Learning better by repetition or variation? Is transfer at odds with task specific training?
OBJECTIVE
Transfer of motor skills is the ultimate goal of motor training in rehabilitation practice. In children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), very little is known about how skills are transferred from training situations to real life contexts. In this study we examined the influence of two types of practice on transfer of motor skills acquired in a virtual reality (VR) environment.


METHODS
One hundred and eleven children with DCD and their typically developing (TD) peers, aged 6-10 years (M = 8.0 SD = 1.0) were randomly assigned to either variable (n = 56) or repetitive practice (n = 55). Participants in the repetitive practice played the same exergame (ski slalom) twice weekly for 20 minutes, over a period of 5 weeks, while those in the variable group played 10 different games. Motor skills such as balance tasks (hopping), running and agility tasks, ball skills and functional activities were evaluated before and after 5 weeks of training.


RESULTS
ANOVA repeated measures indicated that both DCD and TD children demonstrated transfer effects to real life skills with identical and non-identical elements at exactly the same rate, irrespective of the type of practice they were assigned to.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on these findings, we conclude that motor skills acquired in the VR environment, transfers to real world contexts in similar proportions for both TD and DCD children. The type of practice adopted does not seem to influence children's ability to transfer skills acquired in an exergame to life situations but the number of identical elements does.
Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.|Department of Physical Therapy, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Emmanuel
E
Bonney
Developmental and Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Lemke Dorothee
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3311-435X
LD
Jelsma
Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Gillian D
GD
Ferguson
Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Bouwien C M
BC
Smits-Engelsman
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D060865:Repetition Priming; D018910:Video Games