Bilateral Transfer of Training

PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICUM
Final Experiment: Bilateral Transfer of Training

Submitted to: Dr. Tehmina Jabeen

Submitted by:
Rida (05-171222-0038)
Eman Shaheen (05-171222-047)
Sara Imran (05-171222-189)
Batool Naqvi (05-171222-192)
Abeeha Irfan Syed (05-171222-054)
Vania Saghir (05-171222-043)
Date of submission: 27th March, 2024

Institute of Professional Psychology

Bahria University
Karachi.

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Work division:

Introduction by: Eman Shaheen, Rida

Historical background by: Abeeha Irfan Syed, Batool Naqvi

Method and procedure by: Vania Saghir

Discussion and Conclusion: Sara Imran

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Final Experiment: BILATERAL TRANSFER OF TRAINING

1. Introduction

Definitions:

 Learning:

Learning is a relatively lasting change in behavior that is the result of experience. It is the
acquisition of information, knowledge, and skills. Cherry (2022)

 Transfer of Training:

Transfer of training, influences the learning of one skill has on the learning or performance of
another. Kendler (2016)

 Bilateral Transfer of Training:

Bilateral transfer, also referred to as inter-manual transfer or cross-education, is a phenomenon

whereby experience obtained by a trained limb has an impact on the untrained contralateral
homologous limb. William et. al, (2014)

Explanation:

 Type of transfer of training: Daniels, (2017)

1) Positive Transfer of Training: this type of transfer of training occurs when learning one type
of skill makes it easier to learn another skill which has similar elements to the first type of task.

2) Negative Transfer of Training: this type of transfer of training occurs when learning one skill
makes it difficult to learn another skill usually because elements from one skill overlap with the
element of the other skill and thus creating confusion.

3) Zero/Neutral Transfer of Training: this type of transfer of training occurs when learning oen
skill has no impact on learning another skill.

 Type of Bilateral Transfer of Training: SR, (2023)

1) Specific/Near Transfer: this type of transfer of training occurs when the context between the
first and second task are the same thus making it easy to be trained.

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2) General Transfer: this type of transfer of training occurs when one applies their training in
context that is different from the original learning context.

3) Lateral Training: this type of transfer of training occurs when the context of tasks is parallel. It
shares some similarities but notable differences are present.

4) Vertical Transfer: this type of transfer of training occurs when transfer is done in different and
increasing difficulty level i.e. moving from a basic task to a complex one.

 Type of Motor Training: Kikka, (2019)

1) Gross Motor Skills: basic motor skills that get better with age are known as gross motor skills
such as walking and jumping.

2) Fine Motor Skills: more handy and skilful motor skills that require more precision than gross
motor skills are known as fine motor skills such as opening a zipper or sports specific skills such
as hitting a golf ball.

2. Historical background
 Old research:

The study by Yao et. al (2014) explored how well skills in timing and fine force control transfer
from the dominant to the non-dominant limb. Twenty right-handed college students were taught
a sequential task requiring both timing and force control. Participants completed a pre-test with
both hands, followed by 100 practice trials with their dominant hand. A post-test was conducted
one hour later. Results indicated that participants improved in controlling both timing and force.
However, only the timing skill transferred to the non-dominant hand, while the force-control
skill did not.

 Recent research:

Research on bilateral transfer has shown that mental imagery training can enhance the transfer of
motor skills from one limb to the other, beyond what physical practice alone can achieve. The
study by Land et. al (2016) explored how the duration of practice and task difficulty affect the
transfer of a sequential key-pressing task from one arm to the other. The results revealed that
while mental imagery training is beneficial, physical practice is more effective in promoting
bilateral transfer, especially with extended practice. Additionally, the transfer is more significant

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when moving from the non-dominant arm to the dominant arm, and the order of the task
sequence does not affect the transfer. These findings suggest that mental imagery training is
useful in the initial stages of learning, but physical practice becomes more important as training
progresses.

