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STUDY PROTOCOL article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Movement Science

This article is part of the Research TopicCognitive Interactions and Movement adaptationsView all 9 articles

An examination of the cognitive and affective processes in errorless motor learning: study protocol

Provisionally accepted
Catherine M CapioCatherine M Capio1*William W.N. TsangWilliam W.N. Tsang1Timothy T.T. YamTimothy T.T. Yam1Liis UigaLiis Uiga2Thomson W. L. WongThomson W. L. Wong3Rich S. W. MastersRich S. W. Masters4
  • 1Department of Physiotherapy, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 2Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
  • 3Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 4School of Sport and Human Movement, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

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Acquiring movement skills is crucial across the lifespan, supporting an individual's participation in sports and physical activities. Errorless motor learning, which promotes success during practice, has been shown to be effective for acquiring or reacquiring (e.g., following injury/disease) movement skills. This research explores the underlying processes of errorless motor learning in children and older adults. We will investigate two distinct processes associated with motor learning: (i) cognitive processing measured by movement variability and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity and (ii) affective processing measured by perceived competence. We will recruit two participant groups – children, and older adults – who will practice a novel throwing task in either a condition where errors are minimized or a condition where errors freely occur. We will measure task performance, movement variability, perceived competence, and PFC activity before, during, and after practice. We will control for individual cognitive abilities (processing speed and executive function) and use hierarchical linear mixed models to compare the variables between the practice conditions and to verify whether the cognitive and affective processes influence outcomes following practice. The findings are expected to contribute to our understanding of skills acquisition across the lifespan and help facilitate the (re)acquisition of motor skills by children and older adults through programs provided by physiotherapists, coaches, teachers, and health professionals. This study has been registered in the Open Science Framework Registries (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/YTERV).

Keywords: motor learning, errorless motor learning, Children, older adults, movementvariability, perceived competence

Received: 14 Aug 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Capio, Tsang, Yam, Uiga, Wong and Masters. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Catherine M Capio, ccapio@hkmu.edu.hk

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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