Reza Abdollahipour

Palacký University Olomouc · Faculty of Physical Culture

The present study was designed to fill a gap in the literature on attentional focus and sports performance. Specifically, in contrast to most previous studies in which an external focus was directed at an implement, we used a gymnastics skill that did not involve the use of an implement. Furthermore, while most studies used only outcome measures of...

Purpose: Studies have suggested that the use of visual information may underlie the benefit associated with an external focus of attention. Recent studies exploring this connection have primarily relied on motor tasks that involve manipulation of an object (object projection). The present study examined whether vision influences the effect of atten...

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of external focus instructions and autonomy support on motor performance of children. In addition, we sought to provide evidence for an increased focus on the task goal under the external focus condition by using an inattentional blindness manipulation. Design Within-participa...

Background: Research has demonstrated the advantages of an external relative to internal focus of attention for enhancing motor performance and learning across diverse tasks, contexts and populations. However, research has yet to examine whether this finding holds true for individuals who have a major visual impairment in discrete and locomotion-ba...

Recent evidence suggests that one of the benefits of external focus is facilitating task focus. To this extent, an external focus might influence cognitive function. To help elucidate the underlying mechanisms of attentional focus instructions, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of attentional focus instructions on cognitive stabili...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different volleyball-specific attentional focus instructions on arm velocities of a volleyball spike in young female volleyball players using the Statistical Parametric Mapping method. Twelve young female volleyball players (13.6 ± 0.6 years old, 1.8 ± 0.8 years of experience in volleyball trai...

P-019 Cross-cultural validation of the MABC-2Checklist as a screening tool for developmentalcoordination disorder

The present study examined the influence of the individual and sequential combination of the key components of OPTIMAL (Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory (i.e., enhanced expectancies, autonomy support, and external focus), on the performance of a laser-pistol shooting task. In addition to shootin...

Aim The neurocognitive basis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD; or motor clumsiness) remains an issue of continued debate. This combined systematic review and meta-analysis provides a synthesis of recent experimental studies on the motor control, cognitive, and neural underpinnings of DCD. Methods The review included all published work c...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether conditions that provide performers with a sense of autonomy, by giving them choices, would increase movement efficiency. We evaluated neuromuscular activation as a function of choice, using surface electromyography (EMG), during isometric force production. Participants (N = 16) were asked to perform...

We investigated whether children's motor imagery dominance modulated the relationship between attentional focus and motor learning of a tossing task. One hundred and thirty-eight boys (age: M = 10.13, SD = 0.65) completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire – Children (MIQ-C) to determine imagery modality dominance (kinesthetic, internal-visual, ext...

Background and aim Previous studies have supported the advantages of an external focus of attention (EFA) relative to an internal focus of attention (IFA) in healthly adults. However, effects of attentional focus instructions on skill performance and acquisition in children are equivocal. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of attentio...

Relatedness represents the need to experience satisfaction regarding interpersonal acceptance and closeness and has been identified as a fundamental psychological human need. In several different domains, higher relatedness to others such as parents, teachers, peers, or coaches has been directly correlated with higher levels of positive affect and...

Variability in practice has been shown to enhance motor skill learning. Benefits of practice variability have been attributed to motor schema formation (variable versus constant practice), or more effortful information processing (random versus blocked practice). We hypothesized that, among other mechanisms, greater practice variability might promo...

The present study examined the influence on motor performance of key variables described in the OPTIMAL (Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning: enhanced expectancies for future performance, autonomy support, and an external focus. Participants performed a nine-pin bowling task. In t...

Research has shown that children with developmental coordination disorder rely more heavily on vision to perform movement skills than their typically developing (TD) peers. The purpose of the current study was to investigate information processing by restricting visual information during walking tasks between TD children and children at risk of hav...

The Movement Assessment Battery for Children—2nd Edition (MABC-2) is a test of motor development, widely used in clinical and research settings. To address which motor abilities are actually captured by the motor tasks in the two age versions of the MABC-2, the AB2 for 7- 10-year-olds and the AB3 for 11- 16-year-olds, we examined AB2 and AB3 factor...

The performance benefits of adopting an external relative to an internal focus of attention have been demonstrated for many different targeting and balance tasks. No study has examined attentional focus effects for interceptive motor skills. Also, the majority of studies have used adult participants. In this study, children (mean age: 8.75 years, S...

Background: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as developmental dyspraxia, is a chronic neurological disorder beginning in childhood, that can affect planning of movements and coordination. Balance dysfunction is one of the most common sensorimotor impairments observed among children with DCD, which may have influence on daily li...

Background: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2nd edition (MABC-2) is used for the assessment of motor proficiency and identification of motor impairments in 3-16 year old children. Although there are some gender differences in the motor development of children, in the MABC-2 test the same tasks and norms are used for both genders. Obj...

Background: Motor coordination problems of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have been frequently associated with poor visuospatial processing. Objective: The aim this study has been to investigate a role of the vision in the motor control of walking between typical developing children (TD) and children at risk of DCD (DCDR)....

Purpose: Studies have suggested that the use of visual information may underlie the benefit associated with an external focus of attention. Recent studies exploring this connection have primarily relied on motor tasks that involve manipulation of an object (object projection). The present study examined whether vision influences the effect of atte...

The importance of vision and the visual control of movement have been addressed in the literature related to motor control. Many studies have demonstrated that children with low motor competence in comparison to their typically developing peers may rely more heavily on vision to perform movements. The aim of the study was to highlight the effects o...

Background: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a syndrome unexplained by medical condition, which is marked by defects in the development of motor coordination. Children with this impairment are more dependent on visual information to perform movements than their typically developing (TD) peers. Objective: The main aim of the research was...

BACKGROUND: The theory of relative age effect assumes that children and adolescents - athletes born at the beginning of the calendar year in sports competitions are more successful than those who were born in the later months of the same year. This percentage is based on advantage of fitness, morphological and psychological assumptions of the older...

The present study examined whether visual feedback can have a moderating effect on the relation between attentional focus instructions and the learning of a target movement skill. Participants (N: 100, mean age: 21.0 years, SD: 2.1) were randomly assigned into visual feedback versus non-visual feedback groups. Each group was split into five subgrou...

Poster

The aim of this study was determine the effects of internal versus external attentional focus strategies on the performance and learning in novice children and adolescences. At the practice phase, participants (76 men; 8-9; 10-11; 13-14 years, & right-foot dominant) without prior experience were required to dribble a colorful soccer ball quickly an...

This study examined whether the learning advantages of an external focus of attention

Instructions are an important part in teaching new motor skills and include information as to how to perform the skills. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of internal Vs external focus of attention on the learning. 40 students ranging from 16 to 18 years were randomly assigned to two groups and practiced to maintain their balance on...