In short, the studies show that bilateral transfer of training is most apparent in tasks that are
physical and that results are more pronounced as number of trials increase. Furthermore, it is
proven that timing skill is transferable from one hand to the other.

Problem:

To study bilateral transfer of training from dominant hand to non-dominant hand.

Hypothesis:

There will be an improvement in motor abilities of non-dominant hand after training of dominant
hand.

Independent variable:

Training or not training

Dependent variable:

Number of errors and time taken

3. Method and procedure:

Particulars of the subject:

Subject’s name Age Gender Qualification

Vania Saghir 21 Female BS Student
Rida 20 Female BS Student
Eman Shaheen 23 Female BS Student
Sara Imran 21 Female BS Student
Batool Naqvi 20 Female BS Student
Abeeha Irfan Syed 20 Female BS Student

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Controls:

 Length and difficulty of paragraph was kept constant across participants and same
paragraph used for both experimental and control condition.
 Repeated Measures Design.
 Errors identified by those external to the study, who had not previously read the
paragraph.
 Same environment and apparatus for both experimental and control condition.
 No break between the control, practice and experimental condition (remove effect of
interpolated activity on transfer of training).
 All subjects were right-handed females.

Apparatus:

 Stopwatch
 Paper and pen
 A paragraph

Procedure:

The experiment began with a Control condition, in which participants were required to copy a
short paragraph using their non-dominant hand. The time taken for the participant to completely
write down the paragraph was measured and recorded.

The next phase of the experiment was the Practice phase, which began immediately after the
control condition, required the participants to write down the paragraph four times using their
dominant hand.

The final phase of the experiment was the Experimental condition. In this condition the
participants once again wrote the paragraph with their non-dominant hand. The time taken to
fully transcribe the paragraph was measured and recorded.

Finally, errors in the paragraph were rated by some rater who had not previously seen the
paragraph. The raters were told to point out any letter or word that was illegible,
incomprehensible or that looked too different from how the letter should be. The number of
errors were thus recorded for both Control and Experimental condition.

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Result:

Control Condition Experimental Condition

Number Number
Subject Name Time taken Time taken
of Errors of Errors
Subject 1: Vania Saghir 5 min 6 sec 5 4 min 28 sec 8
Subject 2: Rida 4 min 57 sec 5 4 min 27 sec 1
Subject 3: Eman Shaheen 4 min 15 sec 3 3 min 35 sec 3
Subject 4: Sara Imran 4 min 33 sec 1 4 min 21 sec 2
Subject 5: Batool Naqvi 5 min 10 sec 0 4 min 33 sec 2
Subject 6: Abeeha Irfan Syed 3 min 37 sec 7 2 min 48 sec 10

As the above table demonstrates, there is a clear improvement in time taken in the experimental
condition compared to the control condition. Even though the degree varies, for all subjects there
is some reduction in the time taken to fully transcribe the paragraph. It can be assumed that this
reduction would increase if the number of practice trials were increased.

However, it can also be seen that for all but one subject, the number of errors either increased or
stayed the same from the control to experimental condition.

4. Introspective report:

Hypothesis:

There will be an improvement in motor abilities of non-dominant hand after training of dominant
hand.

Proof of hypothesis:

Results show that there is a clear improvement in the time taken to write down the paragraph
with the left hand after practice with the right hand.

Subject 1: Vania Saghir

The entire experiment was conducted at the same time, each trial consecutively and with not gap
in between. For me, I started to feel quite tired and my hand started feeling cramped during
practice only. Thus when I started writing again for the experimental condition, I had this feeling
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of getting the task over with. This might have resulted in me rushing through the experimental
condition and not paying much mind to how carefully I wrote the letters. Furthermore, I was
aware that we wanted the time taken for control condition to be greater than the time taken in the
experimental condition. This led to some degree of experimenter bias, as I tried to be quicker in
writing the text. Another factor was that initially, I had to look at the text quite often in order to
copy it. However, by the time I started writing it for the experimental condition, I had pretty
much memorized the text and only had to look up once or twice to ensure I was writing
correctly.

