Fitts and Posner's stages of learning

The three progressive phases of learning a new skill proposed by P. M. Fitts and I. M. Posner in 1967. They are: a cognitive phase during which the performer develops a mental picture and fuller understanding of the required action to form an executive programme; an associative phase during which the performer physically practises the executive programme learned in the cognitive phase; and an autonomous phase during which the performer learns to carry out the skill with little conscious effort.