Children’s Motor Learning and Working Memory: The Role of Visual and Verbal Analogy Learning

Ramezani Fatemeh, Saemi Esmaeel () and Doustan Mohammadreza
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Ramezani Fatemeh: Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology, Ahvaz, Iran
Saemi Esmaeel: Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology, Ahvaz, Iran
Doustan Mohammadreza: Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology, Ahvaz, Iran

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, 2022, vol. 29, issue 2, 3-10

Abstract: Introduction. Physical education teachers and coaches often face the problem of how to convey information to novice learners, particularly to children. The present study aims to examine how visual and verbal analogy learning affects basketball free-throw learning as well as working memory in 9- to 12-year-old children. Material and Methods. Forty-eight children (24 males, mean age: 10.5 ± 1.8 years) were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to four groups, namely visual analogy, verbal analogy, explicit, and control groups. The task involved throwing a basketball from a distance of 3.05 meters. The participants completed 15 trials in the pretest, posttest, and retention phases and 720 trials in the acquisition phase. Results. The result of the paired sample t-test indicated that the visual analogy, verbal analogy, and explicit learning groups experienced a significant improvement in their performance through the skill acquisition phase as well as an improvement in their working memories (p ≤ 0.05), while the control group did not exhibit such improvements (p = 0.91). In addition, one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that the analogy learning group outperformed other groups in both post-test and retention tests as well as in terms of motor learning and working memory (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusions. The verbal analogy and the explicit learning groups were equally better than the control group. The findings of this study suggest that coaches in instructional environments should make further use of the advantages of visual analogy learning for children.

Keywords: analogy learning; explicit learning; children; working memory; motor learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:spotou:v:29:y:2022:i:2:p:3-10:n:5

DOI: 10.2478/pjst-2022-0008

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