| Abstract | The importance of relative motion information when modelling a novel motor skill was
examined. Participants were assigned to one of four groups. Groups 1 and 2 viewed demonstrations
of a skilled cricket bowler presented in either video or point light format. Group 3
observed a single point of light pertaining to the wrist of the skilled bowler only. Participants
in Group 4 did not receive a demonstration and acted as controls. During 60 acquisition trials,
participants in the demonstration groups viewed a model five times before each 10-trial block.
Retention was examined the following day. Intra-limb coordination was assessed for the right
elbow relative to the wrist in comparison to the model. The demonstration groups showed
greater concordance with the model than the control group. However, the wrist group performed
less like the model than the point light and video groups, who did not differ from
each other. These effects were maintained in retention. Relative motion information aided
the acquisition of intra-limb coordination, while making this information more salient
(through point lights) provided no additional benefit. The motion of the model's bowling arm was replicated more closely than the non-bowling arm, suggesting that information from
the end-effector is prioritized during observation for later reproduction.
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