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Positive feedback or experiences of success during skill acquisition have been shown to benefit motor skill learning. In this study, our aim was to manipulate learners’ success perceptions through a minor adjustment to goal criterion (target size) in a dart-throwing task. Two groups of novice participants practiced throwing at a large (easy) or a small (difficult) target from the same distance. In reference to the origin/center of the target, the practice targets were alike in objective difficulty and indeed participants in both groups were not different in their objective practice performance (i.e., radial error from the center). Although the groups experienced markedly different success rates, with the large target group experiencing more hits and reporting greater confidence (or self-efficacy) than the small target group, these practice effects were not carried into longer-term retention, which was assessed after a 1-week delay. For success perceptions to moderate or benefit motor learning, we argue that unambiguous indicators of positive performance are necessary, especially for tasks where intrinsic feedback about objective error is salient.
Becoming skilled at a task or sport is often the ultimate goal of a participant or athlete when self-initiating participation and practice. Although “skilled” performance may be defined in many different ways, what it requires is the ability to produce a movement (form) or outcome with precision and consistency to a preset level or standard of attainment (e.g.,
Error information is available through intrinsic and extrinsic (or augmented) sources of feedback. Intrinsic sources of feedback are those that are naturally occurring consequences of interaction with the task or skill, such as vision and proprioception. Augmented feedback is an external, supplementary source of information about the task or skill (
Manipulating the goal-criterion is an intervention which researchers have used to influence perceptions of error feedback and interpretations of success during skill acquisition. In a visuomotor adaptation task, where learners experience a mismatch (angular discrepancy) between their actual hand movements and a virtual cursor trajectory representing their hand movement and learn to adapt to this discrepancy,
In the study by
Adaptation learning has sometimes been noted as a special case of learning, due to the requirement to adapt motor commands in an altered, often artificial or virtual environment (
In the only other study to date where goal-criterion manipulations have been used to influence success perceptions, there was again evidence that these perceptions influenced how well a motor “skill” was retained. Using a coincident-anticipation timing task, participants controlled when they received feedback about objective timing error (the degree and direction of error in ms), with the constraint that it was limited to a third of all practice trials (
Though the coincident-anticipation timing task used by
In summary, there is some evidence that techniques which promote perceived success are beneficial to motor consolidation and learning, although the strength of these effects and potential mechanisms are still unclear. In both studies by
The aim of the current study was to investigate how perceptions of error (and hence success) during practice of a “real-world” motor task, where feedback is a naturally-occurring consequence of performance, would moderate motor learning and retention. Perceptions of error were manipulated by changing the size of the target area in a dart-throwing task. This is a relatively simple method that could be used in other tasks to enhance perceptions of success, without changing the constraints on performance and keeping the objective error alerting role of feedback integral and essentially constant. Participants practiced dart throwing at either a small or a large target from the same distance. Because the throwing distance is identical for both groups and that aiming to the center of the target (i.e., the bullseye on a dartboard) would be the best strategy for success, we expected that objective practice performance [i.e., radial error (RE) from the center] would be matched across the groups. However, the groups would differ with respect to their subjective interpretation of this information and hence perceptions of success, with more successful target “hits” and increased perceptions of efficacy in the large (easy) target group compared to the small (difficult) target group. Based on past research, we expected that participants throwing to the larger target and hence that experienced more success in practice, would show enhanced performance on a delayed (1-week) retention test than participants throwing to a smaller target (i.e., show improved learning). However, objective error during the practice phase was not expected to be different between the groups.
