I must admit that for a long time I did not make
the distinction between skill acquisition and motor learning. At first I thought
is was just semantics, someone trying to create a new field. Over the past
several years I have come to understand the distinction. Skill acquisition
recognizes the body as a complex system, not a computer to be programmed. The
body is a self-organizing problem solving organism. Skill acquisition
recognizes that there are multiple solutions to the same movement problem. One
solution does not fit all. Essentially it is learning through exploration and
discovery. Not about exploring limits, rather it is defining parameters. There
are many learning options that allow for and encourage individual expression.
Each person has distinct movement signatures; those help define us as
individuals. I always felt that motor learning was trying to put us in a box,
to limit us by limiting our ability to move and learn to certain strict rules.
3 Comments
tclark@kickittraining.com
Thanks Vern. I find your distinction a helpful way to think about those two. Skill acquisition seems to be a much larger and more intrinsic process. I appreciate your thinking.
TIm Clark
Tim
Vern, there is very little difference between skill acquisition and motor learning. What you have described is 2 different theories: (1)dynamical systems theory (where skill is seen as a dynamic/constantly changing process of learning; variability is seen as functional) and (2) information-processing theory (where skill is seen as permanent, and any deviation from the ‘textbook response’ is seen as an error)
Ferdinand
Vern, here’s another way of thinking corresponding with the things you wrote. Take for example a liver an organ that has many functions in a body but has also a lot to do with the posture and movements of: the rotation of the upper thorax, the movement of the right shoulder upwards and the external rotation. But when you see an individual pattern what’s the first thing to start with?
Is it the liver, toxificated by food, drugs, emotions, hormons etc.. that causes the problems in the shoulder or do you start with the shoulder and train the rotational cuff etc.. to fix the problem.
Ferdinand