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 in struction about how to learn often results in better learning and transfer than explicit instruction. To examine more specifically how these instructi onal manipulations influence learning, a temporal, bimanual coordination st udy was conducted that allowed an examination of the process of acquisition , in relation to knowledge of pre-existing coordinative tendencies. Specifi c (SI) and general (GI) instruction groups, where instruction informed part icipants how the hands should be coordinated to produce the required patter n, were compared to no-instruction (NI) and secondary task learning (STL) g roups. The two instruction groups showed an initial bias towards an anti-ph ase pattern, whereas the no-instruction groups showed a greater bias initia lly to an in-phase pattern. However, it was the NI and the SI groups who we re the most accurate during acquisition and retention. Interestingly, howev er, only the SI group was negatively affected during a secondary task trans fer test, and regressed back to the previously stable anti-phase pattern of coordination. These data show that discovery learning may facilitate the l earning of a complex coordination task, especially if the task has to be pe rformed concurrently with other attention-demanding tasks.