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Effects of Attentional Focus and Age on Suprapostural Task Performance and Postural Control
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
Abstract
Suprapostural task performance (manual tracking) and postural control (sway and frequency) were examined as a function of attentional focus, age, and tracking difficulty. Given the performance benefits often found under external focus conditions, it was hypothesized that external focus instructions would promote superior tracking and reduced postural sway for both age groups, most notably as a function of tracking difficulty.
Postural sway, frequency of postural adjustments, and tracking accuracy under two levels of task difficulty were assessed for younger (M(age) = 20.98 years) and older (M(age) = 70.80 years) participants while they manually tracked a pursuit-rotor target. Participants received instructions to focus on either their actions (internal focus) or the effect of their actions (external focus).
Analyses revealed a beneficial effect of an external focus on suprapostural performance on the less-difficult (0.5 Hz) tracking task, and this performance was associated with a modest improvement in medial-lateral postural sway.
The findings offer limited support for external focus-of-attention benefits under a mildly challenging tracking task. While older adults tend to adopt a conservative postural control strategy regardless of tracking task difficulty, external focus instructions on a suprapostural task promoted a modest, beneficial shift in postural control.
... To reduce deterioration and optimize motor functions, many studies have reported the benefits of various mobility-related strategies, such as resistance training [12,13], balance exercise [14], and Tai Chi [15,16], for motor performance in the older population. Providing individuals with different attentional focus instructions might also be an effective strategy to improve motor performance in older adults [17]. ...
... A total of 768 older adults aged between 60 and 90 years were involved in this systematic review. All but two studies [17,33] had reported the number of males and females separately, and the male-female ratio was 0.65 [male (n) = 291; female (n) = 445]. All except three studies that did not specify participant characteristics [43][44][45] included participants with normal cognitive function and without any neurological, musculoskeletal, and/or cardiovascular impairments or other medical conditions limiting their daily activities. ...
... The types of motor performance varied extensively among the included studies, including postural stability [17,33,43,[52][53][54][55], balance [44,45], motor learning [34], walking stability [35,48,49,56], muscle power [46,50], walking efficiency [47], and sit-to-stand performance [51]. Among the 18 included studies, the stability of the anterior-posterior axis and the medial-lateral axis were the most commonly used measures of postural control, and time in balance and basic gait parameters were common measurement indicators for balance and gait, respectively. ...
Previous literature shows the beneficial effects of an external focus of attention on various sports skills in young adults. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the effects of external and internal focus of attention on motor performance in healthy older adults. The literature search was conducted in five electronic databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, and Web of Science). Eighteen studies that met the inclusion criteria were evaluated. Most of the motor tasks targeting older adults were related to postural control and gait. Over 60% of the included studies reported that the effect of an external focus was superior to that of an internal focus on motor performance in older adults. An external focus generally results in better motor performance than an internal focus among healthy older adults. However, the advantage of an external focus on locomotion may not be as significant as those illustrated in previous attentional focus studies. A challenging cognitive task may allow more automatic motor control than an external focus. Practitioners might provide clear instruction cues guiding performers to divert their attention away from their body and towards the movement effect for better performance, particularly in balancing tasks.
... In recent years, these two attentional focus conditions (IF and EF) have gained even more interest among individuals with different health conditions [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. ...
... Finally, similar results in using an EF cue compared to IF in enhancing performance outcomes were also noted in individuals with cardiac conditions, cancer, multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy conditions [23][24][25][26]. ...
... In line with this, previous evidence highlighted that an external focus is more effective in improving balance and postural control, as shown by decreased postural sway, [7,23]. In addition, external cues appear to be superior also at higher levels of difficulty of balance exercises, with patients showing reduced body oscillations when stability is requested to preserve the base of support [8]. ...
