The Effect of Motivational and Informational Role of Feedback on Bilateral Transfer of Force Control Task

Considering the role of bilateral transfer in the learning of motor skills, especially at the time of injury, attention to the factors that will enhance bilateral transfer, is important.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of feedback on bilateral transfer of force control task.

Thirty-six students were randomly assigned to three groups; feedback on successful trials, feedback on unsuccessful trials and self-control feedback groups. The feedback on successful trials group received KR for the two most effective trials in each block, the feedback on unsuccessful trials group, received KR for the two least effective trials in each block. And, self-control feedback group was provided with feedback whenever they requested only two trials. One day after the acquisition phase, participants performed a bilateral transfer test with another hand.

The results showed that all groups had significant progress, but there was no difference between groups in the acquisition phase (P≥0.05). The results of bilateral transfer showed that the group that received feedback on successful trials had the best performance (P=0.02) and There was no significant difference between the self-control feedback group and the feedback on unsuccessful trials group (P≥0.05).

As feedback on successful trials is motivational and leads to increased self-efficiency and higher activation of certain areas in the brain, it is likely that the resulting motivation positively influenced axonal guidance and led to the accelerated transfer of the cognitive and motor components via Corpus Callosum and, in this way, improved learning in the untrained hand.