Motor Learning and Performance: A Problem-Based Learning Approach, ed 3.

Motor Learning and Performance: A Problem-Based Learning Approach, ed 3 Schmidt RA, Wrisberg CA. Champaign, IL 61825, Human Kinetics, 2004, hardcover, 381 pp, illus, ISBN: 0-7360-4566-X, $62.

The target audience of this book is undergraduate students in physical education, exercise and sports science, kinesiology, biomechanics, ergonomics, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and premedicine who have litre or no background in physiology, psychology, or statistics. It consists of 12 chapters organized into 3 sections that build a conceptual model of motor learning. The reader is led from an elementary understanding of motor learning in chapter 1 to the application of the principles of motor learning in real-world situations in chapter 12. Each chapter uses a consistent format that includes the following elements: chapter objectives, preview, overview, research highlights, running glossary, figures, tables, interpretations or applications of the literature, and chapter summaries. In chapters 1 through 10, self-test exercises allow readers to apply the motor-learning principles to practice. Answers to the matching and fill-in-the-blank questions are provided in the appendix.

Chapter 1 defines and illustrates movement skills by task, by motor and cognitive elements, by environment, and by skill performance. Stages of learning also are defined, including implicit and explicit components. The chapter ends with the introduction of the problem-based learning approach. Examples for each definition are provided using everyday movement skills, sports skills, and rehabilitation scenarios. This pattern is consistent throughout the remaining chapters.

Chapter 2 presents the concept of inherent motor abilities and their relationship to prior experience and patterns of movement. The concept of task analysis is presented as a way of looking at the learner and the desired motor skill to be learned.

Chapter 3 introduces the conceptual model of motor learning as a basic input-output form. The input-output model is presented broadly in terms of stimulus identification leading to an ultimate response. Concepts influencing the model are described in depth and include reaction time, spatial/temporal anticipation, arousal/anxiety, attention, practice, timing/rhythm, and memory. As this new information is added, the model is expanded in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 4 begins a detailed exploration of the physiological components contributing to the concepts presented in chapter 3. The vestibular system, muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, and cutaneous receptors are described at a level that reinforces the motor-learning model. The closed loop system using sensory feedback is introduced, and definitions of reflexes and the role of spinal cord reflexes in movement are explored in detail. The chapter concludes with definitions and roles of the visual system in movement production.

Chapter 5 introduces the concept of an open loop system to the motor-learning model, leading to the discussion of degrees of freedom, motor programs, central pattern generators, and postural adjustments. It concludes with a discussion of the generalized motor program and parameters. The dynamical systems model is presented in this chapter in a subsection rifled, "The Berustein, or Dynamical, Perspective." The discussion of this area is somewhat superficial and brief compared with what has been discussed in the physical therapy profession. The authors end this discussion by stating that the debate on this theory's role in movement continues and that a combination of this theory with motor-learning theory may explain movement control.

Chapter 6 continues with an in-depth presentation of the generalized motor program's components and includes speed and accuracy trade-offs, relative timing with respect to classes of movement (eg, upright mobility), and timing errors. The chapter ends with a very detailed and applied example--which incorporates all of the material presented thus far--of hitting a pitched baseball.

Chapter 7 integrates information into the learning and performance of the desired task. Goal setting, locus of control, transfer of learning, motivation, past experience, and learning stages are presented with discussion of how to incorporate this knowledge with a learner. Performance and process measures are discussed as a way of measuring outcomes.

Chapter 8 continues the discussion begun in chapter 7 and covers the topics of familiarizing learners with the tasks to be learned, managing cognitive arousal for success, practice (massed and distributed), instructions, demonstration, and guidance (physical, verbal, visual). Rehearsal forms are discussed in the context of simulators, part practice, slow motion practice, error detection during practice, and mental rehearsal and practice.

Chapter 9 continues the discussion of practice in more depth. Blocked, random, and varied practice are defined and compared. The roles of repetition and brain mapping also are addressed.

