title: Effects of contextual interference and conditions of movement task on acquisition, retention, and transfer of motor skills by women.
abstract: This experiment was designed to investigate varying conditions of contextual interference within two different conditions of movement tasks during acquisition on the acquisition and retention of a computerized task and transfer to a functional skill. Performance of head movements was conducted under open- or closed-task conditions and with random or blocked schedules of practice. Analysis indicated that learning under the open-task condition resulted in better retention and transfer than the closed-task condition. It is suggested that increasing the within-trial variability in the open-task condition produced a contextual interference effect. In this regard, support for Battig's predictions is provided by the current findings in that the high variability present during the open-task condition was more beneficial for retention and transfer than the low variability present during the closed-task condition. Differences between random and blocked schedules of practice on the retention and transfer data were not statistically significant.
authors.affiliation: Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jarus
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Wughalter
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gianutsos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008838:Microcomputers; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D012737:Sex Factors; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014163:Transfer, Psychology