Goal setting and feedback for the development of instructional strategies

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.

Principles of Motor Learning in Classical Singing Teaching

INTRODUCTION

Classical singing is a complex and multifaceted skill that requires the amalgamation of multiple cognitive, perceptual and motor functions. The teaching of classical singing is consequently a unique skill that holds further complexity. The singer is required to achieve and maintain consistently high performance development of a specific motor activity, much like the sports athlete. This pilot study examines a method of using the principles of motor learning to more objectively and reliably investigate the teaching behaviors of classical singing teachers. Such a method may establish a nexus between empirical research, teaching quality and learning outcomes in music performance education.

METHOD

A total of 12 participants were recruited from two Australian conservatoria of music. All participants were fluent in English at tertiary level. Participants included four classical singing teachers and eight classical singing students over the age of 18 years. Eight one-to-one singing lessons between the teacher and student were audio-visually recorded. Content analysis was conducted on the observational data. The principles of motor learning were used as a behavioral framework protocol to allow for the systematic identification of teaching behavior.

RESULTS

Results presented various findings regarding teaching behaviors in one-to-one classical singing lessons in higher music education. Key findings included (a) common use of instruction, feedback, modeling, and other behaviors (b) uncommon use of motivation, explanation, and perceptual training behaviors, (c) higher use of knowledge of results than knowledge of performance feedback behaviors, (d) high routine use of instruction, modeling, and feedback behaviors each time a student attempted a task, (e) common use of other suggested teachers use behaviors unidentifiable by the behavioral protocol, and (f) the principles of motor learning appear to be a reliable framework for the identification of teaching behaviors in this field.

CONCLUSION

This study may have implications for how teachers administer and govern their behaviors in one-to-one classical singing lessons. The principles of motor learning may encourage a nexus between empirical research, teaching quality, and learning outcomes. Furthermore, this study provides recommendations for future research on systematically improving teaching and learning in this field.

Neurodevelopmental readiness of children for participation in sports

Many children participate in organized sports each year as a means of socialization, and physical skill building. Sports participation is dependent on physical growth, and neurodevelopmental readiness of the child. It is important to be aware of a child's level across the various streams of development and engage in specific strategies to optimize their ability at each age group. This article first outlines developmental skills across various age groups in childhood, and makes suggestions for such strategies.

Effectiveness of knowledge of result and knowledge of performance in the learning of a skilled motor activity by healthy young adults

[Purpose] The acquisition of motor skills are fundamental to human life. There is a lack of research on whether knowledge of performance or knowledge of result as augmented feedback is more effective. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of knowledge of result and knowledge of performance in the learning of a skilled motor activity by healthy young adults. [Subjects and Methods] A total of thirty healthy young adult males and females without any neurological or musculoskeletal impairment, between the age of 18-30 years were the subjects of the study. They were randomly allocated to 2 groups: group 1 was given knowledge of result as feedback, and knowledge of performance was given as feedback to group 2. Both the groups practiced the task of throwing a soft spongy ball for 6 days per week for 4 weeks, with 40 trials each day. The outcome measure used was the distance of the throw. [Results] The results were analyzed using the t-test. The mean distances thrown by both the groups showed highly significant improvements and throwing distance of group 2 showed better improvement than that of group 1. [Conclusion] Both types of augmented feedback were effective at improving skilled motor activity, but the knowledge of performance group showed better improvement than the knowledge of result group.

Effects of goal difficulty and temporality in motor skill acquisition using the Bachman ladder

The effects of different types of goal setting on motor skill learning were investigated. 100 individuals (64 men, 36 women) without experience in the performance of the Bachman ladder task participated. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five goal groups: (a) generic, (b) long-term, difficult, (c) long-term, easy, (d) short- and long-term, difficult, and (e) short- and long-term, easy. In the acquisition phase, participants performed 200 trials, and in the transfer and retention phases, each performed 50 trials. The dependent variable was the number of steps achieved in blocks of 10 trials. The results showed that the groups had similar performances in both the transfer and retention phases. Setting of generic, difficult, easy, long- and short-term, and self-setting goals all enabled similar effects on motor learning.

The effects of augmented kinematic feedback on motor skill learning in rifle shooting

In this study, we examined the effects of augmented kinematic knowledge of performance (KP) on shooting performance and learning. Knowledge of performance described the aiming trajectory of the rifle barrel. The effects of knowledge of performance were evaluated in terms of shooting accuracy (shooting score), variability of the shooting score (root mean square error) and rifle stability (x- and y-deviation of rifle movement). The participants (n = 40) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: no-KP, 50% KP, 100% KP and a control group. The three experimental groups performed 480 shots during a 4 week acquisition phase in which feedback was provided. No-feedback retention tests were administered at 2 and 10 days after acquisition. There were no differences between groups during acquisition. In the 2 day retention test, the mean shooting score of the group receiving 100% knowledge of performance was significantly higher than that of the other groups. Furthermore, variability in shooting score for the 100% KP group was lower than that for the 50% KP and control groups. No significant differences were found in rifle stability between the experimental groups. In summary, a high frequency of kinematic knowledge of performance improved shooting accuracy, but the effect appeared to be temporal, disappearing in the 10 day retention test. Given that a parallel effect was not found in rifle stability, future research should focus on examining the reasons for this improvement in shooting score.

Pediatric neurodevelopment and sports participation. When are children ready to play sports?

A fundamental knowledge of normal child and adolescent development is essential to providing a developmentally appropriate sports experience for the child, and to providing guidance to parents regarding their child's sport participation. This article reviews neurodevelopment, normal child and adolescent development relevant to sport participation, and developmental readiness to participate in sports. Neurodevelopmental maturation is a complex, continuous process. The sense of social comparison is not achieved until after 6 years of age, and the ability to understand the competitive nature of sports is generally not achieved until 9 years of age. By about 12 years of age, most children are mature enough to comprehend the complex tasks of sports and are physically and cognitively ready to participate in competitive sports with appropriate supervision.