Probing the allocation of attention in implicit (motor) learning

Test-retest reliability of putting-related variables in medium-to-high handicap golf players

This manuscript aims to study the reliability of different variables related to performance and acceleration during the golf putt in players with medium-to-high handicaps and to determine the number of attempts necessary to find reliable values for these variables. Eight males and two females [55.67 (13.64) years, 78.4 (11.4) kg, 1.75 (7.95) m] participated in two experimental sessions separated by one week. In these sessions, they performed three blocks of 10 putts trying to stop the golf ball at the center of a dartboard painted 2 m away. The performance was assessed depending on the area of the dartboard where the ball stopped, and the acceleration signals were acquired using the Xsens Dot. The results showed that to evaluate performance, 18 trials were necessary to reach reliable values using the 0-10 scoring system, and 28 trials were necessary for the 0-3 scoring system. Regarding the reliability of the accelerometer-related variables, 7 attempts were necessary to obtain good-to-excellent reliability values for most of the variables. It could be concluded that putting in medium-to-high handicap golf players can be reliably measured using the abovementioned protocol.

Motor learning in golf-a systematic review

Golf is a sport that consists of complex movement skills that need to be executed with utmost precision. Consequently, motor skill learning plays a crucial role in golf, and large numbers of studies address various methods of motor learning. In the present review, we give a systematic overview of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on motor learning of golf-specific motor skills. Three electronic databases were searched for RCTs looking at the effect of at least one learning method on performance in a golf-specific motor task. We grouped the studies depending on the learning strategies "cognitive training", "practice scheduling", "augmented feedback", "implicit and explicit learning" and "focus of attention". Fifty-two RCTs met the eligibility criteria and were included in the systematic review. Superior methods within their respective strategies were an external focus of attention and increasing contextual interference, as well as errorless learning. For "cognitive training" and "augmented feedback", no single method can be considered the most favorable. The overall biggest limitations were the lack of statistical power for more than half of the RCTs, and the fact that most studies of the present review investigated simple putting tasks in novices only. Although we have shown superiority of specific learning methods, transferability of the recommendations that can be derived from simple golf tasks in novices to sport-specific tasks in advanced players still has to be demonstrated and require study designs with the intention to provide practical recommendations for coaches and athletes in the sport of golf.

The effects of errorless psychomotor training in the Y balance lower limb reaching task

This study investigated the training effect of errorless psychomotor training, a motor training method with perceptual, attentional, and psychological manipulation, in a balance-related, lower limb reaching task (Y balance reaching task) on dynamic balance by young adults. Thirty-nine participants (Mean age = 27.03 years, SD = 2.64 years) were trained with different psychomotor training methods in the Y balance reaching task. Results illustrate that errorless psychomotor training significantly improved the participants' dynamic balance and proprioceptive abilities. Additionally, gaze fixation duration on target during reaching decreased after errorless psychomotor training, suggesting that errorless psychomotor training could decrease visual information demand and be concurrently compensated by up-weighting on proprioception. This multisensory reweighting and cross-modal attention could contribute to the improvement of dynamic balance ability in sports.

Training and retention effects of paced and music-synchronised walking exercises on pre-older females: an interventional study

BACKGROUND

Physical activity at pre-older ages (55-64 years) can greatly affect one's physical fitness, health, physical-activity behaviour, and quality of life at older ages. The objective of this study was to conduct a 24-week walking-exercise programme among sedentary pre-older females and investigate the influence of different walking cadences on cardiorespiratory fitness and associated biomarkers.

METHODS

A total of 78 pre-older sedentary female participants were recruited and randomly assigned to normal (n = 36), paced (n = 15), music-synchronised (n = 15) walking, and no-exercise control (n = 12) groups, respectively. The normal, paced, and music-synchronised walking groups walked at a cadence of 120 steps/min, 125 steps/min, and 120-128 steps/min, respectively, under supervised conditions. Anthropometric characteristics, step length, nutrient intake, blood pressure and composition, and cardiorespiratory fitness were measured at baseline, the 12th week of the programme, the 24th week of the programme (completion), and after a 12-week retention period, which began immediately upon completion of the programme and did not feature any supervised exercises.

RESULTS

All walking conditions improved high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, step length, maximum oxygen consumption (VO₂max), and oxidative capacity at anaerobic threshold (all P < 0.001); however, after the 12-week retention period only the training effects of HDL-C (P < 0.05) and VO₂max (P < 0.05) remained robust. Additionally, music-synchronised walking was found to reduce the fat ratio (P = 0.031), while paced walking was found to reduce body mass (P = 0.049).

