Abstract
In perceptual-motor learning, constant and variable practice conditions have been found to have differential effects on learners’ exploratory activity and their ability to transfer their skills to novel environments. However, how learners make sense of these practice conditions during practice remains unclear. This study aimed to analyse learners’ experiences of different practice conditions during a climbing learning protocol and to examine how these experiences might further inform learners’ exploratory activity. Twelve participants assigned to either ‘Constant practice’, ‘Imposed Novelty’, or ‘Chosen novelty’ groups climbed a ‘Control route’ (i.e. a route common to all groups) and a ‘transfer route’ (i.e. a new route) before and after a ten session learning protocol. Descriptions of learners’ experiences during previews and climbs were collected using self-confrontation interviews. After identifying general dimensions via a thematic analysis, a hierarchical cluster analysis on these general dimensions allowed the identification of phenomenological clusters (PhC). The distribution of these PhCs was compared between the first and last learning sessions, the control and transfer routes, and the practice condition groups. We identified seven PhCs reflecting learners’ meaningful exploratory activity during the previews and climbs. Significant differences in the distribution of these PhCs were found between (i) the first and the last session, (ii) the control and the transfer route and (iii) the Chosen-novelty group and the other two practice groups. These results suggest that exploration is part of a complex sense-making process linked to practice conditions, which can be described by a joint analysis of the intentions, perceptions and actions.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This research was funded by a grant from the French National Agency of Research (reference: ANR-17-CE38-0006 DynACEV).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by CG, CG, GH, NR, LS and DA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ganachaud, C., Ganière, C., Hacques, G. et al. Exploring in a climbing task during a learning protocol: a complex sense-making process. Psychological Research 87, 2365–2379 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01817-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01817-9