Journal article
Design considerations for contextual interference studies: A replication of testing asymmetric transfer
Journal of sport & exercise psychology, Vol.23
01 Jun 2001
Abstract
Studies on learning phenomena commonly use within-subjects designs. Inherent in these within-subjects designs may be asymmetric transfer (AT), a source of bias that may be used as an alternative explanation for the results (Poulton, 1989). Typically, contextual interference studies employ mixed-model and higher-order ANOVA designs without presumably addressing AT influences (Hall & Magill, 1995; Immink & Wright, 1998; Tsutsui, Lee, & Hodges, 1998). Using Shewokis and Klopfer's (1996) work with anticipation timing tasks as a model, the present study replicated the testing of AT using a contextual interference paradigm with a movement timing task. Consistent with the design of Shewokis and Klopfer, there were 3 Constant groups who practiced only one of the movement patterns; 6 Blocked groups (representing all possible combinations of the 3 movement patterns), and 1 Random group (nonsequenced practice of the 3 movement patterns). All groups practiced at least 90 acquisition trials (blocked and random groups practiced 30 successful trials of each movement pattern), and after a 20-minute filled retention interval they performed 12 successful free recall (No-KR) retention and 10 successful (No-KR) transfer trials. Dependent variables were number of errors, reaction time, and movement time. No contextual interference effect was found for retention or transfer. As expected, during retention the constant-practice groups had fewer errors and faster reaction times than the blocked and random groups. The results partially replicated Shewokis and Klopfer's (1996) findings and support Poulton's (1989) contention that to control for alternative sources of bias, constant-practice groups should be used in studies that employ within-subjects designs.
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Details
- Title
- Design considerations for contextual interference studies: A replication of testing asymmetric transfer
- Creators
- P ShewokisJ Majors
- Publication Details
- Journal of sport & exercise psychology, Vol.23
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Nutrition Sciences
- Identifiers
- 991021867021204721