schema

1. A mental framework or outline that functions as a kind of vague standard that arises out of past experience, growing and differentiating throughout childhood, and places new experiences in their appropriate context and relation.

2. In Schmidt's schema theory of motor control, a set of operational rules or algorithms that have been acquired from practice or experience, which determine the motor responses in a given situation. It is proposed that there is a separate schema for each class of movement and that skill proficiency is determined by how well the schema are established. The use of schema implies there are generalized motor programmes for a given class of movement. It is proposed that the schema would not take up much storage space (storage is a problem with theories positing a one-to-one relationship between stored programmes and generated movements) and would help explain the ability to perform relatively novel tasks. When acquiring a new skill or competing in a game, a performer recalls and adapts the schema to suit a particular situation, and carry out the required movements. Schema are constructed during practice from information about the initial conditions or starting points of movements, certain aspects of motor actions (such as speed and height), the success or failure of actions, and the sensory consequences of actions (i.e. how they felt).