Body & Mind Training Center

Phases of Learning

"Learning may be considered to be the more or less permanent change in performance associated with experience" Knapp (1973)

Three stages of learning have been identified:


Cognitive or Understanding Phase :

In the first stage of learning performances are inconsistent and not success is not guaranteed. Performing the skill requires all of the athletes attention and so they rely on the coach for cues. This is a process of trial and error with a success rate of 2 or 3 out of 10 attempts. Correct performances must be reinforced through external feedback.


Associative or Verbal Motor Phase :

Performances are becoming more consistent as motor programmes are being formed. While the simpler parts of the skill now look fluent and are well learned, the more complex elements requires most of the spare attention. The athlete is starting to get a sense of internal 'kinaesthetic' feedback when they perform the skill well. They are starting to detect and correct their own errors and success rate has risen to 5-7 out of 10.


Autonomous or Motor Phase :

In the final stage of learning, performances have become consistent, fluid and aesthetically pleasing. The motor programmes involved are well learned and stored in the long-term memory. There is now spare attention which can be focused on opponents and tactics. To retain the new skill at this level, it must be constantly practiced to reinforce the motor programmes. Success is now 9 out of 10.

Transfer of Skills


Learning or regularly performing a skill can affect, either positively or negatively, the learning of a second skill.


Positive Transfer :

This usually occurs when the two skills in question are similar in some way. Having already mastered one of the skills, makes learning the second skill easier. Coaches can aid this positive transfer by making sure the individual understands the similarities between the two skills and by making sure that the basics of the first skill are well learnt so that they transfer more easily into the second skill.


Negative Transfer :

This occurs when having learnt one skill, makes learning the second skill more difficult. This more often happens when a stimulus common to both skills requires a different response. For example, a squash player who takes up tennis may find it difficult to learn to not use their wrist during shots. Negative transfer can be avoided by making sure the athlete is aware of the differences and making practice sessions similar to match situations to ensure a larger, generalised motor programme.



Transfer of skills can work both ways, in that a skill currently being learnt may affect a skill previously learnt, or a skill learnt in the past may affect a skill currently being learnt:


Proactive Transfer :

A skill learnt in the past affects a skill currently being learnt or to be learnt in the future


Retroactive Transfer :

Learning a new skill affects a previously learned skill.


Stimulus Generalisation :

The transfer of previously learned skills to a new situation can sometimes be generalised rather than specific to the situation. For example, a performer who has learned to catch a ball playing rugby, may react to catch any ball in the same way. This is not always a positive thing as in a different situation (e.g. football) catching the ball is not within the rules of the game!


Response Generalisation :

When a performer has well learned a skill they can begin to adapt the skill to vary it. An example is in cricket where a bowler will vary his or her delivery to try to unsettle the batsman.



Six categories of skill transfer have been identified:

Transfer between skills - such as all racket sports
Practice to performance - transferring skills learnt in training to a competitive environment
Abilities linked to skills - balance to perform a good landing in gymnastics
Limb to limb (bilateral) - striking a football with the right or left foot
Principle to skill - the principles of defensive play in rugby are similar to football
Stages of learning - skills that are learnt in the cognitive phase will then be built upon in the associative phase

Teaching Methods



During lessons and training sessions, the teacher or coach must provide guidance to the athletes to ensure they learn effectively. To do this the demonstration and practice of the new skill will be manipulated by the coach to best suit the individual, skill and situation.


There are four parts to teaching a new skill:

Instructing - instructions must be given for them to complete the task or skill. These may be written or verbal. The teacher must ensure the student knows what is required of them
Demonstrating - The teacher may provide a demonstration of the skill or may get a peer to perform it. It is key that this is a good demonstration to allow the student to form a model in their memory and mentally rehearse the skill to be performed
Applying - The student then practises the skill in a planned situation to help them transfer the learning from practise to a competitive situation
Confirming - This is all about feedback and providing information for the student about how successful they have been. Testing or assessing the skill allows the teacher and the student to evaluate performance.



