Simmonds, P and Wakefield, Caroline and Coyles, Ginny and Roberts, James W. (2023) Enhanced expectancies benefit performance under distraction, but compromise it under stress: exploring the OPTIMAL theory. Human Movement Science, 89. ISSN 0167-9457
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Abstract
Motor learning can benefit from practice under enhanced expectancies; that is, the belief one can generate an intended positive outcome. According to the OPTIMAL (Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory, this benefit manifests from a greater coupling between action and its external consequences, which potentially coincides with a more automatic mode of control. The aim of the study was to examine this possibility, and in so doing, understand more about the psycho-motor processes underpinning the influence of expectancies. On Day 1, novice participants practiced a dart-throwing task under enhanced (EE) (n=11), reduced (RE) (n=12) or no (control; CTL) (n=12) expectancies. Enhanced and reduced expectancies were indirectly manipulated by positively reinforcing shots that landed within the large or small circle on the dartboard, respectively. On Day 2, participants transferred to a dual-task (i.e., tone-counting) or stress (i.e., social-comparative threat, false feedback) setting. While there was no evidence of improvement across practice, RE was significantly worse than CTL for the dual-task, but EE was significantly worse than RE and CTL under stress (ps < .05). Therefore, the ability of EE to retain performance within the dual-task, but decline under stress, suggests a more automatic mode of control was adopted. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information and Comments: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Self-efficacy, Motivation, Motor learning, Expectancies |
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Health and Sport Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Caroline Wakefield |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Apr 2023 08:35 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Apr 2023 08:35 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3877 |
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