Systematically Increasing Contextual Interference is Beneficial For Learning Single Task

AbstractBy manipulating the order or scheduling of practice trials the practitioner consequently alters the amount of contextual interference (CI) the learner will encounter (Magill & Hall, 1990). CI is defined as the interference in performance and learning that arises from practicing one task in the context of other tasks (Schmidt & Lee, 2005). Some studies showed that participants who followed the increasing CI schedule generally performed better on a retention and transfer test when compared with participants practicing the same tasks following traditional blocked and random schedules. On the other hand, some studies showed that using CI may be as beneficial as specific training for learning single task (Maslovat et al., 2004). Thus, in this study we compared practice with systematically increase in CI and specific training in learning basketball free throw. In acquisition both of groups performed 324 trails, but systematic increasing group performed just 108 trials in free throw line and remaining trials allocated to two other shots to induce CI. Interestingly, results showed that systematically increasing CI is even better than specific training for learning single task (free throw)