Effects of Visualization Format and Time of Day on Immediate Recall of Tactical Behaviors

This study examined the effect of time of day on immediate recall of motor skills (i.e., tactical behaviors in basketball) from different external visualizations. First-year students from a public university in sports science (novice practitioners, 18.96 ± 0.57 years) were quasi-randomly assigned to three experimental conditions: video modeling by experts, a sequential-with-tracing presentation of pictures, or a sequential-without-tracing presentation of pictures. Morning and late afternoon sessions were conducted involving study phases and immediate-recall tests (i.e., comprehension and game performance tests). Oral temperature and mood states were also measured at both times of day. The results revealed that participants exhibited better recall performances in the morning, irrespective of the visualization format used. At both time of day, tactical behaviors were better recalled from video modeling rather than the two sequential presentations of pictures. In addition, providing the learner with a permanent visual trace of the previous states improves the immediate recall of tactical skills from a sequential presentation of pictures, at both time of day. Furthermore, morning sessions resulted in lower oral temperature, lower negative mood, and higher positive mood, compared with afternoon sessions. Implications for using external visualizations aimed at the acquisition of motor skills, particularly tactical behaviors, are discussed.