This pilot study compared the effects of two attentional focus strategies on fitness parameters and body composition in outpatients with obesity. This was a randomized, controlled study that enrolled 94 obese individuals and allocated them into an internal focus group (IF) or an external focus group (EF) while performing six weeks of a home-based training program. The home-based exercise program was the same for both groups except for the instructions that shifted the attention to an external or an internal condition. At the beginning and after the intervention period, participants were assessed for functional performance using the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), body balance using the Modified Balance Error Scoring System (M-BESS) and muscular strength with the Handgrip Strength Test (HST) and the Five-Repetition Sit-To-Stand (FRSTS) test. Concerning body composition and anthropometric parameters, the body mass index (BMI) and fat mass percentage (FM%) were calculated. Significant improvements, main interactions and effects of time and groups were highlighted in the EF group as compared to the IF group in FMS (35% vs. 21%), M-BESS (42% vs. 18%), HST (13% vs. 7%) and FRSTS (23% vs. 12%) measures, while FM% (5%) and BMI (6% vs. 5%) showed a similar improvement overtime (p < 0.001). In conclusion, our findings provide initial evidence that a 6-week training program performed following external focus instruction is able to promote significant enhancements in movement efficiency, balance and muscular strength as compared to an internal focus cue. Fitness coaches and therapists might consider integrating a specific attentional focus strategy when designing rehabilitation programs in subjects with obesity.
... Similarly, Chiviacowsky and colleagues (2010) observed learning benefits of using an external focus of attention in a stabilometer task as opposed to an internal focus of attention in older adults. The aforementioned studies demonstrate that learning benefits and suprapostural task improvements can be observed in older adults when using an external focus; however, it should be noted that the observed improvements appear to be limited to less challenging tasks (McNevin et al., 2013). Further research is required to better ascertain the effect of attentional focus on postural control in older adults. ...
... Therefore, the objectives of the present study were twofold: to examine attentional focus effects on postural control in older adults and to extend the findings of Polskaia and colleagues (2015) to the older adult population in order to determine if they are able to flexibly allocate attention to a cognitive task to promote the emergence of a more stable postural control. The first hypothesis was that an external focus would improve postural stability in comparison with an internal focus (Chiviakcowsky et al., 2010;McNevin et al., 2013). The second hypothesis was that older adults would be able to allocate their attention to the cognitive task and consequently demonstrate improvements in stability. ...
... Contrary to previous findings (Chiviakcowsky et al., 2010;McNevin et al., 2013), no significant difference between internal and external foci was found. This finding may be attributed to the distance of the external focus. ...
Background/Study Context: Recent evidence suggests that removing attention from postural control using either an external focus or a cognitive task will improve stability in healthy young adults. Due to increases in attentional requirements of upright stance in older adults, it is unclear if similar benefits would be observed in this population. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of attentional focus and of a continuous cognitive task on postural control in older adults.
Methods: Sixteen healthy older adults (71.9 ± 4.32 years) were asked to stand quietly on a force platform with feet together in three different conditions: internal focus (minimizing movement of the hips), external focus (minimizing movement of markers placed on the hips), and cognitive task (silently counting the occurrence of a single digit in a 3-digit number sequence). A one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures on condition was performed for each postural control measure.
Results: Hypotheses were partially supported because the cognitive task led to greater stability than both focus conditions, as evidenced by a smaller sway area (p < .01, ηp² = .41), reduced sway variability (anterior-posterior: p = .001, ηp² = .37; medial-lateral: p < .0001, ηp² = .49), and higher mean power frequency in the anterior-posterior direction (p = .01, ηp² = .78). However, no difference was observed between internal and external focus conditions.
Conclusions: A continuous, attention-demanding cognitive task significantly improved stability in older adults compared with an internal or external focus of attention. This suggests that older adults were able to effectively allocate their attention away from postural control, allowing a more automatic type of control to operate. Future studies should investigate a variety of cognitive tasks to determine the degree of postural improvement that can be observed in older adults.
... focus effectively maintains static posture when performing a supra-postural task needing upper extremity movement with stable balance 3,4,18,25) . This is important because external focus reacts more sensitively to perturbation during movement of the upper extremities. ...
... When automotive motor control is promoted, faster reactions to perturbations of postural sway may be created, increasing postural stability 17) . Such an increase in stability results in improvement in balance ability and may become the basis for performance of other movements (e.g., the supra-postural) 3,4,18,25) . ...