CONCLUSIONS

The significant pre-post changes in health-related outcomes across the 24-week walking intervention, including improved blood composition, longer step length, and better cardiorespiratory capacity, show that this intervention is promising for improving health and fitness. When, during the retention period, the participants resumed their usual lifestyles without supervised exercise, most physiological biomarkers deteriorated. Thus, for sedentary middle-aged females, persistent behavioural change is necessary to retain the health benefits of physical exercise.

Normal Aging Affects the Short-Term Temporal Stability of Implicit, But Not Explicit, Motor Learning following Visuomotor Adaptation

Normal aging is associated with a decline in memory and motor learning ability. However, the exact form of these impairments (e.g., the short-term temporal stability and affected learning mechanisms) is largely unknown. Here, we used a sensorimotor adaptation task to examine changes in the temporal stability of two forms of learning (explicit and implicit) because of normal aging. Healthy young subjects (age range, 19–28 years; 20 individuals) and older human subjects (age range, 63–85 years; 19 individuals) made reaching movements in response to altered visual feedback. On each trial, subjects turned a rotation dial to select an explicit aiming direction. Once selected, the display was removed and subjects moved the cursor from the start position to the target. After initial training with the rotational feedback perturbation, subjects completed a series of probe trials at different delay periods to systematically assess the short-term retention of learning. For both groups, the explicit aiming showed no significant decrease over 1.5 min. However, this was not the case for implicit learning; the decay pattern was markedly different between groups. Older subjects showed a linear decrease of the implicit component of adaptation over time, while young subjects showed an exponential decay over the same period (time constant, 25.61 s). Although older subjects adapted at a similar rate, these results suggest natural aging selectively impacts the short-term (seconds to minutes) temporal stability of implicit motor learning mechanisms. This understanding may provide a means to dissociate natural aging memory impairments from deficits caused by brain disorders that progress with aging.

Understanding Motor Skill Learning as Related to Dentistry

Learning dental procedures is a complex task involving the development of fine motor skills. The reported use of theories and/or evidence for designing learning activities to develop the fine motor skills needed for dental practice is limited. The aim of this review is to explore the available body of knowledge related to learning motor skills relevant to dentistry. Evidence from studies investigating motor skill learning highlights the negative impact of self-focus and self-regulation on learning outcomes, particularly during the early stages of learning. The development of activities and schedules that enable novices to demonstrate characteristics similar to experts, without the reported long period of 'deliberate practice', is clearly of value. Outcomes of learning implicitly are important in dentistry because working under stressful conditions is common, either during undergraduate study or in practice. It is suggested that learning implicitly in the simulation stage can reduce disrupted performance when transitioning to clinical settings. Therefore, further investigation of effective methods for learning dental fine motor skills is indicated, using approaches that result in robust performance, even under stressful conditions.

Effect of errorless learning on the acquisition of fine motor skills in pre-clinical endodontics

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of errorless and errorful learning, on acquisition of root canal hand-instrumentation skills. Dental students prepared standardised canals of different diameters and curvatures. Learning involved minimising (errorless: n = 21) or maximising errors (errorful: n = 21). Students who had completed accredited pre-clinical activities provided comparative data (n = 17). During testing, the distal canal of a plastic mandibular molar was prepared, first as a single task and then under multi-tasking conditions. Performance was assessed by preparation accuracy and time. Differences were assessed using anova (P < 0.05). Performance in the experimental groups was similar during learning. When multi-tasking, errorful learners showed a deterioration in preparation accuracy (P < 0.05). In contrast, preparation accuracy and completion times for the errorless and comparative groups remained stable when multi-tasking. Errorless learning resulted in stable performance under multi-tasking conditions. Investigation of alternative approaches to learning motor skills in dentistry is warranted as such approaches may provide better outcomes, especially under demanding conditions.

