3 Stages of skill acquisition

Those who have ever learnt a new sport will be aware that their new skills develop gradually, and that they have to concentrate less and less on what they are doing with time. From this starting point, F. Posner has produced a three-stage model of skills acquisition: the cognitive stage, the associative stage and the autonomous stage.

The cognitive stage is an early stage of trying to acquire a new skill, when a sportsman tends to focus on understanding the nature of the task. He uses higher mental processes to analyse what he intends to achieve and how to go about this. The aim of the cognitive stage is to develop a motor programme, that is, a mental representation of the skill and how to perform it. Sportsmen use various mental ‘tools’ to help themselves with this. They may discuss the skill with other learners or more experienced performers. They will make use of their visual abilities in several ways at this stage. They watch their limbs closely as they attempt movements. They will probably watch more expert performers. They may also mentally rehearse movements and visualise themselves performing them correctly. The coach plays an important role in directing visual techniques, as by giving demonstrations and telling exactly what to look for when observing. Once the cognitive stage is complete, sportsmen have a motor programme and they can perform the necessary actions to practise the skill [1].

The associative stage is the intermediate stage of acquiring a skill. Once a sportsman has developed an effective motor programme, his next task is to practise the skill. With practice, he tends to need to think less and less about the skill in order to perform it successfully. During the associative stage a sportsman relies less on the visual sense and becomes more dependent on proprioception, which is the sense by which he feels what is happening to his body. In everyday life, a sportsman uses proprioception to be aware of his position and movement. When learning a motor skill, proprioception becomes critical as a sportsman learns to feel whether his movements are correct without looking. During the associative stage, practice allows a sportsman to reduce the frequency of errors and improve his speed, accuracy and consistency.

The autonomous stage is achieved when a sportsman has mastered the skill. By this time, performing the skill requires little conscious effort. In fact, thinking about the skill and consciously attempting to improve on it generally worsens a sportsman’s performance. Once a sportsman can perform the skill without thinking, he is free to concentrate on other things, such as his strategy (individual or team). F. Oxendine cites the example of M. Jordan, the elite basketball player, who could dribble the ball at full speed and change direction without any conscious effort, leaving him free to focus on the positions of other players and determine the best strategy to reach the basket. The general principle that practice allows a sportsman to perform actions automatically, and that automatic processing requires little conscious effort is supported by contemporary cognitive psychology. Furthermore, the model is extremely useful to coaches and teachers. Clearly, by understanding what stage a performer has reached, one can provide the optimum balance of demonstration, and direct instruction and practice. This becomes particularly important when suggested that an experienced performer return to the cognitive stage in order to relearn a basic technique (a common occurrence when an athlete changes coach). However, whilst the principles underlying the model are sound, and whilst it undoubtedly has useful applications, there is some question as to how complete an explanation it provides of skill acquisition. As F. Oxendine points out, no amount of practice will take athletes to the autonomous stage if they are not sufficiently motivated. The model also fails to address individual differences in learning style. Some athletes are more dependent on their visual sense; others, on proprioception. Some of athletes are extremely analytic whilst others like to “just do it’’. Despite these limitations, however, F. Posner’s model remains an influential and useful account of skill acquisition [1].