... This short review suggests the following clinical implications about how physical therapists can use attentional focus for balance rehabilitation of patients. First, instructions about 4) Young (N=19) EF, IF, N EF Chiviacowsky et al. 5) Old (N=32) EF, IF EF Wulf et al. 6) Young (N=54) EF, IF, N EF Shea et al. 7) Young (N=32) EF, IF EF Jackson et al. 9) Young (N=36) EF, IF EF Wulf et al. 9) Parkinson's (N=14) EF, IF, N EF McNevin et al. 10) Young (N=40) EF, IF EF Wulf et al. 11) Young (N=20) EF, IF EF Wulf et al. 17) Young (N=28) EF, IF EF Wulf et al. 18) Young (Exp. 1, N=18; Exp. 2, N=29) EF, IF EF Laufer et al. 19) Ankle sprain (N=40) EF, IF EF Rotem-Lehrer et al. 20) Ankle sprain (N=36) EF, IF EF Wulf et al. 21) Young (Exp. 1, N=18; Exp. 2, N=24) EF, IF, N EF Wulf 22) World-class acrobats (N=12) EF, IF, N N De Bruin et al. 23) Old (N=31) EF, IF NE Cluff et al. 24) Young (N=10) EF, IF NE McNevin et al. 25) Young (N=12), old (N=12) EF, IF EF EF: external focus; IF: internal focus; N: no instruction; NE: no effect among conditions external focus of attention can generally be useful as a method to improve posture and balance control 3-11, 17-21, 25, 27, 28) . Such direction of attentional focus is considered useful for such populations as elderly people 5) , those with Parkinson's disease 9,27) , and physically injured patients 19,20) whose balance ability has decreased, as well as for ordinary people. ...
[Purpose] The present study reviewed studies that examined the effects of attentional focus on balance. [Methods] Keywords such as “attentional”, “focus”, and “balance” were used to find relevant research papers in PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). Forty-five papers were found, and 18 of them were used for this study, excluding review papers and papers irrelevant to the topic of this study. [Results] Among the papers used for the review, the number of papers in which external focus produced effective outcomes was 15 (83.3%). The number of papers in which both external and internal focus produced effective outcomes was 2 (11.1%). The number of paper in which no instruction about attentional focus was effective was 1 (5.5%), and the number of papers in which internal focus was effective was zero. [Conclusion] This short review suggests clinical implications about how physical therapists can use attentional focus for balance rehabilitation of patients. Instructions about external focus of attention can generally be useful as a method to improve posture and balance control. Furthermore, the present reviews indicates that external focus of attention would be more useful in a rehabilitation stage in which the difficulty level of balance performance is gradually increased.
... The performance of postural tasks in younger and older adults was examined in two studies (Huxhold, Li, Schmiedek, & Lindenberger, 2006;McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013). In one study (McNevin et al., 2013), a modest benefit of EF over IF was reported. ...
... The performance of postural tasks in younger and older adults was examined in two studies (Huxhold, Li, Schmiedek, & Lindenberger, 2006;McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013). In one study (McNevin et al., 2013), a modest benefit of EF over IF was reported. Both younger and older adults improved their pursuit rotor task tracking performance when they adopted EF. ...
... However, the researchers did not provide specific attentional instructions, and it is unclear whether the participants concentrated internally or externally in each of the single-or dual-task conditions. Despite this limitation, both studies (Huxhold et al., 2006;McNevin et al., 2013) suggest that older adults can benefit from focusing externally on a supra-postural task while trying to maintain postural control. Indeed, these findings are in line with findings on supra-postural tasks in young adults (McNevin & Wulf, 2002;Wulf, Mercer, McNevin, & Guadagnoli, 2004;Wulf, Weigelt, Poulter, & McNevin, 2003). ...
During the past two decades, research has shown that an external focus (EF) of attention is superior to an internal focus (IF) of attention when performing a variety of motor skills. However, most of the studies on the use of EF and IF instructions for motor skill acquisition were conducted on young and healthy adults. The purpose of the current article was fourfold: (a) to review the current research on attentional focus in clinical populations and in older age, (b) to provide evidence-based knowledge about attentional focus instructions and their possible advantages in clinical settings, (c) to discuss methodological concerns associated with the reviewed studies, and (d) to propose practical implications for those who work with clinical populations and older individuals. We found that in 14 out of the 18 reviewed studies, EF instructions led to results that were superior to those of IF instructions. For example, in stroke patients, EF instructions can lead to faster, smoother, and more forceful reaching movements compared with IF instructions. However, a number of methodological concerns should be taken into account, among them the lack of a control group and the absence of studies using electromyography.
... Experiments in young adults report conflicting effects, either demonstrating a beneficial effect of using an external focus (Richer, Saunders, Polskaia, & Lajoie, 2017b) or no effect at all (Polskaia, Richer, Dionne, & Lajoie, 2015). Similarly, in older adults, a recent experiment revealed no effect of attentional focus on quiet standing (Richer, Polskaia, & Lajoie, 2017a) while another study demonstrates modest effects of an external focus on postural control (McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013). Although the effect of attentional focus on quiet standing seems to be limited, many experiments have taken the constrained action hypothesis one step further. ...
