Learning Theories

What is Learning?

Learning is a frequently used term in teaching and coaching. But what does it actually mean? Psychologists have been researching this topic for many years and it has been defined as ‘a relatively permanent change in behaviour due to past experience’ (Coon, 1983) and ‘a change in the capability of the individual to perform a skill that must be inferred from a relatively permanent improvement in performance as a result of practice or experience’ (Magill, 2001).

Thorndike was a behaviourist who investigated what things could strengthen or weaken the S-R bond. He proposed three basic laws that must be satisfied for learning to occur.

1. The law of effect – This law relates to reward and punishment. A coach rewarding certain behaviour will strengthen the bond, whereas punishment will weaken the bond. For example if a rugby player becomes too aggressive and the coach substitutes them, this is likely to stop the player being aggressive in the future.

2. The law of readiness – A performer must be physically and mentally able to perform a skill. For example, most year 7 students would not be physically able to ‘slam dunk’ with a size 7 basketball in a hoop that was positioned at the full height above the ground, similarly a young hockey player may struggle to remember and learn a complex penalty corner routine.

3. The law of exercise – The S-R bond will only be strengthened if it is repeated. This means that a sports performer must practice for learning to occur. It also means a lack of practice results in a weakening of the bond.

Classical Conditioning – (Pavlovian Conditioning)

In the early 1900s Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, was researching about the physiology of dogs’ salivary glands. He noticed that the dogs would begin to salivate at feeding time, before the food arrived. The salivation started before the food arrived, in response to the sound of the footsteps of the assistants as they brought the food. Pavlov suggested that the dogs had become conditioned to respond to an unnatural stimulus. The natural response of salivating to food being seen or smelt had been replaced by the sound of footsteps. Pavlov then proceeded to investigate if he could manipulate (condition) the responses of the dogs to different signals (stimuli). Every time the dogs were brought food a bell would sound and the dogs would continue with the natural process of salivation. After numerous replications of presenting the food and ringing the bell Pavlov found that the dogs would salivate to the sound of the bell, without presenting the food.

Pavlov explained this change in behaviour using the term conditioning, and suggested that the dogs were showing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus.

Text box - The process of classical conditioning can be expressed in the following equation:

1. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) = Unconditioned Response (UCR)

2. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) + Conditioned Stimulus (CS) = Unconditioned Response (UCR)

3. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) = Conditioned Response (CR)

In a cricket coaching session a batter doesn’t lift his bat at the right time and is often bowled out by the fast bowlers. The coach uses classic conditioning to improve the timing of the bat lift. The coach starts by calling “back lift” when a bowler is near the end of their run up (UCS), which the batter lifts his bat to prepare for the delivery (UCR). The coach tells the player to notice where the bowler is when he makes this call (CS). After repeated trials of pairings these two stimuli the shout of “back lift” (UCS) is withdrawn so the batter prepares for the shot (CR) by using his own judgement of where the bowler is in the run up (CR). The player has been conditioned to adopt the right stance at the right time in response to the bowler, rather than the call from the coach.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning was a development of Thorndike’s earlier research. It is often described as being ‘trial and error learning’ and that uses rewards and punishments to modify behaviour. The learner learns to associate certain consequences with a given behaviour, which can alter the S-R bond. We use rewards to encourage behaviours that we wish to develop strengthening the S-R bond. Punishments are used to discourage behaviours we wish to eliminate, therefore weaken the S-R bond. Coaches regularly modify the training environment, using operant conditioning to develop a skill. For example a badminton coach may place a large hoop on the floor at the back of the court when developing the long underhand serve. Players try to develop their technique and aim to land a shuttle in the hoop. They will use trial and error to modify or shape their motor programme and as they develop the correct technique they should start to get success and satisfaction, which will strengthen the S-R bond. When they start to become more consistent the coach may replace the large hoop with a smaller hoop to challenge the players more so they refine their technique further.

There are two methods that coaches regularly use to increase the probability of a desired action or behaviour being used again and one method to decrease the chances that an undesired action is repeated.

Positive reinforcement: this is when a stimulus is given that is seen as a reward by the individual, which creates feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. It is provided when a desired behaviour is exhibited to encourage the repetition of this action, thus strengthening the S-R bond. For example, if a young tennis player tries to serve and they attempt a certain technique, if they get success by the ball landing in the correct service box they will feel positive about being successful and this action will be repeated. If a coach says “well done, good technique”, then this will also be rewarding so will act as positive reinforcement. However, one word of caution for coaches is that if they give praise every time someone is successful the person being praised may not value this reinforcement. This complete reinforcement may result in faster learning but it may be less established. Partial reinforcement is when reinforcement is used sparingly and this may result in slower learning but this is usually more stable and thorough.

