Scheduling and Frequency of Knowledge of Results Presentations: Age-Related Effects on Motor Learning

Abstract

<p>Changes in motor control processes associated with advancing age have been the focus of considerable research interest. However, the effect of age on the processes involved in motor skill acquisition have received little attention. In this thesis, two experiments are reported that examine the differences in motor learning between young and older normal adults. The strategy was to evaluate the age-related effects on learning of knowledge of results (KR) variables. The learning task in both experiments was a multisegment task with spatial/temporal requirements. The KR variables evaluated were, (1) random and blocked KR schedules, and (2) different schedules of relative frequency of KR. In general, while the findings indicated large performance differences between age groups, there was no difference between age groups in how the KR variables were used to learn the task. The results suggest that despite declines in performance that accompany age, there seems to be no decline in the capabilities of older adults to use these KR variables to acquire and retain this motor skill.</p>