Abstract
ABSTRACTRecently it has been reported that practicing putting with visual illusions that make the hole appear larger than it actually is leads to longer-lasting performance improvements. Interestingly, from a motor control and learning perspective, it may be possible to actually predict the opposite to occur, as facing a smaller appearing target should enforce performers to be more precise. To test this idea the authors invited participants to practice an aiming task (i.e., a marble-shooting task) with either a visual illusion that made the target appear larger or a visual illusion that made the target appear smaller. They applied a pre–post test design, included a control group training without any illusory effects and increased the amount of practice to 450 trials. In contrast to earlier reports, the results revealed that the group that trained with the visual illusion that made the target look smaller improved performance from pre- to posttest, whereas the group practicing with visual illusions that made the target appear larger did not show any improvements. Notably, also the control group improved from pre- to posttest. The authors conclude that more research is needed to improve our understanding of whether and how visual illusions may be useful training tools for sport skill learning.
Highlights
Chauvel, Wulf, and Maquestiaux (2015) recently reported that practicing golf putting with visual illusions that make the hole appear larger than it is leads to longer-lasting performance improvements
In contrast to earlier reports, the results revealed that the group that trained with the visual illusion that made the target look smaller improved performance from pre- to posttest, whereas the group practicing with visual illusions that made the target appear larger did not show any improvements
Post hoc pairwise comparisons on the significant effect for the PSH group showed that participants in this group hit significantly more often during the second (p D .042) and third (p D .003) training sessions than during the first training session, indicating that training with a perceived smaller hole led to significant performance improvements over time
Summary
Chauvel, Wulf, and Maquestiaux (2015) recently reported that practicing golf putting with visual illusions that make the hole appear larger than it is leads to longer-lasting performance improvements. In contrast to earlier reports, the results revealed that the group that trained with the visual illusion that made the target look smaller improved performance from pre- to posttest, whereas the group practicing with visual illusions that made the target appear larger did not show any improvements.
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