The Effect of Modeling Methods on Mirror Neurons Activity and a Motor Skill Acquisition and Retention

Abstract

Purpose: Mirror neurons have been suggested as a potential neural mechanism of observational learning. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of self-modeling, skilled model, and learning model on mu rhythm suppression and golf putting acquisition and retention. Method: The study was conducted on 45 male volunteer students (age, 19.4 ± 0.37 years) in three experimental groups: self-modeling, skilled, and learning models with six sessions of physical and observational training in three periods of pre-test, acquisition, and retention. In the pre-test, after the initial familiarity with the skill, participants performed 10 golf putting actions while scores were recorded. Then, electrical brain waves in C3, C4 and Cz regions were recorded during the observation 10 golf putting actions by their group-related models. The acquisition period consisted of golf putting training during six sessions, each of which included six blocks of 10 trials. Before each training block, participants observed 10 times in the forms of video of golf putting related to their group. Acquisition and delayed retention tests were also performed by recording scores of 10 golf putting actions, as well as recording electrical brain waves while observing the skill performed by the related model. Results: Mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the mu rhythm suppression the pre-test was more in the self-modeling group in contrast to skilled model and learning model groups, but this suppression in all three groups in the acquisition and retention tests was not significantly different. In putting task variables, all three groups that did not a significant difference in the pretest period made considerable progress in learning the desired skill from the pre-test to the acquisition test, and this progress was somewhat stable until the retention test. Also, both in the acquisition and the retention periods, the self-modeling group displayed better performance than the other two groups; however, there was no significant difference between these groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the model-observer similarity is an important factor in modeling interventions and can affect the rate of mu rhythm suppression.