Subject 2: Rida

During the control phase, it was my first time writing with my left hand thus my hand hurt a lot
and I had very bad grip on the pen. In addition to that, the words move out of the lines a lot in
this phase. In the experimental phase, my hand hurt a little less comparatively to the control
phase but I’d say it was still difficult to write with it because the practice for transfer of training
was not adequate due to time constraints. The changes in writing was negligible but still visible.
Lastly, after the practice time both of my wrists were hurting thus I didn’t care much about how I
wrote in the experimental condition and wanted to get it over with soon to give my hands some
rest because there was no break between control, practice and experimental condition.

Subject 3: Eman Shaheen

During the control phase, it wasn’t that hard to write with my left hand because I have tried to
write multiple times with my left hand in the past, so it wasn’t that difficult to write with my left
hand. I was focusing on writing neatly as possible hence, it took me longer to write and made 3
errors. After the control phase, I was instructed to write with my right hand 4 times before the 2 nd
trial (experimental). During the experimental phase, I was much more confident with writing
with my left hand. This time, I wrote quicker and wasn’t focusing on writing neatly since time
was being measured so I wanted to write faster hence, it took me less time to write but the errors
remained constant which was the same number of errors as in the 1 st trial.

Subject 4: Sara Imran

I was seated side-by-side with other participants and we were given the same paragraph to write
first with our left hand initially, I was very precise and I was putting extra effort into writing

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neatly with as clearly as possible with my left hand which resulted in a lot of pain in my left hand
because I have not used or it’s not my dominant hand so I normally don’t use it for writing but
then I was told to write the same paragraph with my right hand 4 times. By the end of it, I was
tired as there was no break between all tasks. I was exhausted so when instruction was given to
write this paragraph last time with my left hand again, much effort was not given from my side
which could have been the reason for more errors in the last try

Subject 5: Batool Naqvi

In the control phase, writing with my left hand was a bit hard, although I had a fine grip on the
pen but due to less usage for writing with that hand it took me more time to write, and the
writing was ok. While, in experimental, after practicing 4 times with right hand and then writing
again with left hand took me less time to complete the paragraph and also made errors due to
quick handwriting speed.

Subject 6: Abeeha Irfan Syed

During the control phase, since it was my first time writing with my left hand, it was very
difficult. My hand quickly started to hurt, and I could barely understand what I was writing. The
words were all over the place, making my handwriting almost illegible. I struggled to form
letters properly, and the entire process was slow and frustrating.

During the experimental phase, however, things improved noticeably. My hand hurt less, and I
could actually understand what I had written. Even though I still made more mistakes than I
would have liked, likely due to writing at a faster pace, it was a significant improvement from
the first attempt. Interestingly, it took me less time to write the paragraph during the
experimental phase than it did during the control phase. This suggests that with even a small
amount of practice, my left-handed writing became more efficient, even if it wasn't perfect.

5. Discussion of the results:

For Subject 1, the time taken for transcription reduced only by 38 seconds. Similarly, for subject
2, the reduction was 30 seconds, for Subject 3 it was 40 seconds, Subject 4’s reduction was only
12 seconds, Subject 5’s was 37 seconds and Subject 6’s reduction in time taken was the greatest
at 49 seconds. Overall, the reduction is not significant, however it is hypothesized that there will

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be a greater improvement if number of practice trials, which were only 4 in this experiment, were
increased and spaced over a few days.

Furthermore, for Subjects 1, 4, 5 and 6, the number of errors increased in the experimental
condition. This could also be due to fatigue effect as subjects all reported feeling tired and their
hands cramping up after 1 control and 4 practice trials. For Subject 3, the number of errors
stayed the same in both conditions and for Subject 2, the number of errors actually decreased. As
apparent in Subject 2’s result, the decrease from 5 errors to only 1 error, coupled with the 30
second decrease in time taken to fully transcribe the text proves the hypothesis of this study.

