"Investigating Physiological Responses to Differently
Distributed Practice and
their Effects on the Learning and
Performance of a Gross Motor Task"
By Andy Blow
University of Bath
(Department of Sport and Exercise Science)
and Benetton Formula One Human Performance Centre
The project
aimed to utilise the BATAK reaction board to assess what effect
different methods of practice had on the learning and performance
of a reaction based task over repeated 30 second intervals.
Origin
of the Idea
The idea was conceived from a set of data originally collected
at the playzone of the Millenium Dome where several hundred individuals
were observed recorded whilst completing the 30 second accumulator.
This task required the participant to stand in front of the BATAK
board and accumulate points by striking out as many lit buttons
as possible in 30 seconds. It was noticed that individuals who
played the game more than once rapidly increased their score level.
In fact, members of staff at the playzone, who often played several
times a day, were extremely proficient often scoring 3 - 4 times
as many hits as a novice. The research project therefore aimed
to look at which kind of practice methods were most effective
at improving their BATAK score something that is directly related
to their ability to see, process and react to visual information.
Research Project
Volunteers for the project were a group of 19 - 29 year old
sportsmen from a variety of sports. They were split into two
groups and practised the BATAK game 80 times. This was done
in a continuous manner with no rest between 30 second games
(known as massed practice) or with 30 seconds rest between each
game (known as distributed practice). During the trials the
subjects wore a device to measure the amount of oxygen they
consumed and read their heart rate. This gave an idea of the
level of physical activity attained during the repeated games.
Results and Conclusions
The results showed that there was very little difference between
the two groups in terms of how much they improved over the trials.
However, it was clear that there was a relationship between
the level of physical stress and physical activation and the
performance level. Those subjects who achieved a higher heart
rate and oxygen uptake (more physical stress / activation) scored
more highly in the tests. This trend suggested that the performance
of the BATAK task (and similar sporting tasks) is approaching
optimal when the performer is physically and mentally 'up for
it' and motivated. This kind of idea is not new to sport and
exercise science but what is interesting is that the performance
on the BATAK system in different states of readiness may provide
a measurable way to assess a sportsman's optimal level of physical
activation for reaction type tasks. It is hoped to continue
research in this area to further explore the ideas generated
by this study.
PERSONAL
PROFILE
ANDY BLOW
Andy
Blow is a Sport and
Exercise Scientist with a
degree from the University of Bath. He has
worked in the motorsport industry his entire career; starting
off as the sports scientist for the Benetton
and Renault F1 teams, training top international
drivers including Fernando Alonso, Jenson
Button, Mark Webber and Jarno
Trulli.
More recently he has co-authored the book 'The Motorsport
Fitness Manual'
with Dr. Raj Jutley.
As an athlete, Andy represented the Great Britain elite
team in triathlon and duathlon
at World Championship level and recorded several
top 10 international Ironman
finishes.
Andy now runs the votwo
lab with Phil Mosley. Andy's expertise is available to athletes
at all levels helping them to accurately measure their fitness
and prepare more scientifically for competition.
Andy
also runs Human Performance training sessions at the Porsche
Human Performance centre in Silverstone.
Click
Here to
download the Porsche Human Performance training brochure.
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