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In recent years, it has been shown that spacing training sessions by several hours allows the consolidation of motor skills in the brain, a process leading to the stabilization of the skills and, sometimes, further improvement without additional practice. At the moment, it is unknown whether consolidation can lead to an improvement in performance when the learner performs complex full-body movements. To explore this question, we recruited 10 divers and had them practice a challenging diving maneuver. Divers first performed an initial training session, consisting of 12 dives during which visual feedback was provided immediately after each dive through video replay. Two retention tests without feedback were performed 30 min and 24 hr after the initial training session. All dives were recorded using a video camera and the participants’ performance was assessed by measuring the verticality of the body segments at water entry. Significant performance gains were observed in the 24-hr retention test (p < .05). These results suggest that the learning of complex full-body movements can benefit from consolidation and that splitting practice sessions can be used as a training tool to facilitate skill acquisition.

Training studies in a variety of domains focus on between-group comparisons. This study investigated individual differences in learning based upon visual anticipation training using field hockey goalkeeping as the exemplar motor skill. In a within-subject design, four state-league level field hockey goalkeepers were tested before and after visual anticipatory training in an in-situ test that required them to save goals from a drag flick. Response initiation time and response accuracy were measured. Participants were tested at baseline, completed a control phase of sport-specific practice, were retested, then given an intervention phase of temporal occlusion training plus sport-specific practice, and retested. Results indicated that two goalkeepers’ response initiation times were earlier after the intervention. Effect sizes indicated that the two goalkeepers improved response accuracy after the intervention. Another goalkeeper’s response initiation time was later after the intervention, but this did not impede response accuracy of goals saved. The mechanism of individual learning appeared to be modulation of response timing to save goals. Anticipation training can improve in-situ visual-perceptual motor skill performance in an individualized and nonlinear fashion. Further research is needed to better understand how each individual learns the visual-perceptual motor skills of high time-stress tasks in the sport domain.