Chapter 10 explores the feedback components of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, knowledge of results, and knowledge of performance. Motivation and reinforcement as feedback also is presented in conjunction with literature support. Discussions of visual feedback, general versus specific feedback, and timing of feedback conclude tile chapter.

Chapters 11 and 12 provide the reader with the opportunity to integrate all the material in chapters 1 through 10. Chapter 11 uses a case study format. The authors provide a checklist, which incorporates all the concepts presented in the book, to help the reader extract pertinent information from each case study. The authors allow photocopying of the form for personal use. Two of the 4 studies presented are sports-related, another is a pediatric physical therapy case, and the final case is an occupational training example. The pediatric example is very typical and illustrates how to incorporate the concepts. Each case study includes supporting references for the content. Chapter 12 is very brief and enables the reader to create an instructional scenario, to diagnose and design the learning experience, and to assess and then document the instructional strategy.

The strengths of this book are the consistent organization of each chapter and the fulfillment of its mission as described in the preface--to describe a model of motor learning and performance that will provide the reader with a way to identify effective strategies to a range of practical motor performance tasks. Teaching and learning principles are applied by presenting an outline in the beginning of each chapter. The reader is kept informed of the upcoming chapter's contents at the end of each chapter as well. The writing style is easy to read, and it clearly translates technical information into a reader-friendly format. These authors are skilled at describing the "need-to-know" parts of the research to reinforce their points. This edition contains more than 60 new references; the references number 314 in all. The use of illustrations, tables, and figures provides complementary information and visually breaks up the written content in a pleasing manner.

I found very few weaknesses in this book. Chapter 4 had a few minor discrepancies. The vestibular system was described as interoceptive when it is both interoceptive and exteroceptive (see p 93). Self-generated head movement is interoceptive, but when the body is perturbed by an outside force, the vestibular apparatus functions exteroceptively. Horseback riding is an example of exteroceptive vestibular input.

Another minor observation was the description of the infant's blink in response to a looming stimulus as a part of the visual proprioceptive system (p 120), when it has been clearly defined in other sources as a developmental reflex (blink reflex in newborns). In the book, reflexes were defined as stereotyped, involuntary, and usually rapid responses to stimuli (p 105). The response described in infants is reflexive in nature. As we mature, we can override the blink consciously, unless the looming stimulus is a physical threat; in this case, the reflex will occur to protect the eye. Developmental reflexes as a basis for learning motor patterns, as this example illustrates, were not discussed in this text. Many examples of motor learning in children and adults were given throughout the text, and the richness of the content could be enhanced by providing more developmental aspects of motor learning from infancy. The summary in chapter 4, however, does not discuss the role of vision at all.

The final weakness I observed was the description of muscle tissue properties as affecting the timing and patterns of throwing, Incorporating tissue properties is clearly a function of the dynamical systems model, and this was not identified as such (chapter 10, p 292). The brief discussion of the dynamic perspective in chapter 5 is presented as an acknowledgement of this theory's existence; however, the chapter could have been expanded to discuss the many motor skills described in the chapter. For example, environment was used throughout as part of the motor learning examples, where environmental conditions can be viewed as a factor from a dynamical systems perspective. Another example of areas where the discussion of dynamical systems could be discussed in greater depth would be how injury or pain alter movement patterns, because these factors alter the internal human structure and perception. Because the intended audience for this book included health care professionals who would be exposed to these common findings in athletes, children, "weekend warriors," and so on, this is not an unreasonable observation. I recommend that future editions include more on the dynamic perspective related to the motor-learning conceptual model presented in the book.

Overall, this book is an excellent resource for the physical therapy profession. It would be beneficial to use in professional physical therapist education programs. The style and consistency make it appropriate for students to use in a transitional DPT program, especially if they have been practicing for more than 10 years. If it were to be used in professional physical therapist education programs, the instructor would need to supplement it with the content areas of child development and the dynamical systems (dynamical action) theory.

Patricia R Curatti, PT, PCS University of Michigan-Flint Flint, Mich

Ms Curatti is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, School of Health Professions and Studies.