Learning
Does choosing when to watch yourself help you learn a skill?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
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.
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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Key findings
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.
Methodology
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.
Limitations
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.
How this study connects
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