Analogy and explicit motor learning in dynamic balance: Posturography and performance analyses

AbstractUnlike explicit learning, analogy learning allows learners to acquire skills with a movement metaphor with fewer verbal knowledge accumulated during early learning, resulting in less reliance on cognitive resources for better motor performances. However, the efficacy of analogical instruction on balance is still unclear. This study examined learning and subsequent performance (including posturography) of a Y-balance task by explicit and analogical instructions. Forty female undergraduates were randomly assigned either into analogy (n = 20) or explicit (n = 20) learning. Both group learners completed pre-learning test-block on Day 1 (6 trials), five consecutive learning blocks from Days 3 to 7 (135 trials) and followed by test-blocks on Day 9 (retention 1 - dual-task - retention 2 design, 18 trials). Maximum reaching distances in anterior, posterolateral and posteromedial directions were measured to indicate Y-balance performance. During test-blocks (pre-learning, retention 1, dual-task, retention 2), CoM displacement and CoP excursion were quantified with the motion capturing system and force platform, respectively. Results indicated that maximum reach distances of two groups increased across learning days (p < .001). During test-blocks, explicit learners reduced maximum reaching distances under the dual-task test than the retention test 1 (p < .001), while analogy learners remained robust performance across test-blocks (p = .071). Moreover, analogy learners reported fewer explicit knowledge and demonstrated better counting backward performance than explicit learners. These findings suggest that introducing an analogical instruction in dynamic balance training is feasible and has implications to develop balance training strategies for injury prevention and performance enhancement.

Dissociative effects of normative feedback on motor automaticity and motor accuracy in learning an arm movement sequence

Within a pre-post-design, we scrutinized the effects of normative augmented feedback with positive and negative valence on learning motor accuracy, consistency as well as automaticity by means of a dual-task paradigm. Forty-two healthy physical education students were instructed to produce an arm-movement sequence as precisely as possible with regard to three spatial reversal points within a time limit of 1200 ms. Twenty-eight practiced an elbow-extension-flexion-sequence (690 trials) and 14 participants were tested as a control group without feedback practice. Valence of normative feedback was systematically manipulated by means of reference lines in a visual feedback display. The reference lines indicated performance of a putative peer-group either to be superior (negative valence, Normative-Negative-Group) or inferior (positive valence, Normative-Positive-Group) to participants' actual performance. As a result, dual-task costs (n-back error) significantly decreased solely in the Normative-Positive-Group, p = .003, η²_p = .51, but in no other group. Surprisingly, the mean absolute error for the motor task significantly decreased (i.e., precision increased) only in the Normative-Negative-Group with a large effect size, but in none of the other groups. Motor consistency was not significantly affected by the valence of normative feedback. According to the hypotheses of error-provoked attentional control, positive feedback-valence appears to enhance skill automatization, while - unexpectedly - only negative feedback-valence seems to enhance movement precision, which may be explained by effects of feedback valence on the learners aspiration level.

Investigating an errorless learning approach for developing dental operative technique skills: A pilot study

INTRODUCTION

Explicit instruction (conscious knowledge/rules) is generally used for learning dental operative skills; however, recent work has demonstrated advantages of learning skills implicitly with minimal accrual of conscious knowledge and reduced attentional demands. Therefore, this study examined the effects of learning handpiece manipulation skills explicitly (errorful) and implicitly (errorless: limited error detection/correction) under conditions of increased attentional demands (ie multitasking and additional instructions).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Non-dental university students were randomly assigned to errorless (n = 11) or errorful (n = 8) groups. They used pencil lead instead of a bur, with errorless learners shading shapes from simple (small circle) to complex (cross), while errorful learners shaded the shapes in reverse. During testing, they completed simulated cavities in baseline, additional instructions and multitask conditions. Learning performance was calculated as per cent of the shape shaded successfully. Test performance was computed as error in cavity length/depth and was compared with dental students who had completed their operative technique course (n = 14).

RESULTS

Errorless learners were more accurate than errorful learners especially when shading difficult shapes (P = 0.042). With additional instructions, errorless and errorful learners did not differ in cavity depth (P = 0.057) or length (P = 0.540). When multitasking, errorless learners prepared the cavity length (P = 0.048) but not depth (P = 0.920) more accurately than errorful learners. Overall, performance of errorless learners was comparable to dental students.

CONCLUSIONS

These preliminary findings suggest handpiece skills can be acquired implicitly via errorless learning, and it is less attentionally demanding than errorful learning, as evident by maintenance of preparation performance when processing additional relevant instructions and multitasking.

Does implicit motor learning lead to greater automatization of motor skills compared to explicit motor learning? A systematic review

Background

Implicit motor learning is considered to be particularly effective for learning sports-related motor skills. It should foster movement automaticity and thereby facilitate performance in multitasking and high-pressure environments. To scrutinize this hypothesis, we systematically reviewed all studies that compared the degree of automatization achieved (as indicated by dual-task performance) after implicit compared to explicit interventions for sports-related motor tasks.

