Efeitos da frequência de conhecimento de resultados na aprendizagem de habilidades motoras em idosos

Abstract

In the acquisition of motor skills, many factors influence how learning occurs. Among them, there is feedback in the process of teaching and learning. With regard to feedback, more recent studies contradict the notion that the more frequent, accurate and immediate, better would be the effect of one form of feedback, the Knowledge of Results (KR), suggesting that a reduced frequency of KR would ensure better performance on tests of retention and transfer. Because few studies have examined this issue with the elderly population, this study investigated the effect of frequency of KR in the elderly. An experiment was conducted in three phases: acquisition, immediate transfer test and retention test. The study included 20 elderly volunteers, aged between 60 and 75 years, of both sexes, with no experience in the task, with informed consent. The subjects were divided into two groups: 100% of KR and 50% of KR. Both groups had improvements in performance after the retention test, but there were no significant difference between groups. We conclude that the two forms of learning were effective, but further studies should be performed to verify which of the forms has a greater influence on learning new motor skills in older adults.