Cognitive theories of skill acquisition

Three theories of cognitive representation are described, with emphasis on their implications for issues related to motor skill acquisition. Production system models make a distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge, and skilled performance is assumed to be based on procedural knowledge that is not ordinarily verbalizable or available to consciousness. Neural network models rely on error detection and correction, in a manner reminiscent of closed-loop theory, to develop a distributed representation of knowledge that captures relationships between task components. Instance theories of skill acquisition are founded on the assumption that expert performance derives from automatic retrieval of memory for individual training episodes. The instance memory approach contrasts with the schema theory of skill learning. In general, the cognitive systems described here constitute forms of representation that typically are not open to modification by intentional processes such as mental practice. They are constructed and influenced instead by direct experience with a task.

[1]  Jack A. Adams,et al.  The changing face of motor learning , 1990 .

[2]  G. Logan.  Toward an instance theory of automatization. , 1988 .

[3]  James L. McClelland,et al.  On learning the past-tenses of English verbs: implicit rules or parallel distributed processing , 1986 .

[4]  Walter Schneider,et al.  Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. , 1977 .

[5]  B. Malt,et al.  An on-line investigation of prototype and exemplar strategies in classification. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[6]  David E. Kieras,et al.  The Acquisition of Procedures from Text: A Production-System Analysis of Transfer of Training. Technical Report No. 16. , 1985 .

[7]  W. Kintsch,et al.  The representation of meaning in memory , 1974 .

[8]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  Learning internal representations by error propagation , 1986 .

[9]  J. A. Adams.  Use of the model's knowledge of results to increase the observer's performance , 1986 .

[10]  M. Masson,et al.  Identification of typographically transformed words: instance-based skill acquisition. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[11]  John R. Anderson.  Language, Memory, and Thought , 1976 .

[12]  J. Adams,et al.  A closed-loop theory of motor learning. , 1971, Journal of motor behavior.

[13]  R. Schmidt.  A schema theory of discrete motor skill learning. , 1975 .

[14]  S. Grossberg,et al.  Neural dynamics of planned arm movements: emergent invariants and speed-accuracy properties during trajectory formation. , 1988, Psychological review.

[15]  A. W. Melton.  Categories of Human Learning , 1964 .

[16]  F. Allard,et al.  Skill in sport. , 1985 .

[17]  J. Shea,et al.  Contextual interference effects on the acquisition, retention, and transfer of a motor skill. , 1979 .

[18]  R. Shiffrin,et al.  Controlled and automatic human information processing: I , 1977 .

[19]  A. Paivio.  Imagery and verbal processes , 1972 .

[20]  Allen Newell,et al.  The psychology of human-computer interaction , 1983 .

[21]  Paul M. Fitts,et al.  Perceptual-Motor Skill Learning1 , 1964 .

[22]  Allen Newell,et al.  Human Problem Solving. , 1973 .

[23]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The Transfer of Text-Editing Skill , 1985, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[24]  R. Magill,et al.  American Psychological Association, Inc. The Locus of Contextual Interference in Motor-Skill Acquisition i , 2022 .