The Impact of Implicit and Explicit Training Methods on the Acquisition of Perceptual Expertise in Young Athletes

This study examined the effectiveness of implicit and explicit learning methods on the acquisition and retention of the decision-making skill in low and high complexity situations. 60 novice students were divided into explicit, implicit, and control group. Experimental groups followed 12 training courses. A pre-test, a post-test, and a retention test were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional methods. All participants were evaluated in decision-making speed and accuracy in laboratory tests under simulated conditions. A three-way factorial ANOVA was conducted (3 Group X 2 Complexity X 3 Measurement periods) with repeated measurements on the last factor for the accuracy and reaction time. The analysis showed a significant improvement in decision-making accuracy, in low complexity for both experimental groups. In high complexity situations, the explicit method improved over time and was better than the implicit for decision accuracy. No differences were found among groups or measurements for the decision speed in either low or high complexity situations. It seems that in complex sport conditions, the use of explicit learning helps novices to develop decision-making accuracy more than the implicit learning method, since guided discovery may guide the participants to process contextual information from the sports environment more effectively.