Principles derived from the study of simple skills do not generalize to complex skill learning

644Citations
Citations of this article
641Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

We review research related to the learning of complex motor skills with respect to principles developed on the basis of simple skill learning. Although some factors seem to have opposite effects on the learning of simple and of complex skills, other factors appear to be relevant mainly for the learning of more complex skills. We interpret these apparently contradictory findings as suggesting that situations with low processing demands benefit from practice conditions that increase the load and challenge the performer, whereas practice conditions that result in extremely high load should benefit from conditions that reduce the load to more manageable levels. The findings reviewed here call into question the generalizability of results from studies using simple laboratory tasks to the learning of complex motor skills. They also demonstrate the need to use more complex skills in motor-learning research in order to gain further insights into the learning process. The preparation of this paper was supported by Grant PR 118/18-2 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. We thank Robert Proctor, Richard A. Schmidt, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Wulf, G., & Shea, C. H. (2002). Principles derived from the study of simple skills do not generalize to complex skill learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. Psychonomic Society Inc. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196276

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free