Types of Practice :

There are four types of practice which can all be used in different situations and dependant on the skill being learned:

Fixed practice - These are sometimes also known as drills and involves repeatedly practising a whole skill in order to strengthen the motor programme. This type of practice is best with discrete, closed skills
Massed practice - This is a continuous form of practice which is best for simple skills. An example would be a rally in badminton where the learner must repeatedly perform drop shots. This causes fatigue and therefore simulates the late stages of a game
Variable practice - This is used best for open skills and involves repeating a skill in varying situations. For example shooting practice in football, where the coach may set up drills and alter the starting position and involvement of defenders. This helps to build up schema to use in game situations
Distributed practice - Attempts at the skill are divided up with intervals inbetween to allow for rest and mental rehearsal. This is best used in difficult, dangerous or fatiguing skills and with young or lowly motivated individuals



Methods of Practice :

Certain skills are best taught in different ways depending on the learner and the skill in question:


Whole method :

The skill is first demonstrated and then practised as a whole, from start to finish. It helps the learner to get a feel for the skill, timings and end product. It is best used for fast skills which cannot easily be separated into sub-parts, such as a javelin throw. It is unsuitable for people with low attention spans, complex or dangerous skills.


Part method :

The parts of the skill are practised in isolation which is useful for complicated and serial skills and is good for maintaining motivation and focusing on specific elements of the skill. It is possible, however, that the transfer of the skills from parts, to a whole may not be effective and it may also reduce the kinaesthetic awareness (feel) for the full skill.


Whole-part-whole method :

The whole skill is first demonstrated and practised, before being broken down into the constituent parts to practice the individual elements and improve on these, before putting the whole skill back together. This can be very effective in skills which have easily distinguished parts, where the whole skill together is complex. A good example comes in swimming, where the learner would practice the whole stroke, then isolate a weak component, such as the kick and use a float in the hands to ensure using only the legs, before putting the whole stroke back together. This gives the performer a sense of the whole skill before they break it down and improve on the weak aspects of the performance. As with the part method this may affect the transfer of the skill from parts to the whole.


Progressive part method :

This is sometimes also known as the chaining method, as the parts of a skill are practised individually, in order, before being linked together and expanded. For example in the triple jump, the hop will be practised and learnt, before the skip is then practised and learnt. The two are then linked together. Finally the jump will be learnt individually and then tagged on the end of the skip. This is slow process but allows weaknesses to be targeted and for the performer to understand the relationship of the sub-routines.

Dear Ostad Jalilzadeh, I thought that it could be interesting to say something about the defense mechanism that everyone use in his daily normal life.

We know that the aim of a kung fu ka is to become whole, as a person and as a martial artist, and knowing ourself is the first goal that is adressed when we study Anattawa, that we know that means “you”. We are the point of start of everything, good or bad, in our life. So knowing ourself is the first step on the path of developement.

In Psychology it is well known that there are a number of defense mechanism , number that is quite large and divided in more primitive to more matures, that get activated in order to allow us to keep a feeling of “wellbeing and safety”, namely to protect ourself from what may threaten us.
I must specify that this threat may not be strictly physical, but also psychological. We have a body and a mind, so the threat can be dangerous for our health, or for the image that we have of ourself that built the “Self”, or from an affective point of view too. Remember please that we are adult and well grown up, but all of us had been little baby and every threat to be separated from our parents meant at the time a threat to the survival, and when we grow up this message remain well imprented deep in the core of our unconscious mind.
So the threat may be both phsycal or psychological, and it will affect our defense, so that they will be risen up.

Anna Freud defined in detail the defense mechanisms sketched out by her father Sigmund in her book, "The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense."

Some of the most common defense mechanisms are:

Denial. When you use denial, you simply refuse to accept the truth or reality of a fact or experience. Utility of this defense comes from the fact that denial can prevent from incorporating unpleasant information about yourself and your life and have potentially destructive consequences.

Repression. You might forget an unpleasant experience, in the past, such as a car accident at which you were found to be faulty. You might also use repression when you "forget" to do something unpleasant such as seeing the dentist or meeting with someone you know and you don't really like.

Regression. When we are heavily under pressure and stressed we might go back to a childlike emotional state in which your unconscious fears, anxieties, and general "angst" reappear. That road rage you see when drivers are stuck in traffic is a great example of regression. The problem with regression is that you may regret letting your childish self show in a self-destructive way. Driving badly or refusing to talk to people who've made you feel bad, mad, or sad can eventually get you in worse trouble than what you had when you began.

