Abstract

Udo Eversheim and Otmar Bock use dual-task loading during visuomotor adaptation and find different resource profiles across acquisition — supporting staged models including Fitts-style cognitive-to-autonomous progression.

Eversheim, U., & Bock, O. (2001). Learning & Memory, 8(4), 183–189. DOI

Key findings

  • Stage-wise resources — Spatial-attention loads dominate early; movement-preparation loads rise later.
  • Processing stages — Interference pattern changes over practice — not a flat learning curve.
  • Model alignment — Data fit cognitive · motor · autonomous stage accounts from Fitts and successors.

Limits

Sensorimotor tracking paradigm — generalisation to declarative or business skills is analogical.

Application

When learning feels mentally heavy then physically repetitive, expect stage shifts — change practice design instead of judging slowness as failure. See Four stages of competence.