Application of analogy in learning badminton among older adults: Implications for rehabilitation

This study aimed to investigate the effect of applying analogy instruction for older adults in learning the badminton high serve. It was hypothesized that acquiring this motor skill by analogy instruction would bring the benefits of more robust and durable motor performance under stress and over time. A group of older adults learned badminton high serves by either a set of explicit instructions or an analogy instruction that represented the biomechanical metaphor of the badminton high serve. They were then invited to perform the motor task in two testing conditions: a stress transfer test and a retention test. It was found that the analogy instruction group improved the motor performance in badminton high serves during the learning blocks and maintained high levels of performance in the stress transfer test and retention test, whereas the explicit instruction group did not show any improvement. The analogy instruction group had better motor performance than the explicit instruction group during the stress transfer test. The results showed that analogy instruction facilitated the acquisition of new motor skills in older adults, and the benefit of stress resistance was also evidenced.