The effect of visual information feedback and subjective estimation of movement production error on the acquisition, retention, and transfer of an applied motor skill

The main purpose of this study was to examine the interactive effect of immediate visual feedback about performance outcome and subjective estimation of movement production error on the acquisition, retention, and transfer of an applied motor skill. A nonpreferred-hand throwing task was the applied motor skill used in the study. An equal number of male and female subjects (n=60) were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: a) immediate visual feedback (IVFB), b) delayed visual feedback (DVFB), c) immediate visual feedback plus subjective estimation of movement production error (IVFB+SE), d) delayed visual feedback plus subjective estimation of movement production error (DVFB+SE), and e) control (CON).

The experiment lasted two days and consisted of: a) an acquisition phase, b) a retention phase, c) a transfer phase, d) error-detection tests, and e) a post-experimental interview. The dependent variables were accuracy scores and variability scores for throwing performance and estimation error scores and variability scores for error-detection data. The independent variables included sex, the length of interval between completion of performance and receipt of visual feedback about performance outcome, and the subjective estimation of movement production error during this interval and during the interval between receipt of visual feedback and the beginning of the next trial.

Separate MANOVAS (Wilks' Lambda) with repeated measures on trial blocks were used to examine the effects of immediate visual feedback about performance outcome and subjective estimation of movement production error on the acquisition, retention, and transfer performance as well as on the learning of error-detection capabilities. The multivariate and univariate results revealed that the immediate visual feedback groups performed better than the delayed visual feedback groups during acquisition. This superiority was diminished on all retention and transfer tests. Conversely, the estimation groups outperformed the no-estimation groups during all retention and transfer trials. The results of the present study also indicated the control group displayed poorer error-detection performance than the other groups and that the error- detection performance of the estimation groups was better than that of the no-estimation groups. Finally, performance accuracy of males was superior to that of females during acquisition and retention trials in the presence of KR. These findings suggest that immediate visual feedback about performance outcome enhances performance whereas subjective estimation of movement production error during the KR-delay and/or the post-KR intervals enhances skill learning. The latter effect is likely due to the development of learners' error-detection capabilities. However,