Motor Learning and Performance: From Principles to Application

Motor Learning and Performance: From Principles to Application, Sixth Edition With Web Study Guide, enables students to appreciate high-level skilled activity and understand how such incredible performances occur. Written in a style that is accessible even to students with little or no knowledge of physiology, psychology, statistical methods, or other basic sciences, this text constructs a conceptual model of factors that influence motor performance, outlines how motor skills are acquired and retained with practice, and shows students how to apply the concepts to a variety of real-world settings.

The sixth edition of Motor Learning and Performance has been carefully revised to incorporate the most important research findings in the field, and it is supplemented with practice situations to facilitate a stronger link between research-based principles and practical applications. Other highlights include the following:

• A web study guide offers updated principles-to-application exercises and additional interactive activities for each chapter, ensuring that students will be able to transfer core content from the book to various applied settings.
• Extensive updates and new material related to the performance of complex movements expand the theoretical focus to a more in-depth analysis of dynamical systems and the constraints-led approach to learning.
• Narratives from Motor Control in Everyday Actions that appear in the web study guide tie each book chapter to concrete examples of how motor behavior is applicable to real life.
• Photo caption activities pose questions to students to encourage critical thinking, and answers to those questions are provided to instructors in the instructor guide.

As the text investigates the principles of human performance, pedagogical aids such as learning objectives, key terms, and Check Your Understanding questions help students stay on track with learning in each chapter. Focus on Research and Focus on Application sidebars deliver more detailed research information and make connections to real-world applications in areas such as teaching, coaching, and therapy.

The sixth edition of Motor Learning and Performance: From Principles to Application goes beyond simply presenting research—it challenges students to grasp the fundamental concepts of motor performance and learning and then go a step further by applying the concepts. Incorporating familiar scenarios brings the material to life for students, leading to better retention and greater interest in practical application of motor performance and learning in their everyday lives and future careers.

Richard A. Schmidt, PhD (1941-2015) was a professor emeritus in the department of psychology at UCLA. At the time of his death, Schmidt ran his own business, Human Performance Research, conducting research and consulting in the area of human factors and human performance. Widely acknowledged as one of the leaders in research on motor behavior, he had more than 40 years of experience in the area of motor learning and performance.

The originator of both schema theory and impulse-variability theory (aka “Schmidt’s Law”), he founded the Journal of Motor Behavior in 1969 and was editor for 11 years. He authored the first edition of Motor Control and Learning in 1982 and the first edition of this book, Motor Learning and Performance, in 1991.

Schmidt was highly recognized for his contribution of a lifetime of research and writing. In recognition of his work, he received honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium (in 1992) and the Université Joseph Fourier in France (in 1998). He was a longtime member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), where he served as president in 1982 and received the organization’s two highest honors: the Distinguished Scholar Award for lifetime contributions to research in motor control and learning (in 1992) and the President’s Award for significant contributions to the development and growth of NASPSPA (in 2013). He was also a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Psychonomic Society and received the C.H. McCloy Research Lectureship from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. His leisure-time passions included sailboat and Porsche racing.

Timothy D. Lee, PhD, is a professor emeritus in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He has published extensively in motor behavior and psychology journals since 1980, served as an editor for the Journal of Motor Behavior and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, and has been an editorial board member for Psychological Review. Until his retirement in 2014, his research was supported primarily by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Tim has been a member, secretary-treasurer, and president of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) and a member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), the Psychonomic Society, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. In 1980 Tim received the inaugural Young Scientist Award from SCAPPS, and in 2011 he was named a fellow of the society—its highest honor. He was named an international fellow by the National Academy of Kinesiology in 1999 and awarded the Distinguished Scholar Award by NASPSPA in 2017.

Tim is an avid golfer who competes in local, national, and international tournaments. He teamed with a good friend to win the Ontario Senior Better Ball Championship in 2017.