Deck 13: Transfer of Learning

Question 1

Transfer tests in motor learning research do not assess:

A) A novel variation of the practiced skill
B) A different, although related, skill than was practiced
C) The practiced skill one day after practice ends
D) The practiced skill in a new situation

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The cognitive explanation for bilateral transfer proposes that bilateral transfer occurs because the required:

A) Attention demands are similar
B) Cognitive components are similar
C) Cognitive effort is similar
D) Task components are similar

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Performance of a new experience that is hindered by experience with a previous skill is an example of ________ transfer.

Answer 3

negative

Question 4

Which principle would best describe the beneficial effect of practicing a range of different types of tasks on the learning of a novel task?

A) Specificity of practice
B) Encoding specificity
C) Learning how to learn
D) Retroactive transfer

Question 5

Which of the following provides support for the motor control explanation for bilateral transfer?

A) EEG activity during practice with one limb
B) EMG activity in the non-performing limb when the opposite limb performs the skill
C) Kinematic characteristics are similar for performance of the skill by each limb
D) The cognitive processing similarity for performing the skill with each limb

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of retroactive negative transfer?

A) The difficulty racketball players have acquiring tennis groundstrokes
B) The temporary disruption in sitting performance when infants learn to walk
C) The difficulty ice skaters have learning to ski
D) All of the above

Question 7

One characteristic of a skill that typically will lead to negative transfer when it is changed is the ________ structure of a skill.

Question 8

_______ transfer can be expected if two tasks involve many similar stimulus components.

Question 9

According to the generalized motor program theory of motor control, bilateral transfer can be expected because learning a skill results in the creation of an abstract memory representation for an action in which ________ are a parameter of the program.

Question 10

An important characteristic of ________ transfer is that the effect is typically temporary.

Question 11

Bernstein argued that you would see positive transfer between which two skills?

A) Playing a violin and sawing
B) Cycling and ice-skating
C) Walking and running
D) Horseback riding and hula hooping

Question 12

Negative transfer can be expected for which of the following situations?

A) Learning to hit a tennis forehand after having learned to play badminton
B) Learning to play guitar after having learned to play violin
C) Learning to swim after having learned to play soccer
D) Learning to throw a javelin after having been a baseball pitcher

Question 13

The direction of bilateral transfer between two limbs is typically:

A) Asymmetric
B) Symmetric
C) Either symmetric or asymmetric, depending on the side dominance of the person
D) Either symmetric or asymmetric; the direction is equally distributed among the population

Question 14

We can historically trace the view that transfer occurs because of the similar characteristics of two skills to Thorndike's ________ theory.

Question 15

Bilateral transfer can be related to the concept of the generalized motor program (GMP) because muscle selection in performing a skill is:

A) A parameter of the GMP
B) An invariant characteristic of the GMP
C) Dependent on having the appropriate GMP selected
D) Involved in selecting the appropriate GMP

Question 16

If an experiment is designed to investigate whether bilateral transfer occurs for the non-preferred arm, both arms are involved in the pretests and posttests, but only the ________ arm performs the skill during the practice trials.

Question 17

The ________ theory states that the primary reason for positive transfer between two motor skills is the similarity of the cognitive processes required by the skills.

Question 18

The transfer-appropriate-processing theory suggests that positive transfer is due to similarity of the:

A) Cognitive processes required by two motor skills
B) Components of two motor skills
C) Environmental context characteristics of two motor skills
D) Movements of two motor skills

Question 19

Degree of positive transfer is related to the:

A) Amount of practice on each of the two skills
B) Degree of similarity between the parts of the two skills
C) Degree of similarity of the performance contexts of the two skills
D) Number of component parts of the two skills

Question 20

If the same amount of bilateral transfer occurs from one limb to the other limb, then it is called ________ bilateral transfer.

Question 21

Transfer of learning tests provide an effective means of assessing the learning of a skill following practice.

Question 22

The only reason why positive transfer occurs is that the components of the skills or the contexts in which a skill is performed have a high degree of similarity.

Question 23

The dynamic pattern theory of motor control explains bilateral transfer by stating that the learning of a skill involves the learning of ________ dynamics without reference to the limbs involved.

Question 24

The amount of bilateral transfer from the preferred to the non-preferred limb is greater than from the non-preferred to the preferred limb.

Question 25

The only hypothesis developed to explain why bilateral transfer occurs proposes that invariant characteristics of the generalized motor program acquired with the practice of one limb are applied to the performance of the skill with the contralateral limb.

Question 26

Acquiring a new motor skill can influence the development of non-motor skills.

Question 27

When you perform a motor skill with your right arm, activity in the same muscles can be detected in your left arm.

Question 28

The use of Gentile's taxonomy of motor skills in a physical rehabilitation situation provides a good example of how the transfer of learning principle can be implemented in a skill-training situation.

Question 29

One of the reasons for negative transfer is the initial cognitive confusion that occurs when a person must make a different movement in a familiar environmental context.

Question 30

The brain areas that contribute to learning to learn are likely more similar to those associated with early learning than traditional transfer of learning.

Question 31

Newly learned patterns of coordination can disrupt patterns that were once stable.