Feedback and Motor Control

What Feedback and Motor Control covers

Feedback and Motor Control is examined in Component 2, Psychological and social principles of physical education. It covers Purposes and effectiveness of feedback, types of feedback, feedback technology and performance analysis and open and closed loop control.

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Purposes and effectiveness of feedbackFeedback as motivation, reinforcement and error correction, its timing, amount, accuracy and specificity, over-reliance on the coach, the feedback sandwich, correcting a young swimmer's breathing, and letting the performer try again soon after.Open →
• Types of feedbackPositive and negative feedback, knowledge of performance and knowledge of results, concurrent and terminal feedback, intrinsic and extrinsic feedback, beginners and elite performers, and classifying a basketball coach's comment and a swimmer's split time.Open →
• Feedback technology and performance analysisVideo analysis, GPS trackers, heart rate monitors, force plates, wearable sensors and performance analysis software, objective data and its limits, instant replay for a gymnast, electronic timing and concurrent feedback for a rower.Open →
• Open and closed loop controlMotor programmes, the input, executive, effector and output stages of open loop control, what closed loop control adds, beginners and experts, kinaesthesis, the tennis serve and a footballer dribbling through cones.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Feedback and Motor Control further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Knowledge of performance vs Knowledge of results

  Knowledge of performance: information about how well the technique was executed. Knowledge of results: information about the outcome a movement achieved.

• Concurrent feedback vs Terminal feedback

  Concurrent feedback: information received while a movement is still under way. Terminal feedback: information given once a movement has finished.

• Intrinsic feedback vs Extrinsic feedback

  Intrinsic feedback: information sensed through proprioceptors inside the body. Extrinsic feedback: information supplied by a coach, video or scoreboard.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is feedback in skill learning?

   Model answer

   Feedback is information a performer receives about a movement, during or after it. Feedback is used to improve the next attempt.

2. 2

   How does feedback motivate a performer?

   Model answer

   Praise and evidence of progress give a performer satisfaction and a reason to keep practising. Motivated performers practise for longer and with more effort.

3. 3

   How does feedback act as reinforcement?

   Model answer

   Feedback that confirms a correct movement strengthens the stimulus–response bond. The correct action is then more likely to be repeated.

4. 4

   How does feedback help a performer detect and correct errors?

   Model answer

   Feedback shows the performer what went wrong and why. The performer can then adjust the motor programme on the next attempt.

5. 5

   Why should feedback be given soon after a movement?

   Model answer

   The movement is still fresh in short-term memory, so the feedback can be linked to how it felt. Delayed feedback is harder to relate to the action.

6. 6

   Why can too much feedback make it less effective?

   Model answer

   Too much information overloads the limited capacity of short-term memory. A coach should give one or two key points at a time.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Feedback and Motor Control revision questions

What does Feedback and Motor Control cover in Edexcel A-Level Physical Education?

4 subtopics: purposes and effectiveness of feedback, types of feedback, feedback technology and performance analysis and open and closed loop control. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Feedback and Motor Control organised?

By the Edexcel 9PE0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.