标题：Effect of modified equipment on the acquisition of motor task performance among children of low and high working memory capacity: A basketball-based experimental study
摘要：The capability of children to learn and retain motor-related tasks could ease the pathway of mastering sportspecific skills that are non-trivial in spurring children’s athletic development. Learning motor tasks in children constitute a diverse dimension of constraints that need to be overcome in order to accentuate mastery of tasks. Modification of equipment may facilitate the acquisition of complex motor tasks in synchronization with the learners’ specific characteristics. The effect of modified equipment in motor task acquisition in children with different working memory capacities is examined in this study. Forty children aged 9-10 years were recruited and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children was used to determine the working memory capacity of the children. High and low working memory (HWM),(LWM) were identified and allotted into 4 different groups of 10 children each Viz. (A) HWM with standard mini basketball equipment,(B) LWM with standard mini basketball equipment,(C) HWM with modified mini basketball equipment and (D) LWM with modified mini basketball equipment. Basketball throw from the free-throw line in pre and post-tests were used as the acquisition tasks measure. The result from a mixed designed repeated measure revealed a significant difference across the two time points,significant interactions were also observed within memory types and equipment. No statistically significant difference was detected between the two groups with respect to working memory and task acquisition skill. It is postulated from the findings of the present study that customizing learning experiences that do not rely on working memory capacity,could have a positive long-term effect for learning motor skills in children.
