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Results for “skill learning”

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At least 469 records · Page 26Linked to original sources

PubMed2004

Acquiring a cognitive skill with a new repeating version of the Tower of London task.

A computerized version of the Tower of London task was used to investigate cognitive skill learning. Thirty-six healthy volunteers were assigned to either a random condition (nonrecurring problems), or to a sequence condition in which, unbeknownst to the subjects, a repeating sequence of three problems was presented. Indices of execution, planning, and total time, as well as number of moves performed, were used to measure behavioural change. Subjects' performance improved in both conditions across blocks of practice. A distinct learning effect related to the repeating sequence was also observed. This suggests that a specific skill that reflects procedural learning of the strategies, rules, and procedures pertaining to repeating problems can develop over and above a more general skill at solving cognitive planning problems with practice.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

The clinical and educational experiences of pre-registration house officers in general practice.

AIMS: To describe aspects of the clinical experience and educational supervision gained by pre-registration house officers (PRHOs) in general practice, and to relate these to the current General Medical Council (GMC) aims for general clinical training in general practice. DESIGN: Qualitative evaluation, part of which involved semistructured interviews with 12 PRHOs who were experiencing a general practice rotation. Interviews were conducted at the beginning and the end of the pre-registration year, and following return to hospital work after completion of the general practice placement. SETTINGS: Three teaching hospitals, two district general hospitals and six general practices in south-east England. PARTICIPANTS: 12 PRHOs who were involved in rotations incorporating a general practice placement. RESULTS: To varying degrees, the GMC aims for training in general practice were met for all the participants. All PRHOs recognized the value of the clinical experience and educational supervision they received in general practice. They particularly valued aspects such as having an individual training programme based on their own needs, and the interlinking of theory and practice, which aided learning. Most felt that having responsibility for their own patients acted as an important incentive for learning, and in general, PRHOs appreciated having the time to learn which general practice allowed. CONCLUSIONS: For the majority of PRHOs, the time spent in general practice was seen as a positive clinical and educational experience. In a variety of ways, the general practice placement encouraged PRHOs to develop the self-directed learning skills seen as essential to the lifelong learning advocated by the GMC. A number of recommendations are made to help improve the integration of the hospital and general practice components of these rotations.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Using humor to enhance learning in the skills laboratory.

No matter how eager students may be to learn, anxiety can prevent them from easily learning a skill. Nursing faculty members also face a dilemma--losing interest and enthusiasm if they repeatedly teach the same material. By adding humor and a little creativity, the skills laboratory can be a stimulating learning environment for both the teacher and the students.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A retrospective study of cervical spine injuries in American rugby, 1970 to 1994.

We undertook a retrospective study to document and analyze the occurrence of cervical spinal injuries in rugby in the United States from 1970 to 1994. We studied 59 cases (average, 2.36 per year). Thirty junior-level players (50.8%) (college or high school), 28 (47.5%) men's club players, and 1 (1.7%) woman player were injured. Fifty-seven injuries (97%) occurred during games. The incidence of cervical spine injuries is well documented in the United Kingdom and South African literature. However, no study in United States literature discusses the incidence or cause of cervical spine injury in rugby. We found that coaching is less consistent in the United States. Players with more weight and less experience are playing positions that require significant skill. Many players in the United States learn skills in games rather than in practice. In our study, 52.5% (31 of 59) of the injured players were junior-level players. Conversely, in world competition junior-level athletes sustained only 30% to 40% of the cervical spine injuries. Understanding the factors that contribute to cervical spine injuries is paramount in injury prevention. Through this study, we hope to promote change in rugby laws and regulations, as has been done in football, to enhance the safety and pleasure of the sport for players, coaches, and spectators.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

New wheelie aid for wheelchairs: controlled trial of safety and efficacy.

