ABSTRACT
Participation in sport is typically undertaken with the intent to improve performance. One of the most important variables affecting learning and subsequent performance of a skill is feedback. Feedback involves sensory information resulting from a particular movement. One source of feedback is from the athlete’s own sensory channels (i.e. sight, hearing, touch), known as intrinsic or inherent feedback. Although some information from intrinsic sources provides clear information (i.e. the ball missed the goal), more detailed information (i.e. coordination of joint activity, amount of force produced) often requires experience from the performer to evaluate. A second source of feedback usually comes from an outside source, typically a coach, and is meant to complement the intrinsic feedback. This information is known as extrinsic feedback and helps the athlete compare what was done to what was intended. For most complex skills, it is thought that extrinsic information accelerates the learning process and may be necessary to assist the athlete in reaching optimal performance levels. Presumably, the experience and background of the coach allows him or her to provide useful information about a given movement to aid
in the development of that skill along with error detection and correction mechanisms. Thus extrinsic feedback can be thought of as a complement to intrinsic feedback.
