The role of augmented information prior to learning a bimanual visual-motor coordination task: Do instructions of the movement pattern facilitate learning relative to discovery learning?

Investigators have recently begun to examine the role of information prior to learning a motor skill and surprisingly have found that not providing instruction about how to learn often results in better learning and transfer than explicit instruction. To examine more specifically how these instructional manipulations influence learning, a temporal, bimanual coordination study was conducted that allowed an examination of the process of acquisition, in relation to knowledge of pre-existing coordinative tendencies. Specific (SI) and general (GI) instruction groups, where instruction informed participants how the hands should be coordinated to produce the required pattern, were compared to no-instruction (NI) and secondary task learning (STL) groups. The two instruction groups showed an initial bias towards an anti-phase pattern, whereas the no-instruction groups showed a greater bias initially to an in-phase pattern. However, it was the NI and the SI groups who were the most accurate during acquisition and retention. Interestingly, however, only the SI group was negatively affected during a secondary task transfer test, and regressed back to the previously stable anti-phase pattern of coordination. These data show that discovery learning may facilitate the learning of a complex coordination task, especially if the task has to be performed concurrently with other attention-demanding tasks.