Interaction between motor ability and skill learning in children: Application of implicit and explicit approaches

Area of Science:

• Motor Learning
• Child Development
• Sports Science

Background:

• Implicit and explicit motor learning are well-researched in adults, but less so in children.
• Understanding these learning styles in children is crucial for effective skill acquisition.
• Fundamental motor ability may influence how children benefit from different learning approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between fundamental motor ability and implicit/explicit motor learning in children.
• To examine the effectiveness of errorless (implicit) versus errorful (explicit) learning paradigms in children with varying motor skills.
• To assess how different motor learning approaches impact skill retention and transfer in children.

Main Methods:

• Assessed fundamental motor ability in 261 children (aged 9-12).
• Grouped children into high- and low-motor ability quartiles.
• Children learned a golf-putting skill using either errorless (implicit) or errorful (explicit) learning conditions over 300 trials.

Main Results:

• Implicit (errorless) learning was unaffected by a secondary task for both high- and low-ability groups.
• Explicit (errorful) learning was unaffected in high-ability children but impaired low-ability children when a secondary task was introduced.
• Low-ability children in the errorful condition performed significantly worse than their high-ability counterparts.

Conclusions:

• Implicit motor learning (errorless) appears beneficial for children with lower fundamental motor ability.
• Children with high motor ability may benefit more from explicit (errorful) learning approaches.
• Further research is needed to explore optimal implicit and explicit learning strategies for children across different ability levels.