Displacement. In displacement you transfer your original feelings that would get you in trouble (usually anger) away from the person who is the target of your rage to a more harmless victim. Any time you shift your true feelings from their original, anxiety-provoking, source to one you perceive as less likely to cause you harm, you're quite possibly using displacement.

Projection. To understand this mecjhanism you have to start with the assumption that to recognize a particular quality in yourself would cause you psychic pain. This quality get split from your conscious mind and will be projected on the world. For example, let's say you're worried that you're not really very smart. You make a dumb mistake that no one says anything about at all, but you end up and accuse others of saying that you're dumb, inferior, or just plain stupid. You are "projecting" your insecurities onto others and in the process, alienating them.

Reaction formation: Converting unconscious wishes or impulses that are perceived to be dangerous or unacceptable into their opposites; behaviour that is completely the opposite of what one really wants or feels; taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety.

Intellectualization. A form of isolation; concentrating on the intellectual components of a situation so as to distance oneself from the associated anxiety-provoking emotions; separation of emotion from ideas

Rationalization (making excuses): Where a person convinces him or herself that no wrong was done and that all is or was all right through faulty and false reasoning.

Sublimation: Transformation of negative emotions or instincts into positive actions, behaviour, or emotion. (ex. Playing a heavy contact sport such as football or rugby can transform aggression into a game)
This are only some of the defenses we use in our daily life, there are a lot more that goes from more pathological and regressed, to those more mature that help us to integrate conflicting emotions and thoughts. Those who use these mechanisms are usually considered virtuous. Humilty, gratitude, acceptance, tollerance are some of them and many have their origins in an immature stage of development. They have been adapted through the years in order to optimise success in human society and relationships.

But when does we feel the need to defence ourself? To feel the need to do it we need first to process a stimulus that is coming from outside and to encode it as a threat. Doing this require a number of psychological processing.
I will simply say that to encode and decode the reality our mind use some mental structures that are stored in our memory and formed along the years and that made up our semantic system.
If we have not have had any kind of experience in a particular field, we will never be able to recognize and decode a message that is carrying a meaning that we are not structured to percieve.

So for example, to recognize a thief we need to have get to know the concept of stealing, we must have had experience (direct or indirect) of it. In the same way, to recognize someone as a loyal friend we need to have get to know the concept of loyalty.

The path to know ourself in deep is then to take a look at how we see the world, searching inside ourself the features of the world we are seeing in front of us, to lower down the defense, recognize our limits and to let go the image we have of ourself to have it back enriched.

Dear Master Jalilzadeh, Hamrahan and friends,

I was doing a little thinking about our martial art in relation with the development and implementation of both mental and physical abilities.

Kung Fu To'a is a martial art that was created by Yaromeh for the army as a method of combat, exactly as every other martial art. But from our martial art we expect a lot more. I asked myself why, and what are the underlying pshycological mechanism, and I tried to find some answers in my studies.
First of all I started by thinking about the terms:

“Kung Fu To'a”

Kung= Wisdom
Fu= The Way, the art and the Knowledge
To'a= Knowledge of the body, mind and spirit.

Kung Fu To'a is the “way to know yourself”
Yourself= your body, your mind and your spirit, so that the martial art is a means to reach this goal.

Usually the knowledge of ourselves is followed by a positive changing and enhancing in the personality too, so that it may be considered a “factor” for the development and implementation of our skills.
My road on Kung Fu To'a is still long, I have so many things to learn, but I can use what I have learned since this point to try to draw some directions of reasoning.

If we take our point of view far enough to avoid to loose the sight of the general frame (not to belittle the value of the details but simply to use a different level of analysis), I would say that what we learn to improve in Kung Fu To'a is:

- stability
- balance
- movement in directions
- flexibility
- awareness of the body and its position in the space
- control of the body and breathing
- creation of power
- effective use of energy avoiding the dispersion
- physical and psychological resistance

What does happens when we learn?

