Kinematic and psychological analysis of the effect of feedback on learning to throw darts: Confirmatory or corrective feedback?

Introduction: Feedback is the most important variable during learning. The present study examined the importance of different types of feedback during learning
Materials and Methods: Participants received one of the following types of information: Feedback about a movement that reinforces a correct pattern (confirmatory), Feedback about a movement that diagnoses an error (corrective), Feedback about a movement that reinforces a correct pattern and diagnoses an error (combined), or not receive any feedback (control). This experiment consisted of 60 exercise attempts divided into 4 blocks of 15 attempts, and after each block, the rest of the 60 seconds was given to the subjects. Twenty-four hours after training, the subjects were recruited and performed 10 attempts as retention. The scoring method (accuracy) used in this study was based on the standard scoring method in the throwing field.
Results: The results showed that among the groups, the feedback group received the best result in the accuracy score between the groups. In other words, confirmatory feedback, when presented to the subjects along with the estimation of errors, had a significant effect on the accuracy of the throwing of the dart. After the confirmatory feedback group, the corrective feedback group had gained the best performance in the accuracy rating between the groups. Interestingly, the statistical results suggest that the combined group, after the confirmatory and corrective feedback groups, ranked third in the best performance of the dart throw accuracy score.
Conclusion: It was concluded that in the learning and performance of a discrete motor skill, knowledge of performance feedback that confirms success is more effective than knowledge of performance feedback that corrects errors. Combining corrective and confirmatory feedback in the sandwich approach used here does not appear to provide superior learning when compared to corrective feedback alone.