Specificity of training for motor skill under physical fatigue

The purpose of the present study was to test the specificity of training principle from exercise physiology in the context of motor skill acquisition. Thirty-six college females were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group and both groups received 54 practice trials on a ladder climb task over four consecutive days (3,18,18 and 15 trials/day, respectively). The control group practiced under conditions of heavy interpolated fatigue on the first 3 days with day 3 representing the heavy-fatigue criterion conditions, while the experimental group did the same except for day 2 when a vowel-cancelling task was substituted for the fatigue task. On day 4 both groups practiced under the second criterion of non-fatigue conditions. Fatigue was induced by a step-up task so that a minimum HR of 180 beats/min was attained prior to each ladder trial. The results supported the specificity hypothesis that practicing a gross motor task under conditions of heavy-fatigue would facilitate performance of that task under criterion heavy-fatigue conditions. For the second criterion of non-fatigue practice, the data appeared to support the specificity principle but the rigorous test of the differences did not reach statistical significance. The overall evidence supports the position that regards heavy physical fatigue as a variable that can cause changes in the nature of certain motor skills so that the specificity of training principle becomes applicable.