Theoretical aspects of implicit learning in sport

Abstract

Using a dual-task paradigm, it has been shown that it is possible to acquire motor skills in an implicit manner, whereby performers have little explicit knowledge of the underlying rule structures governing the mechanics of their movements. Motor skills learned in this way appear to benefit from some of the advantages attributed to implicit mechanisms; particularly, resilience to skill failure under stress. They also, however, suffer disadvantages associated with the inhibitory effects of secondary tasks on learning. After a brief overview of the implicit learning literature this paper describes some of the recent studies which have established implicit learning in the motor domain and discusses current developments in the search for more sophisticated implicit learning techniques which avoid the disadvantages associated with dual-task learning techniques and which are both theoretically valid and ecologically viable.