The Effect of Instruction of Basic Football Techniques on Perceptual-Cognitive Skills in the Field: Emphasizing on Observational and Implicit Learning

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of learning some basic soccer techniques on perceptual- cognitive skills on the field. Fifty-eight female participants including 45 students of Azad University of Tabriz branch and 13 skilled soccer club players with a mean age of 22. 30 ± 3.08 years old were selected based on the inclusion criteria and then, were purposefully assigned to five groups [cognitive (near) cognitive (far), control and skilled]. The research method was quasi-experimental studies and its design was pretest-retention. First, a field test was performed on all groups. Then, the acquisition phase for the field group and the practice for the laboratory groups began and finally, after a week, a retention test was performed on the groups. Multivariate analysis of variance test was performed to analyze the data using SPSS 21. The level of anticipation and decision-making skills in the field environment in the motor group and the skilled group was significantly higher than the two groups of laboratory tasks. The results of analysis of covariance revealed that the effect of the group was significant at the level of 99% probability (F (53. 4)) = 12. 77. P = 0.001. Eta coefficient = 50). It seems that, practicing basic skills in combination with observational learning leads to a double engagement of the problem-solving process and improves anticipation and decision-making skills