Methods

For this systematic review (CRD42016038249) conventional (MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Embase, PsycINFO, SportDiscus, Web of Science) and grey literature were searched. Two reviewers independently screened reports, extracted data, and performed risk of bias assessment. Implicit interventions of interest were analogy-, errorless-, dual-task-, and external focus learning. Data analysis involved descriptive synthesis of group comparisons on absolute motor dual-task (DT) performance, and motor DT performance relative to single-task motor performance (motor DTCs).

Results

Of the 4125 reports identified, we included 25 controlled trials that described 39 implicit-explicit group comparisons. Risk of bias was unclear across trials. Most comparisons did not show group differences. Some comparisons showed superior absolute motor DT performance (N = 2), superior motor DTCs (N = 4), or both (N = 3) for the implicit compared to the explicit group. The explicit group showed superior absolute motor DT performance in two comparisons.

Conclusions

Most comparisons did not show group differences in automaticity. The remaining comparisons leaned more toward a greater degree of movement automaticity after implicit learning than explicit learning. However, due to an overall unclear risk of bias the strength of the evidence is level 3. Motor learning-specific guidelines for design and especially reporting are warranted to further strengthen the evidence and facilitate low-risk-of-bias trials.

Implicit learning increases shot accuracy of football players when making strategic decisions during penalty kicking

Implicit learning has been proposed to improve athletes' performance in dual-task situations. Yet, only a few studies tested this with a sports-relevant dual-task. Hence, the current study aimed to compare the effects of implicit and explicit training methods on penalty kicking performance. Twenty skilled football players were divided in two training groups and took part in a practice phase to improve kicking accuracy (i.e., without a goalkeeper) and in a post-test in order to check penalty kick performance (i.e., accuracy including a decision to kick to the side opposite the goalkeeper's dive). Results found that the implicit and explicit training method resulted in similar levels of decision-making, but after implicit training this was achieved with higher kicking accuracy. Additionally, applications for football players and coaches are discussed.

Conscious Control Is Associated With Freezing of Mechanical Degrees of Freedom During Motor Learning

This study investigated whether conscious control is associated with freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom during motor learning. Participants practiced a throwing task using either error-strewn or error-reduced practice protocols, which encourage high or low levels of conscious control, respectively. After 24 hr, participants engaged in a series of delayed retention and transfer tests. Furthermore, propensity for conscious control was assessed using participants' ratings and freezing was gauged through movement variability of the throwing arm. Performance was defined by mean radial error. In the error-strewn group, propensity for conscious control was positively associated with both freezing and performance. In the error-reduced group, propensity for conscious control was negatively associated with performance, but not with freezing. These results suggest that conscious control is associated with freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom during motor learning.

Working Memory Capacity Limits Motor Learning When Implementing Multiple Instructions

Although it is generally accepted that certain practice conditions can place large demands on working memory (WM) when performing and learning a motor skill, the influence that WM capacity has on the acquisition of motor skills remains unsubstantiated. This study examined the role of WM capacity in a motor skill practice context that promoted WM involvement through the provision of explicit instructions. A cohort of 90 children aged 8 to 10 years were assessed on measures of WM capacity and attention. Children who scored in the lowest and highest thirds on the WM tasks were allocated to lower WM capacity (n = 24) and higher WM capacity (n = 24) groups, respectively. The remaining 42 participants did not participate in the motor task. The motor task required children to practice basketball shooting for 240 trials in blocks of 20 shots, with pre- and post-tests occurring before and after the intervention. A retention test was administered 1 week after the post-test. Prior to every practice block, children were provided with five explicit instructions that were specific to the technique of shooting a basketball. Results revealed that the higher WM capacity group displayed consistent improvements from pre- to post-test and through to the retention test, while the opposite effect occurred in the lower WM capacity group. This implies that the explicit instructions had a negative influence on learning by the lower WM capacity children. Results are discussed in relation to strategy selection for dealing with instructions and the role of attention control.

Scaling the Equipment and Play Area in Children's Sport to improve Motor Skill Acquisition: A Systematic Review

Background

This review investigated the influence of scaling sports equipment and play area (e.g., field size) on children’s motor skill acquisition.

Methods

Peer-reviewed studies published prior to February 2015 were searched using SPORTDiscus and MEDLINE. Studies were included if the research (a) was empirical, (b) involved participants younger than 18 years, (c) assessed the efficacy of scaling in relation to one or more factors affecting skill learning (psychological factors, skill performance and skill acquisition factors, biomechanical factors, cognitive processing factors), and (d) had a sport or movement skills context. Risk of bias was assessed in relation to selection bias, detection bias, attrition bias, reporting bias and other bias.