Negative reinforcement: this can be when an action is performed that the coach does not want, it is not commented on. This works because individuals (in fact all of us) like to be praised, so if there is no praise forthcoming they will stop performing the undesired action and display the behaviour that gives results in the positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement can also be the removal of a punishment, or the removal of the threat of a punishment. For example a teacher may count down from five to zero to get a group to quickly come in so he/she can demonstrate how to perform a skill. Anyone who doesn’t make it in time is given a punishment (this isn’t negative reinforcement yet). The undesired behaviour is the unhurried effort to get in; wasting the class’s time because they are waiting). On subsequent occasions if the members of the group make a concerted effort to get in before zero the coach won’t punish them, even if they don’t make it in time, because they have made the effort to get in quickly.

Punishment: when a punishment is given it will cause some distress or discomfort to the individual and this will weaken the S-R bond. The intention is to make the athlete stop displaying the behaviours that the coach doesn’t want them to display. For example, a punishment could be shouting at a player, sitting out of the session for 5 minutes, substituting a player during a game or making them do something physical (e.g. five press-ups or run a lap of the field). Quite often good coaches and teachers use reinforcement effectively so that they do not need to use punishments often. Punishments can lead to resentment and should be used sparingly; however, sometimes they are necessary to modify poor behaviour. Some authors state that punishments should never be physical. They argue that people who are reprimanded with press-ups or laps to run associate these activities with being punished... how would they then feel if they were asked to run cross-country, or perform press-ups in a health-related fitness lesson?

Cognitive Stage – this is the beginning stage where the learner attempts to understand the overall concept by gaining information through their senses. A performer gains a mental image of how to perform the skill. In the game of golf, the beginner has to learn the correct grip on the club, where to stand when addressing the ball, the correct way to move the club, plus many other factors which at the time can bewilder the learner. Quite often movements are jerky as performers are ‘talking themselves’ through a skill, what each leg does or how the body moves. Performances are usually not very accurate as many mistakes occur. It is crucial for a beginner that they are shown a ‘perfect model’ of the skill. Often slow motion demonstrations are helpful, as is ‘cueing’ where the performer is told to focus on one aspect of the demonstration (e.g. in a javelin throw the coach may instruct them to focus on what the non-throwing arm is doing during the demonstration of a throw).

It is imperative that learners receive feedback from a coach so they can improve and visual guidance is often most important. Typically learners will make a great number of errors and will be inconsistent; performing well on one occasion and poorly on another. People learning to play golf often report the phenomenon of hitting a superb shot, and being unable to repeat the action for the rest of the day/week/month! This is where verbal feedback is important because the learner knows they have done something wrong (or right), but they do not know why or how to repeat the action. They rely on the coach to guide them.

Associative Stage –this is often called the ‘trial and error’ stage and it is when a performer starts to form a motor programme. They begin to understand the relationship between the various actions required to perform the skill. Movements become more efficient, errors are reduced and practice produces improvement in skill levels. However, attention still needs to be paid to the skill requiring conscious thought. They begin to recognise knowledge of results and knowledge of performance. Many of you could take a netball or basketball shot blindfolded and with ear plugs in (so you couldn’t hear anything) and you would be able to say what happened to the ball even though you didn’t see or hear the result (e.g. the ‘swoosh’ of the net). This is because you could ‘feel’ how the shot left your hand. In the associative phase you learn to do this and this helps the learner to acquire the ability to detect and correct their own performance errors.

Autonomous Stage – eventually the stage is reached where performance of the activity becomes automatic or habitual. In this stage the performer is able to perform the skill with little conscious thought. Indeed the performer is capable, while performing the skill, to be planning several moves ahead - compared to the beginner who is totally focussed on crudely completing the first action. One of the best examples of this is the skilled basketball dribbler who does not need to look at the ball, they can be looking around for team-mates runs or where defenders are without having to look at the ball. However, during practice performers will often drop back to the associative phase to refine the skill. Most performers in this stage require complex verbal guidance to improve. For example, biomechanists who work with elite performers may video the skill being performed but it is the verbal guidance that is given whilst showing the performer the video that is most crucial.