... In Focus Impacts Postural Control in Healthy Aging the present study, the markers were further away from the body than in the comparable study (Richer et al., 2017a), making it easier to allocate attention to the requested cue (McNevin et al., 2003). These results have reinforced the findings by McNevin et al. (2013), which revealed modest improvements in postural control, only in the ML direction, while using an external focus on a suprapostural tracking task. It was hypothesized that, as in young adults (Richer et al., 2017b), the cognitive task conditions would improve postural control more than the external focus condition. ...
Research suggests that an external focus or cognitive task may improve postural control. Removing attention from movement production may promote automaticity, or the tasks may promote ankle stiffening. To investigate these two theories, twenty older adults stood while performing baseline standing, internal focus, external focus, and two cognitive tasks. Changes in postural control occurred in external focus and cognitive task conditions compared to baseline and internal focus, while no change occurred in cocontraction indices. This suggests that an external focus and cognitive task can improve postural control in older adults. Since no change occurred in cocontraction indices across conditions, this suggests that stiffening cannot explain these changes. Instead, changes could be due to automaticity of sway.
... An internal focus involves directing the performers' attention to movement of their own body, e.g. towards movements of their feet while standing on an unstable balance board [5][6][7]. In contrast, an external focus refers to directing attention to the effect of the movement in the environment, e.g. ...
... In contrast, an external focus refers to directing attention to the effect of the movement in the environment, e.g. movement of a balance board one is standing on [5][6][7]. In some tasks, however, the goal is not to move or act upon an external object, but to control movement of the body itself relative to the environment. ...
Introduction:
Balance performance in the elderly is related to psychological factors such as attentional focus. We investigated the effects of internal vs. external focus of attention and fall history on walking stability in healthy older adults.
Method:
Walking stability of twenty-eight healthy older adults was assessed by applying random unilateral decelerations on a split-belt treadmill and analysing the resulting balance recovery movements. The internal focus instruction was: concentrate on the movement of your legs, whereas the external focus instruction was: concentrate on the movement of the treadmill. In both conditions participants were asked to look ahead at a screen. Outcome measures were coefficient of variation of step length and step width, and characteristics of the centre of mass velocity time-series as analysed using statistical parametric mapping. Fall history was assessed using a questionnaire.
Results:
After each perturbation participants required two to three strides to regain a normal gait pattern, as determined by the centre of mass velocity response. No effects were found of internal and external focus of attention instructions and fall history on any of the outcome measures.
Discussion:
We conclude that, compared to an internal focus of attention instruction, external focus to the walking surface does not lead to improved balance recovery responses to gait perturbations in the elderly.
... An internal focus involves directing the performers' attention to movement of their own body, e.g. towards movements of their feet while standing on an unstable balance board [5][6][7]. In contrast, an external focus refers to directing attention to the effect of the movement in the environment, e.g. ...
... In contrast, an external focus refers to directing attention to the effect of the movement in the environment, e.g. movement of a balance board one is standing on [5][6][7]. In some tasks, however, the goal is not to move or act upon an external object, but to control movement of the body itself relative to the environment. ...
Augmented visual feedback (VF) may offer benefits similar to those of rhythmic external cues in alleviating some mobility-related difficulties in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, due to an impaired ability to reweigh sensory information under changing circumstances, subjects with PD may be rather vulnerable to incongruity of visual information. In the present study, we investigated whether VF is indeed effective in improving motor functioning in a weight-shifting task during upright stance, and whether subjects with PD are affected more by incongruent VF than healthy controls. Participants performed sideways swaying motions based on tracking of real-time and delayed VF–the first providing congruent, and hence more accurate, visual information than the latter. We analyzed center-of-pressure signals patterns for 28 individuals with PD and 16 healthy, age- and gender-matched controls by estimating task accuracy, movement pattern variability, and normalized movement amplitude. For conditions without feedback and with real-time feedback, subjects with PD performed lateral swaying motions with greater error (F(1,42) = 12.065, p=.001) and with more variable movement patterns than healthy controls (F(1, 24) = 113.086, p<.001). Error change scores revealed that patients with PD were nevertheless still able to use VF to improve tracking performance (t(24) = -2.366, p=.026). However, whereas controls were able to adapt to a certain amount of visual incongruity, patients with PD were not. Instead, movement amplitude was significantly reduced in this group (F(1.448, 60.820) = 17.639, p<.001). By reducing movement amplitude, subjects with PD appear to resort to a ‘conservative’ strategy to minimize performance breakdown.
