Analogy instructions promote efficiency of cognitive processes during hockey push-pass performance

Abstract

Analogy instructions may promote effective skill acquisition by providing movement-specific information that can be processed as a single, meaningful unit, rather than as separate “bits” of information (Liao & Masters, 2001; Masters, 2000). Behavioral evidence suggests that information processing associated with analogy instructions is less effortful than information processing associated with explicit instructions, resulting in reduced verbal−analytical involvement in movement control (Lam, Maxwell, & Masters, 2009b). This experiment was designed to test whether analogy instructions promote higher psychomotor efficiency, characterized by greater high-α power in the left hemisphere of the brain (Hillman, Apparies, Janelle, & Hatfield, 2000) and reduced coactivation between the verbal processing (left temporal lobe T7) and motor planning regions of the brain (frontal midline Fz; Hatfield & Hillman, 2001) during motor performance. Novices practiced a hockey push-pass task using an analogy instruction, explicit instructions, or no instructions (control). Push-pass accuracy during a combined task (passing coupled with decision-making) was significantly better following the analogy instruction, which suggested that information processing was less effortful. Left-temporal (T7) electroencephalography (EEG) high-α power was significantly higher in the analogy condition, but T7−Fz coactivation was not significantly different among the conditions. It is possible that the analogy instruction influenced verbal aspects of information processing without impacting the efficiency of motor planning. Consequently, an analogy instruction may promote cognitive, rather than psychomotor, efficiency.