Abstract
Exercising choice during practice (self-controlled group) consistently leads to increased learning compared to being denied these choice opportunities (yoked group). Wulf and Lewthwaite (2016) proposed a motivational mechanism for self-controlled learning advantages, emphasizing autonomy-support, perceived competency, and enhanced expectancies. Others however, have advocated a greater relative contribution of informational factors such as error estimation and feedback processing (Carter & Ste-Marie, 2017). Here, we contrasted these two perspectives using three groups: a self-controlled (SC), a yoked (YK), and a yoked with error-estimation (YK+EE) group that estimated their movement time (MT) prior to receiving KR. Participants practiced a spatiotemporal motor task with a MT goal of 900 ms and completed motivation questionnaires after blocks one and six. Learning was inferred using 24-hour no-KR retention and transfer (new MT goal) tests, which included participants estimating their MT after each trial. No group differences were found during acquisition or for measures of motivation; however, there was a trend for less MT |CE| in retention and transfer for the SC (M=102.29 & 156.27ms) and YK+EE (M=102.79 & 125.67ms) groups compared to the YK group (M=186.77 & 221.59ms). A similar trend for more accurate estimations in retention and transfer were noted for the SC and YK+EE groups relative to the YK group. Although our findings were in the expected direction and suggest the detrimental effects of practicing in a yoked group can be attenuated through error estimation, the lack of significance prevents us from strongly asserting this conclusion.
