How practice without vision aids later seeing and predicting in a throwing task

Do you think that blindfolded practice of a motor skill would allow you to more accurately predict the outcomes of that skill when viewing a video of someone else performing it?  Would you be able to improve in prediction ability as much as if you had full vision during practice?  In the present study we set out to see how the physical and visual experiences contribute to enhancing one's ability to predict action outcomes. We ask whether motor experience is sufficient to make visually-based decisions about the outcomes of another's action. If so, this would suggest that action experiences allow us to “simulate” what we see in order to make visually-prompted decisions and predict outcomes. 

We used a dart throwing task, where people practiced throwing darts with or without vision of the action and dart flight.  A 3rd group just watched the practice and a 4th group did not practice.  Before and after training, participants watched a video clip of someone else performing a dart throwing action. These clips were edited to show only the early phases of the throw and participants were asked to predict the final landing place of the dart on the dartboard (top, middle or bottom). Both the full vision and no-vision physical practice groups improved in their ability to predict dart position after practice and they did not differ.  Surprisingly, the observation group (i.e., visual training only) did not improve and was no different to the no practice group.  Therefore, only physical, motor experience was important for predicting action outcomes in others.   

When practicing motor skills such as throwing a dart or a basketball, it is thought that what we learn allows us to generate predictions of what this action will produce in ourselves and in others. Therefore, when we see others act, we are able to re-enact what we are seeing (at least covertly), which aids in this decision process. Although we showed that only motor experience with the dart skill aided decision accuracy, there is also evidence that we can make accurate predictions based only on visual experience, but arguably in quite a different way than actual physical experience allows.

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How practice without vision aids later seeing and predicting in a throwing task

Do you think that blindfolded practice of a motor skill would allow you to more accurately predict the outcomes of that skill when viewing a video of someone else performing it?  Would you be able to improve in prediction ability as much as if you had full vision during practice?  In the present study we set out to see how the physical and visual experiences contribute to enhancing one's ability to predict action outcomes. We ask whether motor experience is sufficient to make visually-based decisions about the outcomes of another's action. If so, this would suggest that action experiences allow us to “simulate” what we see in order to make visually-prompted decisions and predict outcomes. 

We used a dart throwing task, where people practiced throwing darts with or without vision of the action and dart flight.  A 3rd group just watched the practice and a 4th group did not practice.  Before and after training, participants watched a video clip of someone else performing a dart throwing action. These clips were edited to show only the early phases of the throw and participants were asked to predict the final landing place of the dart on the dartboard (top, middle or bottom). Both the full vision and no-vision physical practice groups improved in their ability to predict dart position after practice and they did not differ.  Surprisingly, the observation group (i.e., visual training only) did not improve and was no different to the no practice group.  Therefore, only physical, motor experience was important for predicting action outcomes in others.   

When practicing motor skills such as throwing a dart or a basketball, it is thought that what we learn allows us to generate predictions of what this action will produce in ourselves and in others. Therefore, when we see others act, we are able to re-enact what we are seeing (at least covertly), which aids in this decision process. Although we showed that only motor experience with the dart skill aided decision accuracy, there is also evidence that we can make accurate predictions based only on visual experience, but arguably in quite a different way than actual physical experience allows.

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