Autonomous stage features?

Autonomous stage features?

• A. Automatic; motor program stored in LTM; strategy; self confidence increases; internal feedback; external feedback highlights errors; practice to maintain stage
• B. Early cognitive stage features
• C. Practicing subroutines
• D. Fatigue causes plateau

Answer: (A)

In the autonomous stage, skill execution becomes automatic, so movements are performed with little conscious effort even while attention is directed elsewhere. This relies on well-developed motor programs stored in long-term memory, which allow fast, smooth, and efficient action without needing step-by-step thinking. Strategic decisions remain possible, and performance tends to be stable and confident because errors are rare. Internal feedback—proprioceptive and kinaesthetic cues—drives most of the adjustments, while external feedback becomes less central, though it can still be used to fine-tune small residual errors. Regular practice is needed to maintain this automatic level of performance. Other options describe earlier stages or unrelated ideas: cognitive stage is dominated by thinking and external feedback; focusing on subroutines misses the automaticity and memory-based control; fatigue plateau isn’t a defining feature of this stage.

In the autonomous stage, skill execution becomes automatic, so movements are performed with little conscious effort even while attention is directed elsewhere. This relies on well-developed motor programs stored in long-term memory, which allow fast, smooth, and efficient action without needing step-by-step thinking.

Strategic decisions remain possible, and performance tends to be stable and confident because errors are rare. Internal feedback—proprioceptive and kinaesthetic cues—drives most of the adjustments, while external feedback becomes less central, though it can still be used to fine-tune small residual errors. Regular practice is needed to maintain this automatic level of performance.

Other options describe earlier stages or unrelated ideas: cognitive stage is dominated by thinking and external feedback; focusing on subroutines misses the automaticity and memory-based control; fatigue plateau isn’t a defining feature of this stage.