Dissociated Contextual Interference Effects in Children and Adults

24 7-yr.-old children and 24 university-age adults practiced a ballistic aiming task under either low contextual interference (blocked practice) or high contextual interference (random practice). All subjects performed 90 acquisition trials, followed by 20 transfer trials and 15 retention trials. Similar to previous findings, the adults performed the acquisition trials better under blocked than under random conditions, yet performed the retention and transfer tests better after random than blocked practice. No differences in acquisition were found between blocked and random practice conditions for the children; nevertheless, the random group performed the retention and transfer tests better than the blocked group. The results are discussed in relation to applied and theoretical issues of contextual interference.

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Contextual Interference Effects with Skilled Baseball Players

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/003151259407800331 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 78 (3) ◽

pp. 835-841 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Kellie Green Hall ◽

Derek A. Domingues ◽

Richard Cavazos

Keyword(s):

Random Order ◽

Contextual Interference ◽

Control Group ◽

Interference Effects ◽

Random Group ◽

Baseball Players ◽

Novice Learners ◽

Collegiate Baseball ◽

Baseball Team ◽

Better Than

The learning benefits of contextual interference have been frequently demonstrated in different settings using novice learners. The purpose of the present study was to test such effects with skilled athletic performers. Scheduling differences for biweekly additional (“extra”) batting-practice sessions of a collegiate baseball team were examined. 30 players (ns = 10) were blocked on skill and then randomly assigned to one of three groups. The random and blocked groups received 2 additional batting-practice sessions each week for 6 wk. (12 sessions), while the control group received no additional practice. The extra sessions consisted of 45 pitches, 15 fastballs, 15 curve-balls, and 15 change-up pitches. The random group received these pitches in a random order, while the blocked group received all 15 of one type, then 15 of the next type, and finally 15 of the last type of pitch in a blocked fashion. All subjects received a pretest of 45 randomly presented pitches of the three varieties. After 6 wk. of extra batting practice, all subjects received two transfer tests, each of 45 trials; one was presented randomly and one blocked. The transfer tests were counterbalanced across subjects. Pretest analysis showed no significant differences among groups. On both the random and blocked transfer tests, however, the random group performed with reliably higher scores than the blocked group, who performed better than the control group. When comparing the pretest to the random transfer test, the random group improved 56.7%, the blocked group 24.8%, and the control group only 6.2%. These findings demonstrate the contextual interference effect to be robust and beneficial even to skilled learners in a complex sport setting.

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Win-Shift, Lose-Stay: Contingent Switching and Contextual Interference in Motor Learning

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.107.2.407-418 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 107 (2) ◽

pp. 407-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Dominic A. Simon ◽

Timothy D. Lee ◽

John D. Cullen

Keyword(s):

Motor Learning ◽

Retention Test ◽

Contextual Interference ◽

Target Movement ◽

Random Group ◽

Target Time ◽

Practice Schedules ◽

Random Groups ◽

Better Than

Learners ( n = 48) practiced three multisegment movements with distinct target movement times. Four practice groups were compared: blocked, random, and two groups who had a win-shift/lose-stay schedule (WSLS1 and WSLS2). For these latter groups switching between practice tasks was performance-contingent: within 5% of target time for 1 or 2 consecutive trials, respectively. During acquisition, blocked performance was more accurate than for both random and WSLS2 groups. The WSLS1 group performed between blocked and random groups, but did not differ from either. In a next-day retention test, the random group scored better than the blocked group. The WSLS1 group performed similarly to the random practice while the WSLS2 group's scores were similar to those of the blocked group. Results encourage further study of similar practice schedules.

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MEMORY CONSOLIDATION AND CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE EFFECTS WITH COMPUTER GAMES

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.97.6.581-589 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 97 (6) ◽

pp. 581 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

PATRICIA A. SHEWOKIS

Keyword(s):

Memory Consolidation ◽

Computer Games ◽

Contextual Interference ◽

Interference Effects

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Is the Contextual Interference Effect Generalizable to Computer Games?

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1997.84.1.3 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 84 (1) ◽

pp. 3-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Patricia A. Shewokis

Keyword(s):

Computer Games ◽

Sport Management ◽

Computer Game ◽

Contextual Interference ◽

Task Characteristics ◽

Interference Effects ◽

Practice Schedule ◽

Winter Olympics ◽

Random Schedule ◽

Multiple Tasks

The benefits of learning multiple tasks under an unstructured practice schedule have been extensively demonstrated in the laboratory. The purpose of the present study was to test contextual interference effects in a nonlaboratory setting using computer games as tasks. Undergraduate kinesiology and sport management majors ( N=19) played a computer game simulating the events of the winter Olympics. Participants were randomly assigned to either a Blocked or Random practice schedule, practicing 36 trials of three events. Delayed retention and transfer tests were performed after a 48-hr. retention interval. The dependent variable was time to complete an event. During transfer, participants in the Random schedule ( M = 248 sec.) were significantly faster than Blocked ( M = 263 sec.) participants. Results support and extend previous contextual interference findings. Transfer was facilitated for participants who learned the events in a Random practice order. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of task characteristics on learning.

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Formation Of Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystals With Cavities Arrays In Silicon

Siberian Journal of Physics ◽

10.54362/1818-7919-2016-11-1-88-93 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 88-93

Author(s):

Dmitriy Utkin ◽

Aleksandr Shklyaev ◽

Fedor Dultsev ◽

Aleksandr Latyshev

Keyword(s):

Electron Beam ◽

Photonic Crystals ◽

Electron Beam Lithography ◽

Spatial Distributions ◽

Two Dimensional ◽

Interference Effects ◽

Technological Parameters ◽

Beam Interaction ◽

Cavity Array ◽

Better Than

Specific aspects of finely focused electron beam interaction with the PMMA-950K resist for the fabrication of closely spaced holes having inhomogeneous spatial distributions are studied. The technological parameters for the creation of two-dimensional photonic crystals with microcavities (missing holes) arrays, which allow obtaining the lateral sizes of the structure within the accuracy better than 2 %, in silicon using electron-beam lithography are determined. Such holes fabrication accuracy is thought to be sufficient to study the interference effects of cavity array radiation in twodimensional photonic crystals.

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Applying Contextual Interference to Snowboarding Skills

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.2002.95.3.999 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 95 (3) ◽

pp. 999-1005 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Peter J.K. Smith

Keyword(s):

Retention Test ◽

Negative Transfer ◽

Contextual Interference ◽

The Other ◽

Interference Effects

This investigation was designed to apply contextual interference to acquisition of snowboarding skills. 20 participants completed several acquisition stages lasting about 2 hours while either alternating the direction of the turn within each stage or completing the whole stage while attempting turns in one direction, then repeating the stage for the other direction of turn. Following acquisition, all participants returned 1 wk. later for a retention test. Alternating practice yielded better performance during acquisition and retention as measured by the arc and form attained within the turns. Because this differs from typical contextual interference effects, it is suggested that the relation between the skills may have affected the results. Negative transfer operating within blocked practice and increased between-task comparisons within alternating practice may be related to the similarity between the tasks.

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