🔒 Privacy Note: Your name is used exclusively to personalize your results at the end. It is only stored locally on your device and is never transmitted over the internet or saved to any external servers. It is 100% safe and private.
TipStudy instructions
Work through each section in order — every concept builds on the last.
Complete every Knowledge Check before moving on. Your running score appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Fully expand and interact with the Decision Trees and Flashcards when you encounter them.
Click Reveal My Score at the end to see your final result and targeted study advice.
Start here: complete the pre-check, then work through each section.
📋 Pre-Check
Based on the Naylor and Briggs (1963) hypothesis, what two skill characteristics should a practitioner assess to decide between whole or part practice?
1. Skill Complexity and Organization
To decide whether to use whole or part practice, first analyze the skill's Complexity (number of parts and attention demands) and Organization (how interdependent the spatial and temporal characteristics of the parts are).
Complexity refers to the number of components and degree of information processing. For instance, a dance routine is highly complex, while picking up a cup is low in complexity. Organization refers to the relationships among the component parts. Highly organized skills (like a basketball jump shot) have parts that depend heavily on the preceding parts, making them difficult to practice independently.
🧠 Knowledge Check
A skill in which the spatial and temporal performance characteristics of one part are highly dependent on the performance of the preceding part is said to have...
The Decision Rule
If the skill is low in complexity and high in organization, practice the whole skill (e.g., throwing a dart, buttoning a shirt).
If the skill is high in complexity and low in organization, use part practice (e.g., a gymnastics floor routine, shifting gears on a car).
🧠 Knowledge Check
Which practice strategy is recommended for a skill that is low in complexity but high in organization (e.g., putting a golf ball)?
2. Practicing Parts of a Skill
If part practice is the right choice, you must determine how to implement it. Three common part-practice strategies exist: Fractionization, Segmentation, and Simplification.
Fractionization
Involves practicing individual limbs first for a skill requiring asymmetric coordination of the arms or legs (e.g., playing a guitar, swimming the sidestroke). Usually, it is recommended to begin with the hand or arm that performs the more difficult or complex movement.
🧠 Knowledge Check
What part-practice method involves practicing individual limbs separately for a skill requiring asymmetric bimanual coordination?
An interesting exception involves maintaining rhythmic auditory cues. In the Kurtz and Lee (2003) polyrhythm study, the most effective unimanual part-practice involved listening to the rhythm of the bimanual task while only tapping with one hand.
🧠 Knowledge Check
In the Kurtz and Lee (2003) polyrhythm study, what unique feature characterized the most effective unimanual part-practice group?
Segmentation (Progressive Part Method)
Also known as chaining. Practice part A, then part B, then part A+B. Then practice part C, then add it to A+B. This is highly effective for sequential skills like the breaststroke, as it allows learners to focus on parts while maintaining spatial-temporal coordination as the sequence builds.
🧠 Knowledge Check
Which part-practice method separates a skill into parts and then progressively adds them together (e.g., learning the arm pull, then the leg kick, then combining them)?
3. Simplification Strategies
If the whole skill is too difficult but breaking it apart ruins its organization, you can simplify the practice environment. Strategies include: - Reducing object difficulty: Using beanbags instead of balls for juggling. - Reducing attention demands: Using a body-weight support system for gait training, or ski poles on a slalom simulator. - Reducing speed: Slowing down to focus on relative-time relationships (e.g., learning a waltz). - Adding auditory cues: Using metronomes for Parkinson’s patients. - Sequencing skill progressions: Hitting off a tee before facing a pitcher. - Simulators and Virtual Reality: Reducing risk and environment complexity while maintaining the full skill structure.
🧠 Knowledge Check
Using a body-weight support (BWS) harness system to help a stroke patient practice walking is an example of which type of simplification strategy?
🧠 Knowledge Check
Providing Parkinson's disease patients with an auditory metronome to help them walk is an example of what type of simplification strategy?
🧠 Knowledge Check
Why are simulators and virtual reality (VR) considered a valid simplification method?
4. The Decision Tree for Whole/Part Practice
Analyze the Skill
↓
What are the Complexity and Organization characteristics?
↓
✅ Use Whole Practice
(The parts are too interdependent to separate effectively)
Part Practice is recommended.
↓
What is the specific nature of the task?
↓
✅ Use Fractionization
(Practice individual limbs separately before combining)
✅ Use Segmentation
(Progressive Part Method: Part A, then Part B, then A+B...)
✅ Use Simplification
(Practice the whole skill, but reduce difficulty, speed, or attention demands)
5. An Attention Approach to Part Practice
If separating parts is impractical or detrimental to the skill’s organization, you can use attention-directing instructions. This involves practicing the whole skill, but asking the learner to focus their attention on a specific part that needs work.
In the Space Fortress Game experiment (Gopher, Weil, & Siegel, 1989), players who practiced the whole game but were given instructions to focus on specific parts (like ship control or mine handling) outperformed a control group that just practiced the whole game without specific focus instructions.
🧠 Knowledge Check
According to the Space Fortress Game experiment, what is an effective alternative to physically separating the parts of a skill for practice?
6. Flashcards: Key Terms
Click each card to flip it.
Complexity
The number of parts or components and the degree of information processing that characterize a skill.
Organization
When applied to a complex motor skill, the spatial and temporal relationships among the components of the skill.
Fractionization
A part-task training method related to asymmetric coordination skills that involves practicing each arm or leg separately.
Segmentation
A part-task training method that involves separating the skill into parts and practicing them progressively (e.g., A, then B, then A+B).
Simplification
A part-task training method that involves reducing the difficulty of specific parts or features of a whole skill.