... Baldan et al., 2014;Mauerberg-deCastro et al., 2004vgl. a. Deviterne et al., 2005 searching for letters light touch (LT) kinesthetic contact acoustic flow manual manipulating: aiming (laser pointer) balancing (tube) holding (cup of water) balancing (cylinder/tray) manual fitting tracking (pursuit-rotor) Balasubramaniam et al., 2000Wulf et al., 2003Morioka et al., 2005de Lima et al., 2010Haddad et al., 2010McNevin et al., 2013 AP-vs. ML direction ball in a tube full vs. empty glas moving platform (time-to-boundary) precision tracking task: bipedaler Stand Handstand ! ...
... Wulf et al. (2003) untersuchen die Auswirkungen einer Balancier-Aufgabe (Tennisball in einer Röhre) als externale Aufmerksamkeits-Fokussierung auf das Gleichgewicht. Auch McNevin et al. (2013) studieren das minimierte Schwanken unter dem Konzept der Aufmerksamkeits-Fokussierung, wenn eine dynamische manuelle Nachführaufgabe im Unterschied zu den statischen Aufgaben des Berührens (light touch) präzise ausgeführt werden soll. ...
Die vorliegende Veröffentlichung thematisiert das Problem der Gleichgewichts-Leistung im Handlungsbezug unter den Aspekten von theoretisierenden und pragmatischen Überlegungen erneut (vgl. Nagel & Lippens, 2009), um auf dem Weg zu einer praxisbezogenen Rahmentheorie einerseits und zu einer theoriegeleiteten Vermittlungspraxis andererseits in unserem Forschungsprogramm vorankommen zu können.
... Older adults present declines in the arm's movement speed [2], movement smoothness, and endpoint accuracy [3] during goal-directed action, which is associated with the decline of dynamic J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f postural stability [4,5]. Therefore, most falls in older adults occur during an upright stance while performing concurrent goal-directed actions [6]. ...
... In terms of muscular activity, an EF strategy decreases the electromyographic (EMG) activities of the agonist and/or antagonist muscles compared with an IF strategy (8,9). However, other studies showed no benefits of an EF strategy (10)(11)(12) or no differences in EMG activities between EF and IF strategies (13,14). It currently remains unclear why the benefits of an EF strategy do not consistently appear under all conditions. ...
Although attentional focus affects motor performance, whether corticospinal excitability and intracortical modulations differ between focus strategies depending on the exercise patterns remains unclear. In the present study, using single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation, we demonstrated changes in the cortical and spinal excitability under external focus (EF) and internal focus (IF) conditions with dynamic or static exercise. Participants performed the ramp-and-hold contraction task of right index finger abduction against an object (sponge or wood) with both exercises. They were asked to concentrate on the pressure on the sponge/wood induced by finger abduction under the EF condition, and on the index finger itself under the IF condition. Motor evoked potential (MEP) and F-wave in the premotor, phasic, or tonic phase, and short- and long-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI and LICI, respectively), and intracortical facilitation (ICF) in the premotor phase were examined by recording surface electromyographic activity in the right first dorsal interosseous muscle. Increments in the MEP amplitude were larger under the EF condition than under the IF condition in the dynamic, but not static, exercise. The F-wave, SICI, and LICI did not differ between focus conditions in both exercises. In the dynamic exercise, interestingly, ICF was greater under the EF condition than under the IF condition and positively correlated with the MEP amplitude. These results indicate that corticospinal excitability and intracortical modulations to attentional focus differ depending on exercise patterns, suggesting that attentional focus differentially affects the central nervous system responsible for diverse motor behaviors.
... For these tasks, IF may revert the individual to an earlier declarative stage of learning and interfere with the automaticity of control, while EF might prioritize relevant, goal-related information for fluent coordination (de Melker Worms et al., 2017a;Young & Williams, 2015). Also, despite some previous research showing benefits of EF for posture and mobility skills (Richer et al., 2017;Chiviacowsky et al., 2010;McNevin et al., 2013), our results are consistent with more recent studies that report null effects for focus instructions for day-to-day posture and mobility skills (Monahan & Hurley, 2022;Mak et al., 2020;Chow et al., 2018;de Melker Worms et al., 2017a, 2017bRicher et al., 2017;Yogev-Seligmann et al., 2017;Landers et al., 2016;De Bruin et al., 2009). ...
