The aim of the present work was to analyze the influence of self-controlled task difficulty on motor learning. Participants had to intercept three targets falling at different velocities by displacing a stylus above a digitizer Task difficulty corresponded to racquet width. Half the participants (self-control condition) could choose the racquet width at the beginning of each trial. Each was paired with a participant from the yoked group. The self-control condition resulted in better performances and accuracy during immediate and delayed retention tests. These results confirm the advantage of a self-control condition on motor learning. They are discussed with reference to the challenge point hypothesis (Guadagnoli & Lee, 2004).

Observation contributes to motor learning. It was recently demonstrated that the observation of both a novice and an expert model (mixed observation) resulted in better learning of a complex spatiotemporal task than the observation of either a novice or an expert model. In experiment 1, we aimed to determine whether mixed observation better promotes learning due to the information that can be gained from two models who exhibit different skill levels or simply because multiple models, regardless of their level of expertise, better promote learning than would a single model. The results revealed that the observation of both an expert and a novice model resulted in better short-term retention than the observation of either two novice or two expert models. In experiment 2, we wanted to determine whether these benefits would last longer if physical practice trials were interspersed with observation. Mixed and (to some extent) expert observations resulted in better long-term retention than observation of a novice model. We suggest that alternating mixed/expert observation with physical practice trials makes one's error more salient than when all observation trials are completed before one first starts performing the experimental task, which increases activation of the action observation network.

Observation aids motor skill learning. When multiple models or different levels of performance are observed, does learning improve when the observer is informed of the performance quality prior to each observation trial or after each trial? We used a knock-down barrier task and asked participants to learn a new relative timing pattern that differed from that naturally emerging from the task constraints (Blandin et al., 1999). Following a physical execution pre-test, the participants observed two models demonstrating different levels of performance and were either informed of this performance prior to or after each observation trial. The results of the physical execution retention tests of the two experiments reported in the present study indicated that informing the observers of the demonstration quality they were about to see aided learning more than when this information was provided after each observation trial. Our results suggest that providing advanced information concerning the quality of the observation may help participants detect errors in the model's performance, which is something that novice participants have difficulty doing, and then learn from these observations.

Observation contributes to motor learning. It was recently demonstrated that the observation of both a novice and an expert model (mixed observation) resulted in better learning of a complex spatio-temporal task than the observation of either a novice or an expert model alone. In the present study, we sought to determine whether the advantage of mixed observation resulted from the development of a better error detection mechanism. The results revealed that mixed observation resulted in a better estimation of the model's performance than that with other regimens of observation. The results also suggest that observational learning is improved when observation with knowledge of the results (KR) is followed by an observation phase without KR.

This study was designed to determine whether the effect of self-control of task difficulty on motor learning is a function of the period of self-control administration. In a complex anticipation-coincidence task that required participants to intercept 3 targets with a virtual racquet, the task difficulty was either self-controlled or imposed to the participants in the two phases of the acquisition session. First, the results confirmed the beneficial effects of self-control over fully prescribed conditions. Second, the authors also demonstrated that a partial self-control of task difficulty better promotes learning than does a complete self-controlled procedure. Overall, the results revealed that these benefits are increased when this choice is allowed during early practice. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and applied perspectives.