Effects of augmented feedback on the aquisition of a motor skill : in two enviromental conditions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three forms of feedback on the learning/performance of a motor skill in two environmental conditions. One hundred twenty female subjects were randomly assigned to an open or closed task in one of four groups (n = 15) . Each subject threw 10 sets of 5 darts at either a fixed target (closed task) or moving target (open task) following procedures designated for the treatment groups: (1) control--no augmented feedback; (2) augmented KR; (3) augmented KP; and (4) combined augmented KR/KP. All were videotaped. The individual scores were grouped into 10 blocks of 5 trials for: (1) goal attainment; (2) goal attainment consistency; (3) movement performance; and (4) movement consistency. Simple main effects analysis on blocks one and two was performed to determine if the groups were significantly different at the beginning of the study. The Bonferroni planned comparisons were performed at Blocks 9 and 10. Results indicated that: (1) at Block 9 the group receiving KR performed significantly better (p < 0.01) on goal attainment and goal attainment consistency than the control group for the open task; (2) at Block 9 and 10 the group receiving KR/KP performed significantly better (p < 0.01) on movement performance than did the control group for the open task; (3) at Block 10 the group receiving KR/KP performed significantly better (p < 0.01) on movement performance than did the control group for the closed task; and (4) there were no significant differences at Blocks 9 or 10 between groups on movement consistency for either the open or closed task. In conclusion, the primary contributions of the study are that (1) KR/KP produced significantly better movement performance than the control group for open and closed tasks, and (2) KR produced significantly greater performance on goal attainment and consistency of goal attainment than the control group on the open task.