Contextual interference and motor skill acquisition: On the processes that influence retention

Abstract Over the last decade, there have been competing explanations for the contextual interference effect in motor learning. One notion (Lee and Magill 1983) describes the effect in terms of the movement-plan reconstruction processes acquired with practice, while an alternative (Shea and Zimny 1983, 1988) emphasizes that the types of multiple processing strategies developed with practice are responsible for the effect. In this project, we examined how the various processes, as proposed by both of these explanations, influence the acquisition and retention of a simple aiming task. The methodology employed to address this problem supplemented practice schedules with various interpolated activities in the post-KR delay interval. In experiment 1, exemplar modals about the same-trial, next, or other (randomly determined) movement goal were provided to random practice conditions. Results indicated that there were detrimental and slight beneficial effects for retention when these types of models were provided, relative to a control condition. Experiment 2 further examined the post-KR delay activities that could enhance the cognitive processing associated with effective retention in both blocked and random practice. Findings from this experiment indicate that different types of interpolated activities presented in the post-KR delay interval facilitate retention for blocked practice conditions. Together, results from both experiments suggest that both elaboration and reconstruction processes can be beneficial for long-term retention.