Abstract
Self-controlled KR practice has revealed that participants provided the opportunity to control their KR is superior for motor skill acquisition compared to participants replicating the KR schedule of a self-control participant without the choice (e.g., yoked). To date, the learning advantages of a self-controlled KR schedule have utilized motor tasks requiring acquisition of a temporal goal (e.g., push 5-keys in 1050ms). In the present experiment, we examined the utility of self-controlled KR practice for the acquisition of a motor skill with a spatial goal and whether self-controlled KR practice facilitates the development of an accurate internal representation of the task goal. Twenty-four younger adults were required to push and release a handle along a confined pathway using their non-dominant hand to a target distance (133cm). The self-controlled participants controlled their receipt of KR after every acquisition trial while the yoked participants replicated the KR schedule of a self-controlled participant. The retention data revealed the SELF condition (M=10.73) demonstrated less |CE| compared to the yoked condition (M=17.79) in achieving the spatial goal. As well, the SELF condition was more accurate in estimating their performance (indexed by AD) during the retention period. The findings suggest self-controlled KR practice generalizes to spatial goals and facilitates the development of an accurate internal representation, as evidenced by participant self-reports.Acknowledgments: This research was supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research