Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
You get better at what you practice, right? That's supposed to be how training works. If you want to learn how to putt, you practice putting. If you want to get better at free throws, you practice free throws.
Not so fast. Welcome to cornhole and contextual variation. A simple experiment illustrates how important the distinction between learning and performance is, and varying our practice can build stronger, more durable skills.
Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Study set up
01:24 Clarifying our intuition
02:02 Variation is good
02:46 A thought experiment
03:49 Understanding the nature of the skill
The study for this episode comes all the way from 1978:
Kerr, R., & Booth, B. (1978). Specific and varied practice of motor skill. Perceptual and motor skills, 46(2), 395-401. (paywall: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/003151257804600201).
As far as I can tell, it gained a lot of notoriety after Robert Bjork discussed it so much in his work on memory and training.
A good discussion of related experiments (including with basketball free throws) can be found in:
Soderstrom, N. C., & Bjork, R. A. (2015). Learning versus performance: An integrative review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 176-199. (currently at researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Bjork-2/publication/275355435_Learning_Versus_Performance_An_Integrative_Review/links/553e61880cf210c0bdaa538e/Learning-Versus-Performance-An-Integrative-Review.pdf) The discussion on variability starts on page 7 of the pdf (or page 182 of the hard copy).
You get better at what you practice, right? That's supposed to be how training works. If you want to learn how to putt, you practice putting. If you want to get better at free throws, you practice free throws.
Not so fast. Welcome to cornhole and contextual variation. A simple experiment illustrates how important the distinction between learning and performance is, and varying our practice can build stronger, more durable skills.
Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Study set up
01:24 Clarifying our intuition
02:02 Variation is good
02:46 A thought experiment
03:49 Understanding the nature of the skill
The study for this episode comes all the way from 1978:
Kerr, R., & Booth, B. (1978). Specific and varied practice of motor skill. Perceptual and motor skills, 46(2), 395-401. (paywall: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/003151257804600201).
As far as I can tell, it gained a lot of notoriety after Robert Bjork discussed it so much in his work on memory and training.
A good discussion of related experiments (including with basketball free throws) can be found in:
Soderstrom, N. C., & Bjork, R. A. (2015). Learning versus performance: An integrative review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 176-199. (currently at researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Bjork-2/publication/275355435_Learning_Versus_Performance_An_Integrative_Review/links/553e61880cf210c0bdaa538e/Learning-Versus-Performance-An-Integrative-Review.pdf) The discussion on variability starts on page 7 of the pdf (or page 182 of the hard copy).
