Abstract:

At the present post-modern time, a decrease can be seen in the level of motor skill competence of persons. We are trying to make the motor learning process as effective as possible so that the process would be not only interesting and enjoyable for the students, but also fast and economical. We are of the opinion that influencing the autonomic nervous system before starting the motor learning process will be reflected in the speed and quality of learning. We will try to understand the manner of working on the psychological aspect of a student, who is trying to learn an unknown movement task, in order to make their activity effective.

The objective of this research is to evaluate whether the previous information has any effect on the activation of the nervous system and performance in a sensomotor test.

The research sample consisted of students from the Faculty of Education of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, in the age range of 20 to 24 years (N = 90). For the purposes of this study, a sensomotor, quite difficult mirror drawing test was used. Prior to testing and in the course of testing, electrodermal activity of the probands was measured to assess the level of activation of the nervous system. In the course of testing, the persons being tested received information that the upcoming task is either very difficult or very easy. The control group received only test papers (Group 1). The group of the tested persons, influenced by the information that the test will be difficult, (Group 3) achieved better results, and lower activation of the nervous system was found in this group. On average, Group 3 needed more time to fulfil their tasks. Group 2, who received before the sensomotor test the information that the test will be easy, reached the opposite values. Using the Mann-Whitney U test, a significant difference (p = 0.00009) was ascertained in the number of errors between Group 2 and Group 3. These results suggest that if the probands have information that sensomotor tasks are difficult, they will achieve optimal performance.

Keywords:

Electrodermal activity, arousal, coordination, input information, semsomotor test, motor learning.