Abstract:
Most of the research on contextual interference effects have found that non-repetitive practice (random) as compared to repetitive practice (blocked) facilitates learning. However, when the classification of the task (open/closed) and the entry level of the subjects (beginner/advanced) are considered, the results are not consistent with previous findings. Apparently, a beginner in learning an open skill does not benefit from random practice as in a closed skill. The purpose of this study was to investigate the contextual interference effect of differing practice schedules on the learning of an open motor skill by beginners. Six groups were used in the study: random, blocked, random-blocked, blocked-random, random-blocked-random and blocked-random-blocked. The task required the subjects to push a telegraph key to coincide with the arrival of lights with different speeds to the end of the runway of a Bassin anticipation timer. Results revealed that a low contextual interference (block practice schedule) is an indispensible prerequisite of gaining benefits from a high contextual interference effect (random practice schedule) for beginners learning open motor skills. Neither pure block or random practice schedule seemed to benefit the novice learning an open motor skill.