Results

Twenty-five studies involving 989 children were reviewed. Studies revealed that children preferred using scaled equipment over adult equipment (n = 3), were more engaged in the task (n = 1) and had greater self-efficacy to execute skills (n = 2). Eighteen studies demonstrated that children performed skills better when the equipment and play area were scaled. Children also acquired skills faster in such conditions (n = 2); albeit the practice interventions were relatively short. Five studies showed that scaling led to children adopting more desirable movement patterns, and one study associated scaling with implicit motor learning.

Conclusion

Most of the studies reviewed provide evidence in support of equipment and play area scaling. However, the conclusions are limited by the small number of studies that examined learning (n = 5), poor ecological validity and skills tests of few trials.

Does shoe heel design influence ground reaction forces and knee moments during maximum lunges in elite and intermediate badminton players?

BACKGROUND

Lunge is one frequently executed movement in badminton and involves a unique sagittal footstrike angle of more than 40 degrees at initial ground contact compared with other manoeuvres. This study examined if the shoe heel curvature design of a badminton shoe would influence shoe-ground kinematics, ground reaction forces, and knee moments during lunge.

METHODS

Eleven elite and fifteen intermediate players performed five left-forward maximum lunge trials with Rounded Heel Shoe (RHS), Flattened Heel Shoe (FHS), and Standard Heel Shoes (SHS). Shoe-ground kinematics, ground reaction forces, and knee moments were measured by using synchronized force platform and motion analysis system. A 2 (Group) x 3 (Shoe) ANOVA with repeated measures was performed to determine the effects of different shoes and different playing levels, as well as the interaction of two factors on all variables.

RESULTS

Shoe effect indicated that players demonstrated lower maximum vertical loading rate in RHS than the other two shoes (P < 0.05). Group effect revealed that elite players exhibited larger footstrike angle, faster approaching speed, lower peak horizontal force and horizontal loading rates but higher vertical loading rates and larger peak knee flexion and extension moments (P < 0.05). Analysis of Interactions of Group x Shoe for maximum and mean vertical loading rates (P < 0.05) indicated that elite players exhibited lower left maximum and mean vertical loading rates in RHS compared to FHS (P < 0.01), while the intermediate group did not show any Shoe effect on vertical loading rates.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that shoe heel curvature would play some role in altering ground reaction force impact during badminton lunge. The differences in impact loads and knee moments between elite and intermediate players may be useful in optimizing footwear design and training strategy to minimize the potential risks for impact related injuries in badminton.

Is Implicit Motor Learning Preserved after Stroke? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

Many stroke patients experience difficulty with performing dual-tasks. A promising intervention to target this issue is implicit motor learning, as it should enhance patients’ automaticity of movement. Yet, although it is often thought that implicit motor learning is preserved post-stroke, evidence for this claim has not been systematically analysed yet. Therefore, we systematically reviewed whether implicit motor learning is preserved post-stroke, and whether patients benefit more from implicit than from explicit motor learning. We comprehensively searched conventional (MEDLINE, Cochrane, Embase, PEDro, PsycINFO) and grey literature databases (BIOSIS, Web of Science, OpenGrey, British Library, trial registries) for relevant reports. Two independent reviewers screened reports, extracted data, and performed a risk of bias assessment. Overall, we included 20 out of the 2177 identified reports that allow for a succinct evaluation of implicit motor learning. Of these, only 1 study investigated learning on a relatively complex, whole-body (balance board) task. All 19 other studies concerned variants of the serial-reaction time paradigm, with most of these focusing on learning with the unaffected hand (N = 13) rather than the affected hand or both hands (both: N = 4). Four of the 20 studies compared explicit and implicit motor learning post-stroke. Meta-analyses suggest that patients with stroke can learn implicitly with their unaffected side (mean difference (MD) = 69 ms, 95% CI[45.1, 92.9], p < .00001), but not with their affected side (standardized MD = -.11, 95% CI[-.45, .25], p = .56). Finally, implicit motor learning seemed equally effective as explicit motor learning post-stroke (SMD = -.54, 95% CI[-1.37, .29], p = .20). However, overall, the high risk of bias, small samples, and limited clinical relevance of most studies make it impossible to draw reliable conclusions regarding the effect of implicit motor learning strategies post-stroke. High quality studies with larger samples are warranted to test implicit motor learning in clinically relevant contexts.

