A common issue in coaching a basic and novice rider course is the desire to over-help (over-coach) a student by providing too much information to a learning sequence or task (MSF, 2016). Typically, each exercise has one, maybe two, primary learning objectives for a student to focus on, especially during the early stages of learning. Coaches who do not fully appreciate the primary objectives and rationales of range and classroom activities may add different or more complex instructions, causing brain overload in the student. Recent questions in Tribe Talk© and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s © vRETS© workshops for coaches have fostered some thoughts on Brain Overload, also known as Cognitive Overload in the cognitive psychology field.
Learning a new skill (skill acquisition) requires practice, yet the practice method is maybe the most misunderstood part of motor skill development (Schmidt & Lee, 2014). There is no easy way to forego practice. It takes time and commitment to accomplish, but more importantly, the method must be specific, effective, and efficient to be meaningful and stored in long term memory. In the case of motorcycle rider education practice, it must also be safely executed, reducing the risk for potential injury. Simply, Brain Overload can make learning less effective.
Brain Overload can lead the student to focus on the wrong learning objective, decrease the practice on the specified task, or potentially decrease the level of end performance quality. A crucial aspect is to allow the student some experimentation (rehearsal) of the task at hand to create knowledge and, eventually, automation of the motor skill before adding another objective. A coach knowing the exercise objective (task) and rationale will help to differentiate good focus by not adding more complication to the task, essentially decreasing brain overload for the student.
The ideas above also support sticking with the researched, tested, and validated structure of the rider education curriculum to reduce potential brain overload. All too often, coaches necessarily flex to accommodate the needs of the individual student only to then continue off-course for every student after. Deviations must remain the exception based on good judgment for the needs of individual students. Overloading a student with extraneous tasks or information too soon, can decrease overall retention of knowledge and confuse the learning of a series of unique procedures or schema.
The differences in novice students require a coach able to connect enough Safety, Adult Learning, and Motor Skill (SAM) variables to manage successful student learning and retention. With such a limited time for students to develop the perception, judgment, and motor skills to ride a motorcycle, coaches need to trust in the process of the curriculum. The basic riding course is a novice level learn to ride event which works best without brain overload.
References
Atkinson, R.C. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In Spence, K.W. & Spence, J.T. The psychology of learning and motivation, (Volume 2), (pp. 89–195). New York: Academic Press.
Motorcycle Safety Foundation (2016). The MSF basic ridercourse – ridercoach guide. Irvine, CA: Author.
Schmidt, R. A., & Lee, T.D. (2014). Motor learning and performance (5th Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
