In motor learning, the associative stage is when practice has moved you beyond rough trial-and-error and you start refining the movement. Movements become smoother and more consistent, you perform them more efficiently, and you can often increase speed while still solving small problems in how you execute the skill. This refinement and problem-solving focus is exactly what the statement describes. By contrast, becoming automatic happens in the later autonomous stage, where the skill can be performed with minimal conscious thought. Needing to think about the movement characterizes the cognitive stage, and distractions hindering progress is a general factor that can affect any stage, not a defining feature of this middle phase.