Self-efficacy perceptions were continually monitored throughout practice and before delayed retention. We also assessed how the manipulation to target size affected explicit knowledge and rules generated by participants about how to perform the skill (i.e., strategic control). If potential benefits associated with greater experience of success in practice is related to a less explicit mode of control (i.e., a more automatic and stable type of control) as suggested by
Adult, female, right hand-dominant, novice dart players were recruited via posters and advertisements. All participants were volunteers and gave informed consent before participation (in accordance with ethical procedures of the University). Remuneration of $10 per hour was paid. To ensure that only novice players were included, we verified that participants had not played darts on more than three occasions. We pseudo-randomly assigned to group with the constraint that participants were approximately matched for performance based on a pre-test (i.e., throwing nine darts at a dartboard, from the regulation distance of 237 cm). Participants were assigned to either a large target group (large-T;
We modified a regulation size bristle dartboard by removing all metal wire and rings (see Figure
Darts landing outside the yellow targets were recorded as “misses,” scoring no points. “Hits” were hence recorded as darts landing in the yellow target area (see Figure
The experiment took place across two sessions, separated by 1 week (range of 6–8 days). There was a pre-test, followed by a practice (acquisition) phase, then an immediate post-test during the first session and a delayed retention and secondary task test approximately 1 week later. Participants were told not to step over the throw line and not to throw with a sidearm, that is, to keep their arm in the sagittal plane of motion as much as possible (this action was demonstrated). We also told participants that to maximize success at hitting the target a good strategy would be to aim for the center, even though success would be determined based on hitting the target.
Three warm-up throws (which were not recorded) then followed, before participants were introduced to the confidence rating scale which was posted approximately 50 cm to the left of the dartboard (from origin). The scale ranged from 0 to 100% (in increments of 10) and corresponding descriptors were; “0” = “not at all,” “10” = “not sure,” “40” = “somewhat sure,” “70” = “pretty sure,” and “100” = “very sure” (
Before pre-test trial 1, participants indicated a confidence rating for each of the three pre-determined (large, small, and bullseye) areas of the dartboard. Following the ratings, nine pre-test trials ensued.
During acquisition, which immediately followed pre-testing, participants were asked to aim at their practice target and were told to make as many “hits” as they could (i.e., land the dart in the yellow target zone). Before Acquisition trials 1, 31, and 61, participants indicated their confidence for making a hit on at least one of the subsequent three trials. A total of 90 darts (across 10 blocks) were thrown during acquisition. One point was awarded for each hit made. In between sets of trials, participants walked over to the tally table to record the hits and misses made in the set while the experimenter removed the darts. The intention for the self-tallying of hits/misses was to enhance perceptions of success (or failure) and to keep them engaged in their practice.
Procedures in the post-test were identical to the pre-test, consisting of nine trials and three confidence probes before the first trial. When trials were finished, participants were interviewed by the experimenter to describe any rule, technique or method pertaining to dart throwing that they had generated or become aware of during practice. These qualitative responses were subsequently categorized and analyzed by the experimenter. The first session ended when participants signed a form confirming receipt of remuneration for participation and agreed that they would not practice or learn more about darts before returning to the laboratory in a week.
After a week, participants returned to the laboratory for Session 2. They first performed three warm-up trials (data not recorded), then administration of the delayed retention and secondary task tests were counterbalanced for order so that half the participants in each group completed one test before the other.
The delayed retention test was identical to the post-test, with participants performing nine dart throws and indicating their confidence on the three, pre-determined confidence areas, before their first trial.
In addition to the primary task of throwing sets of three darts, participants had to simultaneously monitor and count high pitch tones in an audio sequence. It was verified that participants understood the secondary task in a warm-up tone counting sequence that was similar to the audio sequences played during the test. High and low frequency tones (duration of 300 ms/tone) were interspersed at inter-stimulus intervals between 500 and 1000 ms, to create three random and unique audio sequences. Participants were instructed not to begin their set of three throws until the first tone of the sequence had been played. When participants completed a set of trials, audio playback was stopped, after which participants were prompted to indicate the number of high tones they had mentally counted in the set. In total, three sets of three throws were made in the secondary task condition.
In addition to recording the number of target hits made during practice as a function of group, a more sensitive measure of outcome accuracy was determined based on RE, which was defined as the absolute distance between dart landing and the origin of the dartboard. Mean RE was calculated for each block of nine trials. Constant error in
where:
Data collected on the first session were analyzed in separate independent
In the secondary task, we also assessed accuracy of the tone counting response. The responses were either correct or incorrect. We tabulated the number of response errors made by each participant (maximum of three for each individual as there were three tone counting sequences for three sets of dart throws during the secondary test condition). These data were compared across groups using a Mann–Whitney U test.
