The Development and Use of Rules in the Acquisition of Perceptual Motor Skill

Abstract

KIRK, URSULA. The Development and Use of Rules in the Acquisition of Perceptual Motor Skill. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 299-305. This study investigated the nature of the learning involved in the acquisition of perceptual motor skill in young children. A preto posttest paradigm was used to evaluate the effects of rule-based instruction on rule observance, copying performance, and discrimination skill. 3 ways of imparting rules were examined: demonstration, verbal description, and combined demonstrated-verbal description. The usefulness of these methods was compared with that of copying without instruction. 4 instructed and 4 noninstructed letters were presented on the preand posttest. 4 instructed and 4 novel letters were copied during the second posttest. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data indicated that letter copying is a rule-governed task requiring problem-solving, hypothesis-testing activity. Demonstration of rules contributed to improved performance and to transfer of learning to novel letters. Demonstration contributed to more consistent and flexible use of rules on the posttest. Evidence of rule-based error was produced. Discrimination improved from preto posttest, but there was no effect specific to instruction.