Effect of different quantities of variable practice on acquisition, retention, and transfer of an applied motor skill

This investigation examined the effect of manipulating different quantities of variable practice in the acquisition phase on the retention and transfer performance of a dart throw. Participants in the Specific condition practiced a total of 75 acquisition trials from a distance of 2.39 m. Participants in the Specific + Variable condition practiced a total of 75 acquisition trials with 25 trials from distances of 1.47 m, 2.39 m, and 3.30 m. Participants in the Specific + Varplus condition practiced a total of 75 acquisition trials with 15 trials from distances of 1.47 m, 1.93 m, 2.39 m, 2.84 m, and 3.30 m. Results of the one-way analysis of variance on the 24-hr, retention test from 2.39 m yielded no significant differences among practice conditions for mean radial error. A one-way analysis of variance on the 24-hr, transfer test from 3.76 m indicated that the Specific + Variable and Specific + Varplus conditions performed with significantly smaller mean radial error than the Specific condition. The results are discussed in regard to recent research and applicability to instructional settings.