If information is considered important enough and it is rehearsed it can be passed into the long-term memory. This process is called encoding the information. Information that is not considered important, or isn’t rehearsed, is usually lost because is doesn’t go into the long-term memory.
Long-Term memory
This store of information has almost limitless capacity and holds information for long periods of time. The information which is stored has been encoded. Information is stored in the long-term memory, possibly by associating it with the information or with meaning. Meaningless items are usually not stored for long periods of time. Motor programs are stored in the long-term memory because they have been rehearsed many times. The process of continued rehearsal leads to a skill being almost automatic and the process of learning by rehearsal is often referred to as “over learning”. If you are regulary using particular motor skills you are more likely to remember them eg, once you have learned to swim you are unlikely to forget.
Key Points
The memory process is still largely am mystery but simplified models have been developed to try to explain the process. The basic model describes memory as essentially a three-stage process: Short-term sensory store—short-term memory—Long-term memory. All information that is selected passes through the short-term memory. The process ‘chunking’ can help a performer deal with larger amounts of information. Items of information need to be rehearsed before they can be stored in the long-term memory.
Pages 105
Schema theory
Some people feel that the open loop and closed loop theories don’t fully explain how we perform so may actions in sport with relatively little conscious control- there simply cant be enough storage space for so many motor programmes. Under the schema theory a motor programme is seen as only a generalised series of movements that can be modified by taking in the information as the skill is being performed. The theory usefully explains how we cam immediately learn a new skill, also involves the storage problem. When a movement takes place we perceive information about where we are, what we have to do, what it feels like and what happens when we respond. This process is called schema, the information is stored and used to update the motor programme when we next want to use it.
Recall schema
Recall schema are the information stored about the production of movement- the environment and the response specifications. The recall schema starts the appropriate movement.
Questions page 109 17-20
17. Draw a simple model of the memory process
18. What is meant by selective attention?
I’ts where relevant information is filtered through into the short-term memory and irrelevant information is lost.
19. How can a teacher ensure that information is stored in the performers long-term memory?
The teacher can ask them to rehearse a skill that they have learnt
20. What is meant by a motor programme?
It organises a series of subroutines into the correct sequence to perform a movement, adapting it to change in the environment.
Motivation and arousal
Motivation is extremely important because without it there is no reason for anyone to want to acquire motor skills. There needs to be a drive to learn and achieve success. The study of motivation has been wide, and it could take a whole book to cover each aspet of motivational research in any detail.
- Motivation involves our inner drives towards achieving a goal
- Motivation depends on external pressures and rewards that we perceive in our environment.
- Motivation concerns the intensity and the direction of our behaviour.
