained with a blocked schedule. Additionally, we find that a blocked-repeated schedule shows characteristics of both blocked and random schedules: improved acquisition performance (similar to blocked) and improved retention (similar to random).