During the practice the person starts to create some motor schemes that are recorded in the brain, while the use of a weapon such as Rekeima or Sai for example, or whatever type of tool in general, start a very interesting process: the tool used by the practitioner begins to be included and represented in the brain in the Premotor Cortex as part of the body and as an extention of the hands. The result of such process can be observed each time a martial artist holds in his hand the weapon. He is perfectly aware of the dimentions, where it begins and ends, and he or she doesn't need to use the sight to know where the extremity of the edge ends.

With the development of the expertise, the person starts to gain more confidence, starts to know better himself or herself, the physical and the pshycological limits, to accept them to move them forward.

But how and what does we learn?

Usually people learn through various mechanism, one of them is the observation.
Doing a movement or seeing a movement done by someone else activate the same areas in the brain. For this reason, the simple observation of the Master or of another Kung Fu Ka during the practice allow to create a memory trace that make the following learning easier. We could say that this create a path for the following practice. Of course to gain the skills then is required a great commitment through the continuous practice.

What is learned anyway is not only the technical skills.
While the student observe, practice and repeat the movement, also the personality of his teacher tends to be introjected and internalized. For this reason the Master of a student is something far beyond a simple physical trainer.


But still...why does all this may have a positive influence in the person?

Following the learning-generalization model (Kohn & Schooler), the pshycological makeup change as response to some request from the environment. While the person observe himself or herself in specific context during the internalization process, the content observed will then be generalize to others domains of life.
If I should try to image an example (with respect to the researchers that of course intended those studies applied in another context....) I could image a practictoner noticing that has increased the speed in the time-reactions and then notice the same increase also while reacting to a situation at work or in the family life.

Being our martial art strongly featured by the attempt to keep the mind “tuned” with ourself, the other Hamrahan and the surrounding space, I would say that all those specific skills developed in the gym may be transferred in the private life.

Stability, balance, flexibility, awareness of ourself and of the surrounding environment can therefore unconsciously be moved from a physical aspect to a pshycological level, and the development of the self-confidence, of the trust and the formation of good social relations with others practitioners and also in daily life can have a great impact in changings and enhancing of some aspects of the personality.

Of course the reality is far more complex then the one I tried to sketch here, but at the moment this is the answer I found to my questions and that I wished to share with you all.

Dear Ostad Jalilzadeh and Hamrahan,
you know me as a curious person that likes to question myself about everything and I love to relate also what I learn in Kung Fu To'a with my studies in psychology. This time my curiousity was attracted by something less pleasant and happy, but anyway useful. I was thinking about the mess that is going on in Kung Fu To'a universe, about the formations of styles, groups with all the consequences related. It is not my intention to go in details of the real reasons (money, power, and the knowledge get "thrown out of the window"). What is interesting instead is the social-process behind all this.
It is called in social-psychology "group phenomena", and I specify that I am referring to the "in-group and out-group phenomena".

It is well known to everyone that people in general tends to meet in groups based on similarity of the members.
The affiliation is unconsciuosly based on physical similarity, cognitive abilities, values, attitudes and personality traits. When a group is formed, also the rules of the group start to be developed and shared by the members, and the observation of the rules reinforce the unity.
But the society is formed by more groups, with different rules and features. What does happens when we have two groups (or more)?

The members of the two groups percieve its members as "in-group", while the members of the other group is labeled as "out-group". What does happens to the judgment given by the members?

The members of the group tends to perceive themself as more diverse, in positive terms. There is a sort of favoritism, and in certain conditions we will see higher evaluations of the members to the groupmtes in terms of intelligence and appeal, and the personality traits will be considered as positive. The group itself will be seen as "superior" compared to the other, whose members are perceived as more homogeneus for what concern the negative charateristic. The judgement will be more extreme if the other group may somehow represent a threaten to the identity of its members, and the reaction will be more fierce and will give the start to the attempt to belittle the group and to make troubles.

The threaten to the identity or the "survival" I would say that is the spark that ignite the process. The same process can take action also inside the group itself.
Inside the group, all the members has a role, and when a member of the group perceive that another member represent a threaten to his position or his identity, the reaction will be to try to give the start to the out-group process toward the person that may represent the threaten. This means that the other member start to be perceived as "out-group", will receive generally negative judgement and the attempt will be to estrange him from the group itself.

For those friends that may wish to get more information about it, I specify that my thoughts are based on the "Social Identity Theory" of Tajfel.