Watch a future version of yourself to practice and learn a motor action? Here is what we found (for more details, see here).
“Findings revealed an advantage for the Me-Skilled group as compared to the Me-Novice group in motor performance and cognitive representation structure, while self-efficacy improved in both groups. In comparison to watching and imagining oneself performing at the current novice skill level, watching and imagining oneself performing at a more advanced skill level prevented from making errors in motor performance and led to perceptual-cognitive scaffolding as shown by functional changes in underlying representations. Simultaneous imagery whilst observing future states of action may therefore help to establish cognitive prerequisites that enable better motor performance. To this end, virtual reality is a promising tool to create learning environments that exceed an individual’s current performance level.”
Thanks to everyone involved in this piece of work, especially the interdisciplinary team from CITEC’s ICSPACE and my European colleagues from the RIO group!