Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Davoud Fazeli ¹
• Hamidreza Taheri ²
• Alireza Saberi Kakhki ³
• Fatemeh Shakeri Chenari ⁴

¹ Assistant Professor of Motor Behavior- Shiraz University

² Dr_Taheri Prof. Hamid Reza Taheri Vice Presidents of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

³ Assistant Prof

⁴ Master Student of Motor Development at Shiraz University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to address the effect of physical and mental practice on the variability of movement coordination pattern and movement smoothness in golf putting. For this purpose, 30 participants (25± 4.3 years) were randomly divided into three physical practice, mental practice, and control groups. Participants performed 10 putts as a pre-test. Then they completed 180 trials (10 blocks 18 trials each) each day according to their grouping. The practice continued for 6 days. Participants in the physical group performed the task in physical format and the participants in the mental group just mentally rehearsed the task without any observable movement. The control group only participated in the tests and did not practice the task. Seven days after the last acquisition day, participants performed 10 trials as a retention test. Putting accuracy and movement kinematics were recorded during the tests. Variability of movement coordination pattern and movement jerk was calculated from the kinematics data. Results showed that physical and mental practice was effective in learning golf putting, however, this effect was higher for physical practice. Also, it was shown that although mental practice similar to physical practice increased movement smoothness, this improvement was higher for physical practice. A possible explanation for these results could be the existence of real feedback during physical execution which results in updating the internal models.

Keywords

• Golf putting
• movement jerk
• coordination
• internal models

Main Subjects

• Motor learning