ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2018 April;58(4):435-41

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.06749-4

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Precision of verbal feedback affects accuracy of motor skill performance

Mirosław ZALECH ¹ ✉, Zbigniew BUJAK ²

¹ Department of Tourism and Recreation, Faculty of Tourism and Health in Biala Podlaska, Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education, Warsaw, Poland; ² Department of Theory and Practice of Sport, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport in Biala Podlaska, Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education, Warsaw, Poland

BACKGROUND: The study sought to determine whether the precision of verbal feedback on knowledge of results affected the accuracy of motor skill performance with various parameters.
METHODS: Eighty-eight male young healthy adults (21.55±1.13 years) participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to two groups (44 people each one). They had to perform standing long jump test. Three types of feedback and three distances that the participants jumped were used in the experiment. The types of feedback in both groups were provided in the same order, whilst jumps were performed from the shortest to the longest distance in the first group and from the longest to the shortest one in the other group. Each participant performed the tasks individually.
RESULTS: The results demonstrated that participants performed significantly more accurate tasks when they were provided with more precise feedback on the distance to the target. The study revealed that in the case of trials with no feedback the results improved after changing the task parameters (i.e. the distance of a jump).
CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that teachers and coaches should provide clear and accurate feedback on results achieved in trials. It enables task performers to assess their position in relation to the target. In practice, trials without feedback should not be omitted since, as the results showed, they are an important source of experience that affects the performance of tasks with different parameters.

KEY WORDS: Knowledge of results (psychology) - Feedback - Motor skills