The Effect of Equipment Modification on Acquisition and Retention of Motor Skill in 9-10-Year-Old Children with an Emphasis on Working Memory Capacity

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of equipment modification on acquisition and retention of basketball free throw skill in children aged between 9 and 10 with an emphasis on working memory capacity. 40malestudents were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups of modified and standard equipment with high and low working memory capacity based on the Memory for Digit Span assessment by Wechsler. Mini-basketball rules were used as a reference. The acquisition phase included 10 sessions, 4blocks each session and 15 attempts each block. Free throw basketball test (AAHPERD) was conducted as the pretest and acquisition and retention tests were conducted after a week. In the acquisition phase, 2x2x2 multivariate analysis of variance (eqipement×working memory×test) with repeated measures showed that interactive effect between working memory (high and low) and test (pretest and posttest) on performance was significant. Also, interactive effect between equipment (standard and modified) and test (pretest and posttest) on performance was significant while the interactive effect of working memory, equipment and test on performance was not significant. In retention phase, 2x2 multivariate analysis of variance (eqipement×working memory) showed that the main and interactive effect of working memory and equipment on performance was significant. The results showed that the effect of equipment employment in working memory levels on performance was similar in both pretest and posttest and also it seems that the effect of the modified equipment on performance in retention test was better in children with low working memory than children with high working memory.