Negative Transfer or Cognitive Confusion

Abstract

We examined the occurrence of negative transfer in the learning of a novel motor task with regard to the schema theory (Schmidt, 1975) premise that practicing similar movements should have a facilitatory effect on learning. Given that negative transfer is often difficult to produce, an attempt was made to use a design similar to that of Lewis, McAllister, and Adarns (1951), in which the interpolated task was a complete reversal of the original task. Forty-eight university students were tested on a discrete pursuit-tracking task. They completed trials on both the original task and an interpolated reversed task before relearning the original task. The decrement between the first re- learning trial and the last original learning trial was analyzed for a negative transfer effect. Schmidt's (1982) hypothesis that negative transfer is due to temporary cognitive or decision confusion, not the result of a motor control problem, was supported. All evident performance decrements were observed only in the first relearning trial and were not present on subsequent trials. The data support a schema theory view of transfer in motor learning.