Effects of Explicit and Implicit Perceptual Training on Pitch-Type Anticipation with Probability Information Prior to Pitching Motion

Abstract

Effects of explicit and implicit perceptual training on pitch-type (fast or curved-ball) anticipation with probability information prior to pitching motion were investigated. Participants (n=30) were randomly assigned to an explicit or an implicit instruction group, or a control group. They were administered 30 pretest trials, 60 perceptual training trials and 30 immediate retention test trials on the first day, 30 delayed retention test trials, 120 perceptual training trials and 30 immediate retention test trials on the second day, and just 30 delayed retention test trials on the third day. The explicit instruction group was instructed that they would be presented with anticipatory cues, whereas the implicit instruction group was instructed to react intuitively. The control group performed only the pretest and delayed test trials. During the pretest and delayed retention test trials, information on the probability of pitch-type was presented as a percentage, either 50% (chance level), 60%, or 80%, for one second at the start of a movie depicting the pitcher's motion. Results indicated that the level of awareness of anticipatory cues in the explicit instruction group was higher than in the implicit instruction and control groups, indicating that the instruction to react intuitively inhibited the awareness of anticipatory cues. The level of awareness of preceding information about pitch-type probabilities in the 80% condition was higher than in the 60% condition, indicating that the experimental manipulation of preceding information was effective. Anticipatory skill of the explicit instruction group improved after 60 perceptual training trials, whereas improvement of the implicit instruction group was marginally significant after 180 trials. It is concluded that explicit instructions result in faster learning during the perceptual training of novice baseball players.