The present research examined the Effect of error detection and time of decision making for request feedback in self-controlled conditions acquisition and retention of Breaststroke. For this purpose, seventy five students studying at Lahijan University were randomly divided into five groups: teacher-controlled (TC), self-controlled before (SCB), self-controlled before with error detection (SCB+ED), self-controlled after (SCA) and self-controlled after with error detection (SCA+ED). The learners participated in the pre-test, acquisition phase and retention test. Acquisition phase consisted of two sessions with 10 blocks of six trials; this was done separately for each segment involving the Arm stroke, Leg kick and Coordination portions. For each segment of the retention test, learners participated in the test 48 hours after the second training session. Data were analyzed by repeated measures and a 2 × 2 (time of decision making and error detection) ANOVA. Findings showed that the SCA and SCA+ED groups performed better than the other groups. Furthermore, all of the self-controlled groups, except for SCB, exhibited better performance than the TC group on the retention test. It can be concluded that the deciding time for feedback with the estimated error before receiving the demanded feedback resulted in better learning and retention
