Null Effects on Learning the Basketball Free Throw From a Self-Controlled Demonstration With Different Amounts of Practice

Abstract

We investigated the effects of the amount of practice on motor learning with a self-controlled demonstration. Participants were 60 volunteers (32 men; 28 women), with an average age of 26.91 years (SD = 4.11) who practiced basketball free-throw shooting. They were randomly distributed into four 15-person groups: (a) self-control 30 – in which they watched a demonstration whenever and as often as they wished and took 30 acquisition trials; (b) self-control 120 in which they watched a demonstration whenever and as often as they wished and took 120 acquisition trials; (c) a yoked group to the 30 trial group who watched the demonstration only when the self-control group chose; and (d) a yoked group to the 120 trial group who watched the demonstration only when the self-control group chose. The transfer test consisted of 10 trials without demonstration. Dependent variables were free-throw successes and errors and kinematics of the free-throw movement pattern. Results showed that all groups improved performance accuracy and consistency, but there were no group differences. We concluded that neither the amount of practice defined by 30 or 120 trials nor self-control over watching a demonstration affected learning basketball free-throw shooting.