OBJECTIVE: To test hypotheses that people learning to perform aided wheelies (AW) with a new self-deploying wheelie aid (WA) (1) are safer than those who use the conventional wheelie (CW), (2) are more successful at learning the skills, (3) learn more quickly, and (4) find such skills less difficult. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled study. SETTING: Wheelchair obstacle course. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-two subjects (12 wheelchair users, 30 able-bodied) randomly assigned to the CW (n = 23) or AW (n = 19) groups. INTERVENTIONS: We performed static tests on a WA-modified wheelchair occupied by a test dummy. We also attempted to teach each subject to perform a set of 14 wheelie-related skills. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual analog scale (VAS) of safety, percentage of subjects able to learn the skills, the time required, and subjective difficulty scores (from 1 for "very easy" to 5 for "very difficult"). RESULTS: Up to 11.2 degrees of antitip-device stability was available without the WA extending beyond the rearmost aspect of the rear wheel in the resting position. For the CW and AW groups, the mean +/- standard deviation VAS safety scores were 43% +/- 27% and 98% +/- 2% (p <.0001), respectively; the overall success rates were 93% and 96% (p =.079), respectively; the mean times required to learn a skill (in 5-min increments) were 1.56 +/- 1.08 minutes and.72 +/-.35 minutes (p =.002), respectively; and the mean difficulty scores were 2.94 +/-.38 and 2.23 +/-.34 (p <.0001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The new WA provides stability and wheelie-like function without interfering with maneuverability. Although both groups were equally successful, learning to perform AWs is safer, faster, and less difficult than learning CWs.

Equipment Design↗

PubMed2000

The effects of a computer skill training programme adopting social comparison and self-efficacy enhancement strategies on self-concept and skill outcome in trainees with physical disabilities.

PURPOSE: The aim of this controlled, quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effects of both self-efficacy enhancement and social comparison training strategy on computer skills learning and self-concept outcome of trainees with physical disabilities. METHOD: The self-efficacy enhancement group comprised 16 trainees, the tutorial training group comprised 15 trainees, and there were 25 subjects in the control group. Both the self-efficacy enhancement group and the tutorial training group received a 15 week computer skills training course, including generic Chinese computer operation, Chinese word processing and Chinese desktop publishing skills. The self-efficacy enhancement group received training with tutorial instructions that incorporated self-efficacy enhancement strategies and experienced self-enhancing social comparisons. The tutorial training group received behavioural learning-based tutorials only, and the control group did not receive any training. The following measurements were employed to evaluate the outcomes: the Self-Concept Questionnaire for the Physically Disabled Hong Kong Chinese (SCQPD), the computer self-efficacy rating scale and the computer performance rating scale. RESULTS: The self-efficacy enhancement group showed significantly better computer skills learning outcome, total self-concept, and social self-concept than the tutorial training group. The self-efficacy enhancement group did not show significant changes in their computer self-efficacy: however, the tutorial training group showed a significant lowering of their computer self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The training strategy that incorporated self-efficacy enhancement and positive social comparison experiences maintained the computer self-efficacy of trainees with physical disabilities. This strategy was more effective in improving the learning outcome (p = 0.01) and self-concept (p = 0.05) of the trainees than the conventional tutorial-based training strategy.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

Preserved memory in retrograde amnesia: sparing of a recently acquired skill.

Recent work with amnesic patients has revealed a preserved capacity for acquiring and retaining new skills despite otherwise profound anterograde impairment. In addition to their anterograde impairment, amnesic patients also have retrograde memory loss for some information acquired prior to the amnesic event. The present experiment addresses for the first time the question of whether preservation of memory for skills is also a feature memory impairment. To determine the susceptibility of a recently learned skill to retrograde amnesia, we taught patients to read mirror-reversed words before and during the early part of a prescribed course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and then tested retention of the skill after the course of treatment had been completed. Patients prescribed bilateral or right unilateral ECT and depressed patients not receiving ECT acquired the mirror-reading skill at the same rate and then retained it at the same level. For the patients prescribed ECT, intact learning and retention of the skill occurred despite retrograde amnesia for the previous testing sessions and for the words that they had read previously.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Individual skill differences and large-scale environmental learning.

Spatial skills are known to vary widely among normal individuals. This project was designed to address whether these individual differences are differentially related to large-scale environmental learning from route (ground-level) and survey (aerial) perspectives. Participants learned two virtual environments (route and survey) with limited exposure and tested on judgments about relative locations of objects. They also performed a series of spatial and nonspatial component skill tests. With limited learning, performance after route encoding was worse than performance after survey encoding. Furthermore, performance after route and survey encoding appeared to be preferentially linked to perspective and object-based transformations, respectively. Together, the results provide clues to how different skills might be engaged by different individuals for the same goal of learning a large-scale environment.

