Effect of Self-Controlled Feedback and its Frequency on Motor Learning in Children with Hearing Impairment

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of self-controlled feedback and its frequency on motor learning in children with hearing impairment.
Forty-eight individuals with hearing impairment participated in this study and produced a certain force by a dynamometer. In the first experiment, participants were divided into two homogenous groups (n=12 each) based on pretest scores in terms of the type of feedback control (self-controlled group/yoked group). In the second experiment, they were divided into two homogenous groups (n=12 each) according to the frequency of feedback (30% feedback/free feedback). The participants produced a certain force in 6 blocks of 10 trials. Retention and transfer tests were performed 24 hours after the practice phase, and data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and independent samples t-test.
The results indicated that all groups showed progress in the acquisition phase of both experiments. No significant difference was observed in the acquisition test between the two experiments. However, a significant effect was found on the retention test in both experiments, and the ‘self-controlled’ and ‘self-controlled with free feedback’ groups showed a superior performance. The ‘self-controlled’ group in the first experiment and the ‘self-controlled with free feedback’ group in the second experiment demonstrated a better performance in the transfer phase.
This study showed that self-controlled feedback improves performance. Moreover, limiting self-controlled feedback up to 30% does not optimize performance.