The Effects of Attentional Focus Instructions and Task Difficulty in a Paced Fine Motor Skill.

The Effects of Attentional Focus Instructions and Task Difficulty in a Paced Fine Motor Skill. J Mot Behav. 2019 May 22;:1-9 Authors: Raisbeck LD, Yamada M, Diekfuss JA, Kuznetsov NA Abstract An external focus of attention is considered superior to an internal focus for learning and performance. However, findings specific to changing the task difficulty are inconsistent. The present study used a reciprocal aiming task to determine the effects of attentional focus on motor performance using speed-accuracy paradigm. We constrained timing to examine how internal and external focus of attention influenced accuracy when task difficulty changes. The results indicated greater accuracy on the right target and greater consistency on both targets for the external focus condition, regardless of task difficulty. Our results uniquely demonstrated how instruction modified a speed-accuracy task. PMID: 31116088 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of Motor Behavior - Category: Neurology Tags: J Mot Behav Source Type: research