2000/03/01 by Charles H. Shea, David L. Wright, Gabriele Wulf +2 · 190 citations
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Clinical Practice #Educational Environments and Student Outcomes #Experiential learning #Mathematics education #Medicine #Motor learning #Observational learning #Observational study #Physical therapy #Psychology #Sport Psychology and Performance #Test (biology) #Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
paper · doi:10.1080/00222890009601357
published in Journal of Motor Behavior 32(1), 27-36 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2000/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
In 2 experiments, the authors studied the effectiveness of physical and observational practice on learning and the effect on learning of combining physical practice and observation, as compared with providing physical practice alone. In Experiment 1, retention and transfer performance of 30 university students after physical, observational, or no practice were contrasted. Consistent with findings from other studies, the retention results indicated that observational practice is inferior to physical practice. The transfer data indicated no differences between observation and physical practice groups. In Experiment 2, retention and transfer performance of 30 participants in physical and combined (alternating physical and observational) practice groups were contrasted. The retention results showed no differences between the combined and physical practice groups, but the combined group performed significantly better than the physical practice group on the transfer test. Those findings suggest that a combination of observation and physical practice permits unique opportunities for learning beyond those available via either practice regimen alone.