Performance guidance and feedback

• Information processing


  Input -> Decision Making -> Output -> Feedback
• Input


  • Performer takes in information from the environment
  • What they can see, hear, feel
  • They select the most relevant signals/stimuli
  • For example, the flight of a ball
  • Selective attention - A performer will try to ignore crowd noise
• Decision making


  • Selecting the appropriate response from your memory
  • Short term memory – information is retained for 30 seconds; this is usually lost when your attention is redirected
  • Long term memory – stores information that has been rehearsed.
  • E.g. The fielder will have to decide whether they need to move their feet and hands to catch the ball.
• Output


  The decision chosen is sent to the appropriate muscles to carry out the response
• Feedback


  • Information is received via the performer (intrinsic) or from others (extrinsic) regarding the success of the action
  • Feedback may affect how you perform this skill in future
• There are four types of guidance:

  • Visual
  • Verbal
  • Manual
  • mechanical
• Visual guidance


  • When the performer can see something
  • This may include: Demonstration of a skill or technique by another person. Footage of a performance. Still images
• Pros and cons of visual guidance


  Pros: suitable for all levels, easy to copy

  Cons: demo or image must be good quality, some skills are too complex to demonstrate, performers must pay attention
• Verbal guidance


  involves a coach or teacher telling a performer what they are doing well and badly
• Pros and cons for verbal guidance


  Pros: useful for higher level performers, good way of highlighting key teaching points, useful for sharing basic instructions

  Cons: needs to be constructive, boring, difficult to explain and understand,
• Manual guidance


  physically moving the performer
• Pros and cons of manual guidance


  pros: good for beginners, good for potentially dangerous movements, builds confident

  cons: can feel different to doing it yourself, performer may not feel as if they're doing it themself
• Mechanical guidance


  using a piece of equipment
• Pros and cons of mechanical guidance


  pros: same as manual

  cons: expensive, the performer can become reliant on it
• 2 types of feedback: intrinsic and extrinsic
• Pros and cons of negative feedback


  Pros: helps prioritise certain skills in training, provides guidance on how to improve

  Cons: discouraging
• Pros and cons of positive feedback


  pros: motivational

  cons: suggest that overall performance was better than it actually was
• Knowledge of results 


  focuses on the end of the performance, for example, the performer's score, time or position. It is sometimes called terminal feedback and can be thought of as the outcome of a performance.
• Knowledge of performance


  focuses on how well the athlete performed, not the end result. For example, a golfer may receive feedback that they have putted very well even if their drives were less effective.
• Intrinsic feedback is the physical feel of the movement as it is being performed. It is what is felt by the performer as they execute a skill or performance
• Extrinsic feedback

  • Extrinsic feedback often comes from a coach or teacher (it comes from the outside).
  • Extrinsic feedback could also come from a team-mate or, from a result they get in competition.
  • Extrinsic feedback is important for beginners