Abstract
We examined whether or not task experience of a peer would differentially impact their frequency and preference for providing feedback to a novice during skill acquisition. McRae, Patterson, and Hansen (2015) showed that learners provided feedback from a peer without previous task experience learned the task similarly to learners controlling their own feedback. To extend McRae et al. (2015), a group of participants completed the experimental protocol as a self-controlled feedback participant, then determined the feedback schedule for a novice during their acquisition period. Similar to McRae et al. (2015), a group of participants without previous task experience determined the feedback schedule for a novice learner during their acquisition period. Participants completed a serial-timing task with a goal time of 2500ms. Participants completed 80 acquisition trials, then returned 24-hours later for a 10-trial no-feedback retention test. For the retention test, no statistical differences between-the groups of learners receiving feedback from an experienced or inexperienced peer for motor performance measures were identified. This finding replicated and extended McRae et al. (2015). Based on a self-report questionnaire, peers with and without task experience reported a preference for providing feedback after poor trials. Analysis of absolute error on feedback compared to no-feedback trials showed the inexperienced peers were consistent with their preferred choice, whereas the peers with experience peers were not. These results further support the learning advantages of a peer-controlled practice context, and offer an alternative theoretical perspective to preserving a learner's autonomy during motor skill learning.