This study investigated whether age and attentional focus affect synergy organization of sit-to-stand (STS). Young and older adults performed STS while holding a cup under internal (IF) and external focus (EF) instructions. Uncontrolled manifold analysis was used to decompose trial-to-trial variability in joint kinematics into variability that preserves (VUCM) and interferes (VORT) with the horizontal and vertical positions of the center of mass (CoM) and cup. VUCM was significantly higher than VORT for all variables in both age groups and focus conditions. Older adults demonstrated higher VUCM for all variables and higher VORT for all variables except the vertical position of the cup. IF instructions benefited older adults, leading to decreased VORT of the vertical position of CoM and horizontal and vertical positions of the cup.
... Attention focus also influences standing postural control. Many previous studies have examined the effects of attention focus in healthy young adults [10,11] and healthy elderly adults [12,13] and reported improvements in postural control in EF compared to IF. The effects of attention focus occur not only in healthy individuals, but also in those with diseases. ...
Attention focus changes performance, and external focus (EF) improves performance compared to internal focus (IF). However, recently, the dominance of attention focus, rather than the effectiveness of unilateral EF, has been examined. Although the positive effects of EF on standing postural control have been reported, the dominance of attention focus has not yet been examined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the dominance of attention focus and its neural mechanism in standing postural control using electroencephalography (EEG). A standing postural control task under IF and EF conditions was performed on healthy young men. Gravity center sway and cortical activity simultaneously using a stabilometer and an EEG were measured. Participants were classified into IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups according to their index of postural stability. The EEG was analyzed, and cortical activity in the theta-wave band was compared between the IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups. Significant neural activity was observed in the left parietal lobe of the IF-dominant group in the IF condition, and in the left frontal lobe of the EF-dominant group in the EF condition (p < 0.05). Differences in EEG activity between IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups, in standing postural control, were detected. This contributes to the development of training methods that consider attentional focus dominance in postural control.
... (Ahead of Print) Specifically, an "external focus (EF)"-directing a performer's attention to the effects their movements have on the environment-has been shown to enhance motor performance and learning, particularly when compared with an "internal focus (IF)"-directing attention to body parts or body movements (Wulf, 2013). For example, previous studies examining attentional focus and postural control in healthy individuals have found that directing participants' attention to the implement on which they are standing (e.g., balance disk, Biodex, Stabilometer) facilitates learning of postural control compared with directing their attention to their feet (McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013;McNevin & Wulf, 2002;Wulf, 2008;Wulf, Mercer, McNevin, & Guadagnoli 2004;Wulf, Weigelt, Poulter, & McNevin, 2003). The constrained action hypothesis has been suggested to explain the differential effects of EF versus IF, proposing that EF allows for more natural self-organization of the motor system, whereas IF constrains the motor system by interfering with automatic control processes (Wulf, McNevin, & Shea, 2001). ...
Adults ( N = 54, 80.78 ± 6.08 years) who reported falling during the previous 12 months participated in a 12-week wobble board training program with internal focus or external focus (EF) instructions. Verbal manipulation checks were performed after training sessions as a self-report of the attentional foci used. The percentage of sessions in which participants reported using an EF (EF SR ) was subsequently calculated. Mean velocity and mean power frequency in the anterior–posterior (MVELO AP and MPF AP ) and medial–lateral (MVELO ML and MPF ML ) direction were assessed during a 35-s wobble board task at Weeks 0, 6, 12, 13, 16, and 20, with the latter three as retention tests. Piecewise linear growth models estimated treatment effects on individual growth trajectories of MVELO AP and ML and MPF AP and ML during intervention and retention periods. Regardless of condition, MVELO ML significantly decreased (π = −.0019, p = .005) and MPF ML increased (π = .025, p < .02) during the intervention period. In analyses including interaction terms, participants in the EF group who reported greater EF SR had superior progression of MPF AP during the intervention (π = .0013, p = .025). Verbal manipulation checks suggest a preference for and advantage of EF for facilitating postural control performance and automaticity.
