There are three phases that Fitts andPosner believe in:
- The Cognitive phase
- The Associative phase
- The Autonomous Phase
They believe that if you follow these thoroughly and correctly then you will progress in your sport.
Cognitive phase
This stage is when the athlete is a beginner to this specific skill and so they would have to go through the skill slowly and simply depending on their personal rate of learning and ability. Cognitive meaning a specialized thinking or conscious mental process, it is the initial stage of learning and if the athlete wants to progress through the next stages then it is essential. The most important factor of this stage is to form a perfect mental image of the specific skill that the athlete will need to complete. The athlete would need to gather information about the skill from a variety of sources e. g. explanations of how to do the skill, pictures, videos or watching an athlete complete the skill in a competition. In gymnastics for example watching a gymnast carry out a forwards roll would give the beginner athlete a picture of what the requirements would be. They can run through the order of the skill in their minds to get a clear picture, once they feel confident with what they need to do they would attempt the skill. Even though this phase is mainly about the athlete’s mental picture, feedback is also very important from a coach or trainer. The coach would tell the athlete what they are doing well and what needs improvement. By telling them this, the athlete can alter the mental picture in their minds into the correct format. Once their mental image is correct they will perform the skill well and will be able to progress onto the next stage. Simpler skills would take less time to perfect, as they would not be as detailed. Visual guidance is key in this phase, as you watch what somebody is doing you tend to try and copy them e. g. In a 100m sprint when you are at the start line and the athlete next to you bends down to do a track start you might follow their example to give you an advantage.
Associative phase
This is the second part of Fitts and Posners learning phases. During this stage the learner will practise the skill, according to the information that they gathered during the cognitive stage. During this stage the performer will become more aware of their mistakes and they will also make a great improvement. Fewer errors are made in this stage and the performer is ready to learn harder and more complex techniques and is able to perform some efficient movements. Also, the motor programme develops and so does anticipation of the performer and the performer learns to monitor their own feedback. This stage is mainly based on practising the skill over and over again, as well as verbal guidance and feedback. "The need for information feedback in improving and sustaining performance, or in three repeatedly demonstrated empirical effects: performance fails to improve unless information feedback is introduced; performance improves with information feedback; and performance either deteriorates if information feedback is withdrawn, or shows no further improvement." (I. McD. Bilodeau, 1969). If the athlete is still performing the skill incorrectly it may be necessary for them to return to the cognitive stage to perfect the mental image of the skill. An example of the associative stage in practice would be a basketball player would be able to take quick 3-point shots, dribble with two balls and make all different kinds of passes.
Autonomous phase
Autonomous meaning independent and having the power to make your own decisions is the third and the last in the sequence. When and if the athlete reaches this stage they will perform the skill with little or no conscious thought of what they need to do and so are able to focus more on the tactical side of the skill and how they can use it in a competition, e. g. a cricket bowler would be able to bowl the ball fast but may put spin on it so that it would be harder for the batter to hit. Not all athletes reach this stage, those who do are mainly elite athletes and professionals. Even when an athlete reaches this phase they will have to practice the skills they have learnt to maintain their skill, otherwise reversion may take place and the skill they acquired might be lost. When you reach this phase the skill would have become part of your long term memory and are automatically produced in response to an appropriate stimulus. “An expert can represent problems in terms of their abstracts. This is easier method store and to represent problems” (Anderson. J. R, 1995).
Structure practices – cognitive phase:
I will write about teaching a racing dive in swimming using the cognitive stage of learning, there will be exercises that will help that athlete improve.
- Before the practices the novice swimmer would be told to look up racing dives on the internet so they can see professionals completing the skill and also see the break down in pictures of the dive.
- A more advanced swimmer will demonstrate a racing dive and the novice swimmer will watch.
- A coach will demonstrate the positions that the swimmer will need to take whilst doing the dive so that the novice swimmer can watch a break down of the skill to make it easier for them.
- The novice swimmer will watch a variety of different swimmers perform the skill.
- After watching, the novice swimmer will try to perform a dive off the poolside.
- The coach may video the novice and play them back their dive so that they can see the difference between their dive and the advanced swimmers.
- Their coach would give them feedback on what they are doing wrong.
- Again they would watch the advanced swimmer and try their own again until they are doing a basic racing dive.
By going over the same thing lots of times will get the right mental image in their head.
Structure practices - associative phase
- During training sessions the coach would make the athlete do lots of diving drills.
- The coach would tell the athlete what they are doing wrong and what they are good at, so that they can improve on the weak points.
- Again they would watch the more advanced swimmer and also look at the research that they gathered in the cognitive stage.
- Verbal guidance is very important though, so that they know what they are doing wrong so they don’t get into bad habits.
- They would repeat the skill over and over so that they get into the habit of doing the correct motion of that skill.
- If the athlete is not progressing and is still performing the skill incorrectly then they may have to move back to the cognitive phase.
Structure practices – autonomous phase
- As the athlete has now perfected the skill they will put it into practice in a competition.
- Also because they can complete the skill without thinking about it they will be able to focus on tactical ways to improve their skill, e. g. a shallow racing dive with a streamlined position.
- You will make it a racing situation in the training session so that they can make it competitive.
- You would also do take – overs