The Effects of Contextual Interference on Learning Volleyball Motor Skills

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to investigate the acquisition of three volleyball skills in three practice conditions (blocked, random and serial) to reveal their effects in three phases of acquisition, retention and transfer. 60 amateur male university students from university of Tehran(Iran) (mean age = 21.5 years, SD = 1.2) were voluntarily selected and randomly assigned to three practice groups: blocked, random and serial. A pretest was used to match the subjects.  In the acquisition phase, the subjects of each group practiced three skills of forearm pass, set and overhead serve with 378 trials for 9 sessions. In three sessions in the practice phase, 45 acquisition tests were completed. 48 and 72 hours after the last session, subjects participated respectively in 15 retention and transfer tests. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and TUKEY post hoc test were used to analyze data, to compare the means of pretest and tests of  Dictionary - View detailed dictionary

acquisition, retention and transfer phases of the three practice conditions. The results revealed a significant difference (p<0.001) in retention and transfer phases between random (with more interference) and serial (with moderate interference) practice methods with the blocked method (with lower interference) in all three skills.  In the acquisition phase, blocked group had higher interference (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between random and serial methods in acquisition, retention and transfer phases

Keywords

• contextual interference, blocked practice, random practice, serial practice

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