Altitude↗

PubMed2005

Influence of auditory modeling on learning a swimming skill.

Auditory modeling has been an effective method of learning a new skill in laboratory settings; however, research examining the effectiveness of auditory modeling in a real world task is limited. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of auditory modeling on the learning of a swimming skill, specifically the butterfly stroke. Participants were 37 male college students enrolled in two swimming classes. The classes were randomly assigned as the control group, i.e., the standard swimming curriculum for the butterfly stroke including demonstration, verbal instructions, and practice, and the auditory modeling group, i.e., standard swimming curriculum for the butterfly stroke plus auditory modeling. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that auditory modeling is an effective method for enhancing the learning of this real world motor skill.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Teaching practical procedures in general practice. A primer for supervisors of medical students and registrars.

BACKGROUND: Practical procedures are central to many general practitioners' job satisfaction and their ability to provide comprehensive care. Despite this, students lack opportunities to learn skills and fewer GPs perform them. OBJECTIVE: This article develops a framework for teaching practical skills and their assessment in general practice. DISCUSSION: True competence means more than performing a task in isolation: knowledge, skills and attitudes are needed to perform in the workplace. Teaching should be closely related to assessment in general practice. A four stage method of instruction can facilitate learning of task skills. This should be followed by a series of case discussions, scenarios or simulations to teach and assess the learners' ability to manage tasks in the work environment. Linking teaching, assessment and feedback is integral to improving learning opportunities in general practice.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed1993

Rural origin as a risk factor for maternal and child health in periurban Bolivia.

Rapid migration in Latin America is settling rural women and their families next to those of urban origin in sprawling urban settings. Those born and reared in rural areas bring with them knowledge and skills learned and adapted to rural areas; those same skills may be maladaptive in urban areas. Hypothesized is that urban women of rural origin are more likely to have poorer health outcomes for themselves and their children than lifelong urban counterparts. Identification of specific risk factors affecting child and/or maternal health status in peri-urban barrios can assist health workers to target limited resources to those least likely to access available services.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Stress management training for hospital supervisory personnel.

The overall goal of Stress Management Training is the re-orientation of people's typical stress reaction habits into new, more rational and assertive patterns of problem-solving. Participants gain new insights into what stress is and how it affects them. They learn skills which reduce stress to nondamaging levels. They learn to use their minds to productively solve problems and to manage their personal and professional lives to a better end.

Administrative Personnel↗

PubMed2003

Motor schema theory after 27 years: reflections and implications for a new theory.

The schema theory for discrete motor skill learning (Schmidt, 1975), originally published in 1975, has generated considerable interest and received strong challenges over its lifetime. In this paper, I focus on the findings generated since 1975 that bear on the theory and highlight those that produce difficulties for it and will be motivators for differing theoretical viewpoints in the future. At the same time, I examine other lines of evidence that seem to bolster the original lines of thinking. Finally, I provide some suggestions for a much needed new generation of motor learning theory, pointing out particular features from the schema theory that could be included and suggesting gaps and omissions that will need additional data and theorizing in future attempts.

Child↗

PubMed1977

Disaster-relief training and mental health.

The author describes a training program in diaster-relief agencies. The program is designed to improve their over-all understanding of disaster-relief work and to increase their sensitivity to the emotional needs of disaster victims. Based on the recommendations of a state task force report, it consists of a workshop that makes use of videotapes and learning exercises to help participants improve their listening skills, learn problem-solving techniques, become aware of behavioral signs that can alert them to victims' emotional reactions, and familiarize them with the work of other relief agencies.

Crisis Intervention↗

PubMed1999

Integration in Spain: national and regional perspectives.

At the present moment Spanish psychopedagogical researchers are evaluating the effectiveness and consequences of integration on both a national and a regional level. As a result of two important pieces of legislation, physically and mentally handicapped people are gradually becoming more integrated in education, social life, and the work place. Consequently, both ordinary pupils and those with permanent or temporary special education needs can achieve the same objectives within the same system. Individual strategies are designed to cope with each pupil's specific needs, and each case is followed closely by a multidisciplinary team. The basic concept behind integration in Spain is a global relationship with the educational environment, which includes school, home, vocational training and ultimately work. It is not so much a case of identifying what a pupil is, but rather deciding what education can do for that particular pupil. There are, however, certain difficulties which require adaptation of the curriculum: access to educational opportunities and experiences may be affected by deficient visual, auditory or motor skills; there may be an absence of specific learning skills in certain areas of the curriculum; pupils with serious mental handicaps may lack basic cognitive skills. Spanish educational reform considers the classroom teacher as the central axis in the quality of education. For this reason, new programmes and diplomas in infant and primary teacher education include training for adaptation and integration.

