Stage of Learner

Fitts and Posner (1967) articulate three classic stages

  1. Cognitive (verbal) stage

  2. Associative stage
    • gradual decrease in errors
    • development of internal (sensory) reference of correctness

  3. Autonomous (automatic) stage

Gentile (2000) suggests that the first stage involves explicit processes in which the learner matches the body's morphology or form to the environment's regulatory conditions, and learns to manipulate parameters that scale the movement to different task demands. Later, during stages in which learning is less conscious, the learner improves in intrinsic processes like regulating intersegmental or motion-dependent forces.

References:

Fitts, P.M., & Posner, M.I. (1967). Learning and skilled performance in human performance. Belmont CA: Brock-Cole.

Gentile, A. (2000). Skill acquisition: Action, movement, and neuromotor processes. In: Carr, J., & Shepherd, R. Movement science: Foundations for physical therapy in rehabilitation . (2nd ed.). Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.


Last updated 11-27-01 ©Dave Thompson PT
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