Choosing an optimal motor-task difficulty is not trivial: The influence of age and expertise. (November 2021) - Schaefer, Sabine
Abstract: An accurate estimate of one's performance is an important prerequisite for success, and prevents people from taking excessive risks. Based on the selection-margins paradigm (Riediger et al., 2006), the current paper assessed maximum speed rope-skipping (study 1), soccer dribbling (study 2), and the fine motor task of tracing (study 3) in 5- to 37-year-olds. Participants predicted their performances for the upcoming trial. The better the predicted performance, the more points were gained in case of success. To discourage overestimations, participants received no points for unsuccessful trials. In rope skipping, older and more experienced athletes outperformed the beginners, and had fewer trials with 0 points. In soccer dribbling and tracing, older individuals again showed less overestimation, as reflected by a smaller deviation of predicted and actual performance (selection margins) and fewer 0 point trials. Athletes and coaches should be aware that younger and less-experienced athletes tend to overestimate their motor performances. Highlights: An accurate estimation of one's performance is important for success. We asked children, teenagers and young adults to accurately predict their performances in rope skipping, soccer, and tracing. The deviation of predicted and actual performances are operationalized as "selection margins". Younger individuals overestimated their performances. Future research should investigate the influence of chronological age and expertise on these tendencies.