Discussion:

The study used a repeated measures design, using a control condition to establish a baseline
against which improvement was measured. This ensured that any subject’s prior ability to write
with their non-dominant hand did not affect the result, as the improvement was measured as the
difference in performance in the control and experimental condition.

The study sample only included right-handed females which limits the generalizability of the
findings, as it does not account for differences in cognitive and motor functions between genders,
and between right-handed and left-handed individuals which could influence the outcome. Thus,
the applicability of results to the broader population is limited. Further studies could include a
more diverse sample that encompasses both genders and various handedness in order to study for
ways to improve general ability.

The task used in this experiment was pretty straightforward, free from complex procedures or
specialized equipment, making it a more realistic representation of everyday activities. This
facilitates the replicability of the experiment in different settings.

In the measurement of errors for every participant, there was one individual who measured errors
in both experimental and control group. These assessments were based on individual subjective
judgment, and while the fact that the same rater rated both control and experimental condition
performance reduces the affect this subjectivity could have had on the results, it still introduces a
level of variability due to personal biases and different interpretations of what constitutes an
error; it undermines the reliability of the findings as the criteria for identifying errors may not be
consistently applied.

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This issue could have been addressed by using AI-based programs or computer software to
detect errors. Such technology can be programmed to apply uniform criteria for identifying
errors, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all results. implementing such technology
would have increased the validity of the study by reducing human bias and providing a reliable
objective measure of errors.

On the other hand, the external factors of the study were highly controlled. It was conducted in a
classroom setting, and the experiment took place at the same time of day for all participants. This
control resulted in equal energy levels for all participants who use the same chairs, equipment,
paper, and pens, thereby standardizing the procedure and improving the validity of the result.

Additionally, despite the participants being aware of the study's aim beforehand, the fact that this
writing task was assigned spontaneously ensured that there was no opportunity for training or
preparation. This contributed to the authenticity of the participants' response.

The study employed repeated major design with no interval between the control and task. The
lack of interval could have led to fatigue effect potentially intervening the results by causing
increased errors. Future studies could incorporate periods between task and reduce fatigue and
obtain more accurate measurements of performance differences.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, while the study had limitations due to homogenous sample and subjective
measurements of errors, its straightforward design and controlled conditions contribute to its
replicability and authenticity. By incorporating a more diverse sample, utilizing AI-based error
detection, introducing interval between the conditions and practice trials, and increasing the
number of practice trials, future research can build on these findings to provide more
generalizable and reliable results.

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6. References:

Land, W. M., Liu, B., Cordova, A., Fang, M., Huang, Y., & Yao, W. X. (2016). Effects of
Physical Practice and Imagery Practice on Bilateral Transfer in Learning a Sequential Tapping
Task. PloS one, 11(4), e0152228.

Yao, Wan & Cordova, Alberto & Huang, Yufei & Wang, Yan & Lu, Xing. (2014). Bilateral
Transfer for Learning to Control Timing but Not for Learning to Control Fine Force. Perceptual
and motor skills. 118. 400-10. 10.2466/23.25.PMS.118k19w1.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-learning-2795332

Transfer of training | Learning & Retention Strategies | Britannica

Effects of Physical Practice and Imagery Practice on Bilateral Transfer in Learning a Sequential
Tapping Task - PMC (nih.gov)

Theories of Transfer of Training and Its Different Types (businessstudynotes.com)

https://letslearneasily.in/types-of-transfer-of-learning-b-ed-
notes/#:~:text=Bilateral%20Transfer%20%28Reciprocal%20Transfer%29%201%20Bilateral%2
0transfer%20is,process%20of%20learning%20the%20guitar%2C%20and%20vice%20versa.

What Are Motor Skills And How Can You Develop Them? (thesportsedu.com)

7. Appendix:

Paragraph used for Practice and test:

Consider the mesmerizing dance of a flickering campfire. Flames leap and twirl, casting intricate
patterns of light and shadow. Crackling logs release a symphony of comforting sounds.

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