the impact of success criteria in low-error practice conditions on motor learning, self-efficacy, and mood states: a challenge to the optimal theory

Background: identifying the practice conditions that optimize the learning of motor skills is one of the main objectives in the field of human motor learning research.aim: present study aimed to explore the effect of success criteria in low-error practice conditions on motor learning, self-efficacy, and mood states among female students.materials and methods: this practical quasi-experimental study was conducted in a field setting. the participants were 30 female students from yazd university, selected through convenience sampling. after they completed the consent form, the selected participants were randomly divided into three groups: low-error practice with a large target (n= 10), low-error practice with a small target (n= 10), and a low-error control group (n= 10). then, mixed anova was applied in order to test the hypotheses and data analysis was conducted using spss version 23, with a significance level set at p < 0.05.results: the findings indicate that both the large (p=0.003) and small (p=0.001) target groups significantly outperformed the control group (p=0 .033) regarding the difference in performance accuracy. moreover, in the small target group, a significant difference was observed only in the happiness subscale considering mood states (p=0.001), while in the large target group, significant differences were found in the tension (p=0 .003), depression (p=0.001), and fatigue subscales (p= 0.001). regarding self-efficacy, significant differences were observed in the power dimension in both the large (p=0 .001) and small target groups (p=0.003)conclusion: the use of success criteria in low-error practice methods is beneficial, and it is recommended to adopt this approach to improve accuracy and stability in practice sessions.