Distribution of Practice and Pre-Task Ability in the Acquisition of Three Discrete Gross Motor Skills

Abstract

Following the administration of a valid pretask ability measure, all subjects were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups with the constraint that each contain equal numbers of individuals of high and low ability. The first group practiced under distributed conditions and the second under massed conditions. A 2 by 2 analysis of variance showed that there were no significant differences in the rates of learning between massed and distributed practice groups for each of the three criterion tasks: the floor kip, the hip circle, and the glide kip. Subjects of high ability acquired all of the criterion tasks in significantly fewer trials than did subjects of low ability, regardless of the temporal conditions of practice. A significant interaction between ability and practice condition was observed for only one of the criterion tasks, the glide kip. These findings are discussed in terms of both the taxonomical factors of the tasks employed and the theoretical issues which pertain to distribution of practice.