The Effect of Observing Different Types of Information on Learning a Novel Motor Skill

Hossein Hajatmand Ghalehroudkhani, Mehdi Sohrabi and Hamidreza Taheri Torbati

Faculty of Sport Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

Corresponding Author E-mail: http://hajatmand@um.ac.ir

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2330

ABSTRACT: Relative information is the most important constraint during observation. The present study examined the importance of observing different types of information during observational learning. Participants observed one of the following types of information: whole body (FULL), arm of the throwing hand (ARM), wrist of the throwing hand (WRIST), or the end points of the upper and lower limbs (END- POINTS). During 30 acquisition trials (3 blocks), the participants observed a model five times before the first trial and once before each remaining trial of each block. The retention test (10 trials) was performed the following day. Shoulder-elbow and elbow-wrist intra-limb coordination was assessed in comparison withthe model. During acquisition, FULL and ARM groups were more accurate in reproducing the model’s action than the other two groups. These results were repeated during retention tests, which provide partial evidence to the visual perception perspective notion. It was concluded that the end effector is an important source of information, and observing this type of information is enough for learning a novel motor skill.

KEYWORDS: observational learning; relative information; intra-limb coordination; visual perception perspective; novel skill

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