Performance versus learning

Performance means how well you do something at this particular moment. It can fluctuate considerably even within a single day, depending on how you feel, fatigue, nervousness, and advice you have just received.

Learning is a relatively lasting change that remains after temporary conditions have fallen away. In motor learning research, learning is assessed not on the day of practice but through a retention test, in which you try again several days later, or a transfer test, in which you try the skill in a new situation with slightly different conditions. The focus is not on the result immediately after practice ends, but on what remains much later.

For example, completing one set of squats with perfect form in front of a coach is performance. If you can use the same form a week later, on your own, without the coach’s cues, and in a different location, learning has occurred.

Looking smooth and comfortable during practice does not necessarily mean that the skill will last. Conversely, some approaches may leave you repeatedly struggling and feeling awkward during practice, yet produce better retention later. American psychologist Robert Bjork called these approaches desirable difficulties (Desirable difficulties). Common examples include the following.

• Mixing different tasks during practice — Compared with repeating one movement in a block, alternating among several movements is harder and leads to more frequent mistakes during practice, but often produces better retention when assessed later. (Contextual interference, Blocked and random practice)
• Spacing out practice — Spreading practice across separate periods rather than doing it all at once tends to help it last longer. (Distributed and massed practice, Spacing effect)
• Reducing feedback — Receiving feedback on results occasionally rather than every time develops your ability to interpret what you feel for yourself. (Knowledge of results and knowledge of performance)
• Varying the conditions slightly — Practicing the same movement with small changes in speed, direction, and environment helps it transfer to new situations. (Variable practice)

In short, what feels easy and goes well now and what stays with you later often point in different directions.

The process of acquiring a motor skill can be divided into taking in information during practice, consolidating it into memory during subsequent rest, and retrieving it later. The difference between performance during practice and retention after some time has passed is explained as being related to this consolidation process that takes place between practice sessions.

• Doing well today does not mean you have fully learned it. Corrections to your technique and new exercise movements gradually become ingrained as you check whether you can reproduce the same form the next day and the next week. Rather than getting discouraged when things do not go well, try again after some time and observe the changes.
• Try it on your own, too. Occasionally practicing without a coach, mirror, or reminders can show you whether the skill has really stayed with you.
• Do not practice just one movement all at once. Alternating exercises and changing their order can feel harder, but tends to help them stay with you longer.
• Break up your daily practice. Dividing practice into 10-minute periods is often better than doing 30 minutes all at once.
• Vary the environment slightly. Trying a movement you learned at the gym at home or outdoors can develop your ability to apply it in different settings.