Visuomotor Learning Generalizes Around the Intended Movement

Human motor learning is useful if it generalizes beyond the trained task. Here, we introduce a new idea about how human visuomotor learning generalizes. We show that learned reaching movements generalize around where a person intends to move (i.e., aiming direction) as opposed to where they actually move. We used a visual rotation paradigm that allowed us to disentangle whether generalization is centered on where people aim to move, where they actually move, or where visual feedback indicates they moved. Participants reached to a visual target with their arm occluded from view. The cursor feedback was rotated relative to the position of their unseen hand to induce learning. Participants verbally reported their aiming direction, reached, and then were shown the outcome. We periodically introduced single catch trials with no feedback to measure learning. Results showed that learning was maximal at the participants’ aiming location, and not at the actual hand position or where the cursor was displayed. This demonstrates that visuomotor learning generalizes around where we intend to move rather than where we actually move, and thus introduces a new role for cognitive processes beyond simply reducing movement error.

Refining the continuous tracking paradigm to investigate implicit motor learning

In two experiments we investigated factors that undermine conclusions about implicit motor learning in the continuous tracking paradigm. In Experiment 1, we constructed a practice phase in which all three segments of the waveform pattern were random, in order to examine whether tracking performance decreased as a consequence of time spent on task. Tracking error was lower in the first segment than in the middle segment and lower in the middle segment than in the final segment, indicating that tracking performance decreased as a function of increasing time-on-task. In Experiment 2, the waveform pattern presented in the middle segment was identical in each trial of practice. In a retention test, tracking performance on the repeated segment was superior to tracking performance on the random segments of the waveform. Furthermore, substitution of the repeated pattern with a random pattern (in a transfer test) resulted in a significantly increased tracking error. These findings imply that characteristics of the repeated pattern were learned. Crucially, tests of pattern recognition implied that participants were not explicitly aware of the presence of a recurring segment of waveform. Recommendations for refining the continuous tracking paradigm for implicit learning research are proposed.

Examining the time course of attention in a soccer kick using a dual task paradigm

A dual-task paradigm was implemented using a repeated measures design to determine the time course of attention demands during performance of a soccer penalty kick. Experienced soccer players (N=15) were asked to perform a 12-yard soccer-style penalty kick. As part of the dual task paradigm, participants were instructed to respond to an audible cue that was administered during one of three probe positions (PP) during the penalty kick. Probe position 1 (PP1) was operationalized as the participant's second to last step (taken with the non-kicking foot), probe position 2 (PP2) was the next to last step (taken with the kicking foot), and probe position 3 (PP3) was the last step (taken with the non-kicking, or "plant foot") just prior to the kicking foot making contact with the ball. Kicks were taken with both the dominant foot (DF) and the non-dominant foot (NDF). It was hypothesized that reaction time to the audible cue (RT) would be slowest at the beginning and end of the performance of the motor skill in both the DF and NDF situations and that RT would be slower when kicking with the NDF, but that the kicking foot would not affect the pattern of attentional demands. Results indicated that RT was slowest at PP1 for both the DF and the NDF and that RT was significantly slower at PP1 for the DF than for the NDF. This suggests that soccer players engage in more complex planning during the preparatory phases when executing a kick with their dominant foot. Future research should be designed to further our understanding of foot dominance with regard to kicking and to explore attentional demands of striking tasks.

Evidence for biomechanics and motor learning research improving golf performance

The aim of this review was to determine how the findings of biomechanics and motor control/learning research may be used to improve golf performance. To be eligible, the biomechanics and motor learning studies had to use direct (ball displacement and shot accuracy) or indirect (clubhead velocity and clubface angle) golf performance outcome measures. Biomechanical studies suggested that reducing the radius path of the hands during the downswing, increasing wrist torque and/or range of motion, delaying wrist motion to late in the downswing, increasing downswing amplitude, improving sequential acceleration of body parts, improving weight transfer, and utilising X-factor stretch and physical conditioning programmes can improve clubhead velocity. Motor learning studies suggested that golf performance improved more when golfers focused on swing outcome or clubhead movement rather than specific body movements. A distributed practice approach involving multiple sessions per week of blocked, errorless practice may be best for improving putting accuracy of novice golfers, although variable practice may be better for skilled golfers. Video, verbal, or a combination of video and verbal feedback can increase mid-short iron distance in novice to mid-handicap (hcp) golfers. Coaches should not only continue to critique swing technique but also consider how the focus, structure, and types of feedback for practice may alter learning for different groups of golfers.