Effect of Practice on Effector Independence

• Published in: Journal of motor behavior 2003-03, Vol.35 (1), p.33-40
• Main Authors: Park, Jin-Hoon, Shea, Charles H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Biological and medical sciences; effector transfer; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Generalization (Psychology); generalized motor program; Handwriting; Humans; Learning; parameter learning; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor activities; Psychomotor Performance; Random Allocation; Reaction Time; sequence learning; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0022-2895; 1940-1027
• DOI: 10.1080/00222890309602119

The authors' primary purpose in the present experiment was to determine if practice changes the extent to which simple motor sequences are effector independent. Contralateral and ipsilateral effector transfers were assessed in 24 participants after 1 (200 trials) and 4 (800 trials) days of practice. The response sequence became increasingly effector dependent; the response structure and the scaling of force on the effector transfer tests were no better after 4 days of practice than after only 1 day, even though retention performance improved substantially. Those results are consistent with the notion that participants refine their movements over extended practice by exploiting the unique characteristics of the effectors. The additional practice results in a more effective movement when the same effectors are used but is of little value when different effectors are required.