SPECIFICITY OF MOTOR LEARNING DOES NOT DENY FLEXIBILITY

Two experiments are reported that challenge the generalisability of th e specificity hypothesis. The first experiment in which subjects (N = 24) were required to make one-handed catches under the condition that they could only see the ball, in an otherwise completely dark room, pr oduced results in line with the hypothesis. However, when the same sub jects, after a 3-4 day training period, under the latter condition, we re transferred to a condition in which they could see both hand and ba ll they demonstrated, contrary to what would be predicted by the hypot hesis, significant increases in catching performance. In a second expe riment subjects (N = 32) were required to catch balls under a variety of conditions in which viewing the hand only, or viewing the hand and ball, were interspersed in a number of ways. The results suggested tha t subjects who have experience of performing in the presence of both k inds of information (ball only or ball and hand) adopt the particular perception/action coupling appropriate to the situation in which they find themselves and, to this extent, treat the two conditions as diffe rent skills. This lead to a reinterpretation of the specificity hypoth esis which takes account of the flexibility in performance under chang ing environmental conditions characteristic of the skilled performer.