Child↗

PubMed1993

Family planning education helps build self-esteem.

I got married at the age of 20. In our community, generally girls are married off at 15 or 16, but my marriage was delayed according to my father's and my wishes. I did not desire to have my first child immediately. My husband and I are very young and I did not want to assume maternal responsibilities so early in life. Picking up courage, I spoke to my husband. On learning that he had similar views, I was very relieved. I belong to a middle-class family. Due to an absence of a high school in the village. I was forced to drop out of school. Young girls in our community are not allowed to move freely within the village, much less the outside world. But when I was 19, I got the opportunity to gain a lot of information on family planning, health, personal hygiene and good nutrition as part of the Better Life Project. I also learned beauty skills, embroidery, knitting and video film-making. Often I share the information and skills I learned with others. I have even advised my brother's wives about proper child care and immunization. Now that I have a good relationship with the unmarried sister of my husband, I sometimes tell her whatever I have learned. I have felt a great change in myself. My earlier inhibitions in talking to people have dropped, and I can entertain and speak freely with guests who come home. I am more confident about traveling outside my village to other places alone or with company. Learning to operate a video camera and producing a film was my favorite experience. I discovered that I can do what is normally said to be the work of boys only. Sometimes I think that if I had not learned new skills, I would not have been able to share my feelings about family planning with my husband. My mother-in-law is also agreeable to our decision about waiting to have children because both my brothers-in-law have large families. However, I have to face my sisters-in-law who taunt me about my childless status. The problem now is that my husband is not satisfied using condoms. I have decided to consult the doctor at the mobile clinic about taking pills or other methods of contraception.

Asia↗

PubMed2003

Learning together: clinical skills teaching for medical and nursing students.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of shared learning of clinical skills for medical and nursing students at the University of Manchester. DESIGN: Medical and nursing students learned clinical skills in either uniprofessional or multiprofessional groups. These groups rotated through skills stations taught by multiprofessional facilitators. The groups stayed together for a series of 3 sessions held at weekly intervals (an induction meeting followed by 2 3-hour teaching sessions). Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the project. CONTEXT: A total of 113 Year 3 students registered on the Medical (n = 41), Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) (n = 43) or the Diploma for Professional Studies in Nursing (n = 29) courses participated in the project which was set in the clinical skills unit of a teaching hospital. RESULTS: Pre- and post self-evaluation of confidence levels for the taught skills revealed a statistically significant increase for all skills. The primary reason students gave for participation in the project was to learn or consolidate skills. An additional inducement for participation was the opportunity to share knowledge and observations between professional groups. Tutors also evaluated the experience favourably, particularly with regard to small group discussions. They indicated that the programme provided an opportunity to standardise clinical skills teaching. CONCLUSION: Collaborative learning opportunities for nursing and medical students are feasible and add value to the learning experience. Data indicate positive outcomes of learning in multiprofessional groups, comprising increased confidence levels, increased understanding of others' professional roles and personal development.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2003

Preparatory activity in motor cortex reflects learning of local visuomotor skills.

In humans, learning to produce correct visually guided movements to adapt to new sensorimotor conditions requires the formation of an internal model that represents the new transformation between visual input and the required motor command. When the new environment requires adaptation to directional errors, learning generalizes poorly to untrained locations and directions, indicating that such learning is local. Here we replicated these behavioral findings in rhesus monkeys using a visuomotor rotation task and simultaneously recorded neuronal activity. Specific changes in activity were observed only in a subpopulation of cells in the motor cortex with directional properties corresponding to the locally learned rotation. These changes adhered to the dynamics of behavior during learning and persisted between learning and relearning of the same rotation. These findings suggest a neural mechanism for the locality of newly acquired sensorimotor tasks and provide electrophysiological evidence for their retention in working memory.

Animals↗