I attached an article here that was published in
The Sport Psychologist in 2010. This article looks at the effect of practicing a motor task in LDs on the performance of that task
IRL. Participants practiced throwing 10-cent euros into a cup two days in a row. The groups in the study had different practice routines in between days. There were three groups, one that practiced physically for the task, one that did no practice at all, and one that practiced in LDs. The sample size was pretty low (~11/group) but the results are interesting nonetheless. The results showed suggested that practice of motor tasks in LDs improves performance
IRL, though not as much as physical practice. What does this mean for the use of LDs for tasks
IRL? Well, it suggests that LDs can be a tool for perfecting tasks that require fine tuning (e.g. diving, throwing a discus) due to the availability of an environment where motions can be slowed and external stimuli are not as much of a problem. As far as learning karate from scratch? I wouldn't suggest it. You'd be better off learning the basic and intermediate levels of a task before trying to carry something from
LD's to
RL. Though of course there's nothing wrong with trying anything in LDs as long as it's fun
