An Information Processing Approach to the Study of a Complex Motor Skill

Abstract

This study undertook to investigate the general organizational plan used in attacking the problem of learning the tennis serve in light of recurring patterns, and to build a General Serve Problem Solving Model (GSPS) that would describe the plan of solving each new serve problem within the total task. Contributions to methodology and motor learning were envisioned. Verbal and motor data were collected on video tape and 16 mm movie film. A college freshman with no previous tennis experience was studied in 769 tennis serves involving seven learning sessions. Motor data were divided into properties, the values of which were coded and analyzed by computer. Verbal data were analyzed by means of graphs and the GPS model. Results were incorporated into the GSPS. The model was tested by running the subject's stated problems through the model by hand. Problems with solutions acceptable to the subject fit the model; rejected problems did not. It was evident that increases in motor behavior resulted from the synthesis of old and new material between the problems and/or transition periods.