Rate and Level of Learning as Functions af Information-Processing Characteristics of the Learner and the Task

This study examined relationships among information-processing characteristics of the learner, dominant information-processing component of tasks, and the rate and level of mastery of selected motor tasks. Sixth grade children (n=60) were classified as high, moderate, or low visual and/or proprioceptive information processors and asked to learn a fine perceptual-motor task and one of two gross perceptual-motor tasks that differed in the relative importance of visual and proprioceptive components. When visual and proprioceptive demands of a task were equivalent, high information processors showed higher levels of task mastery than low information processors; when proprioceptive tasks demands were dominant, results were equivocal. If processing demands were high, high proprioceptive information processors exhibited higher performance than did low subjects. When demands were less, performance level was not significantly affected. Rate of task mastery was never affected by these factors.