Efeitos do feedback de comparação social positivo na aprendizagem motora

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to verify the effects of positive social comparison feedback with a reduced frequency of knowledge of results(KR) on motor learning. The sample consisted of 40 college adults (22 men and 18 women), with a mean age of 26.6 ± 5.3 years. The motor task analyzed in the study was the serial reaction time, and its performance was divided into 4 phases carried out on two consecutive days: baseline (20 attempts), acquisition phase (105 attempts), retention test (20 attempts) and transfer test (20 attempts). Participants were allocated to a positive social comparison feedback group (n = 20), who received positive social comparison feedback at the end of each block of 15 trials in the acquisition phase indicating that their performance was superior to other participants who also performed the task, in addition to the KR on the time it took to perform the sequence of clicks in 33% of the attempts; and the control group, which received only the KR in 33% of the practice attempts. The performance measure analyzed was the total movement time, defined as the time interval, in seconds, between the click to start the task and the click on the last target in the sequence. The results revealed a decrease in the time to perform the task throughout the trial blocks in all phases of the study, but no difference was verified between the positive social comparison feedback and control groups. The results allow us to conclude that the provision of positive social comparison feedback does not benefit motor learning with the provision of a reduced frequency of KR.