Research article summary (published 30 Mar 1999):

Effects of contextual interference and age on acquisition, retention, and transfer of motor skill.

Full Abstract

This experiment was designed to investigate the varying conditions of contextual interference within three age groups. 40 5-yr.-olds, 40 7-yr.-olds, and 40 11-yr.-olds practiced the task of throwing beanbags under either low contextual interference (blocked practice), high contextual interference (random practice), or medium contextual interference (combined practice). All subjects performed 30 acquisition trials, 12 retention trials and 6 transfer trials. Analysis indicated that only the 7-yr.-old subjects differed in their performance in the various practice groups. As hypothesized and suggested by developmental theories, the combined and blocked practice groups acquired the task better. On the other hand, the 5- and 11-yr.-olds did not differ in performance in the different practice groups. Whether this is associated with difficulty of the task or the length of practice can be assessed in further study. Contextual interference in different age groups needs further investigation.

Author information

Author/s: Jarus, T (T); Goverover, Y (Y);

Affiliation: Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Perceptual and motor skills (Percept Mot Skills), published in UNITED STATES. (Language: eng)

Reference: 1999-Apr; vol 88 (issue 2) : pp 437-47

Dates: Created 1999/10/06; Completed 1999/10/06; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 10483636, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Age Factors Analysis of Variance Child Child Development - physiology Child, Preschool

Humans Motor Skills - physiology Practice (Psychology) Retention (Psychology) - physiology Transfer (Psychology) - physiology

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