Self-instruction in a perceptual motor skill.

A self-instructional strategy using an audio-visual medium for learning the rehabilitation skill of a three-point crutch gait was developed and demonstrated to be effective with normal women of various activity levels naive to task demands. Briefly discussed are theoretical considerations based upon Fitt's three stages of acquiring a perceptual-motor skill and Fleishman and Hempel's experimental demonstrations that abilities required in learning change as learning progresses. In a modified posttest-only control group experiment with 20 women, ages 36 to 60, the hypothesis that subjects could learn the cognitive aspects of a motor skill in one viewing of a 6 1/2-minute film was supported. That some transfer of learning occurred to the performance of the skill was substantiated in a second experimental-control study with 20 women, ages 35 to 54. Six criteria were used to judge filmed motor performance of the subjects. Differences in performance between the two groups appeared to be in the quality of movement and the speed with which a subject moved from one stage of learning to the next. The limitations of the two studies and applications of the findings also were discussed.