Associative learning is the passive learning of a predictive relationship between two previously unrelated cues or events. This article explains how associative learning is currently employed in the sport domain and how it can be used to increase motivation and focus when working with athletes. The article describes associative learning techniques…

It was hypothesized that freedom to choose words to be learned, but not the actual choice of words per se, improves performance in paired-associate tasks. Subjects offered an attractive or meaningful choice performed significantly better than subjects offered an unattractive choice, which was equivalent to no choice at all. (Author/CP)