Motor Behavior

The Role of Reinvestment Capacity in Motor Skill Learning Using Explicit and Analogy Instructions

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

zahra khosravi 1
saeed arsham 2
farhad ghadiri 1
hassan rohbanfard 3

1 Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and sport Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

3 Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22089/mbj.2025.17941.2210
Abstract
Finding effective instructional methods to optimize sports performance has always been a focus of researchers. Two main instruction methods analogy and explicit have been studied. some studies suggest that analogy-based instruction is more beneficial for beginners. The main objective of this study was to compare the effects of explicit and analogy-based instruction on learning the golf putting skill in children and to examine the moderating role of the tendency for conscious reprocessing. Participants included 90 female students aged 13–15, who were divided into high and low conscious reprocessing groups based on questionnaire scores. They were then randomly assigned to six groups (analogy, explicit ,control with high/low reprocessing). The study phases consisted of a pretest, practice (6 blocks of 10 trials), posttest, and retention test. Performance accuracy was measured based on the distance of the ball from the target center.
The results indicated a significant improvement in performance in both the explicit and analogy groups. The analogy group performed better than both the explicit and control groups (p = 0.04). Additionally, the explicit group showed significantly better performance than the control group (p = 0.002). However, there was no significant difference between high and low conscious reprocessing groups (p = 0.623). The findings suggest that analogy-based instruction is more effective for motor skill learning in children, and individual differences in the tendency for conscious reprocessing do not influence this effect. This study recommends that future research explore the combination of instructional methods and the role of individual cognitive factors.

Keywords

Conscious reprocessing
explicit instruction
analogy instruction
motor skill learning
Subjects
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Motor Behavior
Volume 18, Issue 63
Spring 2026
Pages 108-130

  • Receive Date 12 May 2025
  • Revise Date 22 August 2025
  • Accept Date 13 September 2025

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