Does choosing when to watch yourself help you learn a skill?
Novices who could choose when to watch video replays of their basketball shots showed better shooting technique on a next-day transfer test than novices given the same replays without choice.
Source
The effects of self-controlled video feedback on the learning of the basketball set shot
Study at a glance
- Design
- RCT — Two-group randomised design: self-controlled video feedback vs yoked group receiving the same feedback schedule without choice; 25 practice trials, then retention and transfer tests about 24 h later.
- N
- N=28 · 28 novice women, 14 per group.
- Population
- Adult women in the south-east United States with no organised basketball experience beyond eighth grade
- Outcome
- Set-shot form score (seven technique features rated from video) and shot accuracy during practice, retention and transfer
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What they did
Twenty-eight novice women were randomly split into a self-control group, who could ask to see a video replay of their shot after any practice trial, and a yoked group, who got replays on exactly the same trials as a matched self-control partner but had no say. Everyone took 25 practice shots with a poster of seven technique cues available. About a day later they shot again without feedback from the practice line (retention) and from the regulation free-throw line (transfer), and blinded experts rated their form from video.
What they found
The self-control group asked for video after 27% of trials, dropping from 33% in the first block to 19% in the last. Their form was better in some practice blocks and significantly better on the transfer test, but not on the retention test, and shot accuracy never differed between groups. They also looked at the technique poster more often, and form was no better on trials after which they chose feedback, contrary to the idea that learners ask for feedback after good trials.
The limits
What it doesn't show
The sample was small (14 per group) and all women, so the effect is fragile and may not generalise. The benefit appeared only at transfer, not retention, and only for form, not accuracy. Because self-control participants also consulted the cue poster more, the design cannot separate the effect of choosing video feedback from the effect of extra study of the cues, which the authors acknowledge.
Key terms
- Self-controlled feedback
- A practice arrangement in which the learner decides when to receive feedback.
- Yoked control
- A comparison participant who receives exactly the same feedback schedule as a partner but without choosing it, isolating the effect of choice.
- Knowledge of performance (KP)
- Feedback about how a movement was carried out, such as a video of technique, rather than about the outcome.
- Retention test
- A delayed test of the practised skill without feedback, used to measure learning rather than temporary performance.
- Transfer test
- A delayed test of the skill under changed conditions, here from a longer distance.
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Quiz yourself
What did the yoked group receive?
Common questions
Why use a yoked group rather than a no-feedback group?
Receiving less feedback can itself help learning, so the yoked group gets the same amount and timing of feedback, leaving choice as the only difference.
Why test learning a day later instead of during practice?
Performance during practice can be propped up by feedback; a delayed test without feedback shows what has actually been learned.
Why might having choice help learning?
The authors favour the idea that control increases motivation and engagement, shown here by self-control learners studying the technique cues more often.
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