Differences between implicit and explicit acquisition of a complex motor skill under pressure: An examination of some evidence

Abstract

Masters (1992) argued that an implicitly acquired motor skill is less likely to fail under pressure than an explicitly acquired skill. He demonstrated this by showing that induced anxiety led to differences in the golf putting performance of groups who had acquired the skill implicitly and explicitly. We replicated Masters' basic findings but our results suggest that the difference in performance under pressure is more readily explained in terms of differences between the learning and testing conditions. Our results are consistent with an explicit learning account of the putting task and we found no support for the claim that implicit and explicit learning of motor skills are differentially affected by anxiety.