Our primary measure of self-efficacy was assessed using ratings of confidence. The three confidence ratings provided by the groups during each test phase (i.e., pre-test, post-test, retention test) were analyzed in a 2 Group (large T, small T) × 3 Test (pre-test, post-test, retention test) × 3 Target area (large, small, bullseye) repeated measures ANOVA. The confidence ratings based on the practiced target only, given three times during acquisition, were analyzed in a 2 Group (large T, small T) × 3 Acquisition probe (AQ1, AQ2, AQ3) repeated measures ANOVA.
A comparison of the number of rules or strategies generated following the immediate post-test were analyzed as a function of group using a Mann–Whitney U test.
Partial eta squared (
Confirming the success of the manipulation, the large target group made significantly more target hits (
As shown in the middle of Figure
Outcome accuracy is shown in Figure
A separate analysis was conducted on the acquisition data. Again, there were no effects involving group (all
Bivariate variable error is displayed in Figure
For acquisition, only the main effect of block was significant,
The average number of tone counting response errors made by the large target group was 0.7 (SD = 0.9) and 1.0 (SD = 0.8) for the small target group. The groups were not significantly different based on the Mann–Whitney U test,
Confidence ratings were assessed before the pre-, post- and retention-tests, for the three dart-board areas (large, small, and bullseye), as displayed in Figure
Neither group reported many rules, strategies or hypotheses for performing the dart-throwing task. The average number reported by the large target group was 2.4 (SD = 1.3); for the small target group this was 2.5 (SD = 0.9). These means were not significantly different,
Manipulation of practice target size resulted in greater rates of success for the large target group than the small target group during practice. Self-efficacy, as probed by the confidence ratings, also indicated higher confidence for the large target group than the small target group. These results were expected outcomes of the manipulation, confirming the fact that changes to target size influenced perceptions of success.
Despite the fact that success rates changed across the two groups, this manipulation to target size did not impact learning (cf.,
On the impact of perceived success on motor skill learning, the differences in rates of success (due to target hits) did not translate to more permanent differences in self-efficacy as assessed at delayed retention. Although this was not measured in prior work, the absence of group differences in retention for both practiced and non-practiced targets raises issues about the potential of relatively easy target goals to transfer to positive perceptions of efficacy for more difficult goals (i.e., from large to small). Success on a large target does not inform as to success on a smaller target and as evidenced by the confidence scores, the large (easy) target group did not evaluate their chances of success any more favorably than the small (difficult) target group. Perhaps this should not be too surprising, given that going from a difficult to an easier target should result in enhanced perceptions of success, whereas the reverse would result in a decrease. This shows the need to evaluate “success” perceptions with respect to both practiced and non-practiced targets to get a true understanding of whether a manipulation to success is likely to affect learning. In this case, the post-test measures of efficacy were not different between the groups when assessed on the same targets.
Unlike the experimental tasks in
From the goal setting literature, it appears that moderately difficult goals are most motivating for learners (see
It is also important to point out that the groups did not differ on the secondary task, which was expected to give some indication of explicit control. There was no evidence that during practice the small target group acquired more explicit knowledge (rules and hypotheses) about how to throw the dart (i.e., determining error correction strategies) which are arguably more susceptible to performance breakdowns when working memory demands are increased through the addition of a secondary task load (cf.,
The affective role of error feedback in motor learning has garnered and generated much research interest of late (e.g.,
Regardless of the reason for the lack of positive effects on learning associated with easier target goals, we would argue that caution is needed when using goal criteria to manipulate success perceptions and learning. In order to tap into potential affective gains associated with positive or success-related feedback, instead learners might benefit more from receiving positive social comparative feedback or evaluating their performance on unambiguous standards/goals when objective error feedback is present.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
This work was supported by research funds awarded to NH from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Discovery grant) and a Canadian Institute for Health Research New Investigator salary award.
Two participants were excluded from analyses as their mean pre-test radial error scores were more than three SDs greater than the mean pre-test radial error of the other participants.
For the first five participants assigned to each group, videos were only recorded of dart landings during the acquisition phase. Hence,