The Effect of Provided and Self-Requested Knowledge of Performance on Acquisition and Transfer Performance of an Open Sport Skill in College Students

Male and female college students ( N = 68) were randomly assigned to one of three knowledge of performance (KP) groups: Provided-KP, Self-Requested KP, and No- KP. Participants performed a table tennis backhand returning task on a pretest and then 25 practice trials of the task under their respective feedback conditions. A transfer test was administered to all participants after completion of the practice trials. The result of a 2 x 3 x 5 (Gender x Feedback x Trial Block) factorial ANOVA indicated that all participants improved significantly across trial blocks ( p = .02). The result of a 2 x 3 (Gender x Feedback) ANOVA revealed a significant ( p = .032) Gender x Feedback interaction effect on the transfer test. Male participants had significantly ( p = .02) higher performance accuracy than female participants in the No-KP group on the transfer test. The present findings show no clear enhancing effect of self-requested feedback on motor skill learning but suggest that differences in using feedback during the learning of an open sport skill may exist between male and female learners.