... A possible mechanism for increased postural sway velocity may be the focus of attention on the laser pointer, since the conscious control of posture can disrupt task performance unintentionally. Focusing attention on different sources of information seems to be a contributing factor affecting one's ability to perform dual tasks (McNevin et al., 2013;Vuillerme and Nafati, 2007;Wulf et al., 2009). Evidence suggests that the sensory integration in body is damaged in old age (De Dieuleveult et al., 2017;Murray et al., 2018). ...
Background
and purpose: Performing a cognitive task while maintaining postural stability, known as “dual-task” condition, can increase the cognitive demand and reduce the postural control capacity. The inability to allocate attention to postural control under dual-task conditions may lead to balance impairments, particularly in older adults. The present study aimed to compare the effects of different dual-task conditions of backward counting (BC) and visual attention (VA) on older adults’ postural balance performance.
Methods
Twenty asymptomatic volunteers (mean age: 70.4±4.1 years) were recruited. Participants stood on a foam surface placed over a force plate, and displacement and sway velocity of their center of pressure (COP) in anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions were recorded under three conditions: BC dual-task, VA dual-task (control of center of mass with a laser pointer), and quiet stance as the control task (CT).
Results
Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant difference in AP and ML sway velocities between conditions with p-values of 0.039 and 0.042, respectively. The LSD post-hoc test revealed that the BC task significantly increased AP sway velocity compared to the CT (p=0.013), and the VA task significantly increased ML sway velocity compared to the CT (p=0.034) and the BC tasks (p=0.026). There were no statistically significant differences between conditions for ML (p=0.058) and AP (p=0.350) displacements and total sway velocity (p=0.051).
Conclusion
Older adults’ postural stability can be impaired under dual-task conditions and the present study revealed that various dual tasks increase postural sway in different directions.
... Second, our results are consistent with many recent studies involving day-to-day posture and mobility skills. Despite some previous research showing benefits of an EF for these kinds of skills (Chiviacowsky, Wulf, & Wally, 2010;McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013;Richer, Saunders, Polskaia, & Lajoie, 2017), several studies report null effects for focus instructions for posture and mobility skills (De Bruin, Swanenburg, Betschon, & Murer, 2009;Landers, Hatlevig, Davis, Richards, & Rosenlof, 2016;Mak, Young, Chan, & Wong, 2018;Melker Worms et al., 2017;Yogev-Seligmann, Sprecher, & Kodesh, 2017). found no difference between IF and EF for control of quiet stance in older adults. ...
An external focus of attention can improve performance, but there is little research on effects for the elderly in every day, well-learned mobility tasks. 57 older and 59 young adults performed the sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit while holding a cup, at three difficulty levels (cup empty or full, at normal or fast speed). Half were instructed to focus internally (on their movements) and half externally (on the cup). The effects of focus, age, and difficulty level were tested for movement time, mean inclination of the cup, inclination variability, and smoothness with 2 × 2 × 3 ANOVAs. Significant effects of difficulty were consistent across variables (p < 0.05). An effect of focus was present only for the inclination variability of the stand-to-sit (p < 0.03), favoring an internal focus (less variability). The age × focus interaction was significant for mean cup inclination, but post hoc tests failed to reveal any significant differences. The results of this study, together with the literature, suggest that an external focus may not benefit the performance of young or older adults in general mobility activities of daily living. The prevalent assumption that an external focus is always beneficial for performance needs further empirical testing.
... The effect of light touch as a haptic source of information during postural control suggests that such a precision task relies on a supra-postural function (McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013;Riley, Stoffregen, Grocki, & Turvey, 1999); that is, the postural control system benefits from such a causal effect and meets the demands of the balance task. ...
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the contribution of bimanual light touch varies according to the difficulty level of postural tasks (e.g., vision occlusion, height of support surface). Fourteen healthy young adults each were asked to stand in a tandem position, on a 20-cm height balance beam. Postural tasks included light touch and no touch conditions in two vision conditions, nonvision and full vision. The root mean square of amplitude of oscillation (mediolateral), mean velocity, ellipse area, and path length of the center of pressure revealed that touch conditions reduced sway to a greater extent in the elevated support surface, nonvision condition. Highly unstable balance tasks increase the optimization of light touch and affect the attenuation of postural sway.
... Baldan et al., 2014;Mauerberg-deCastro et al., 2004; q.v. Deviterne et al., 2005 searching for letters searching for target in an image light touch kinaesthetic contact acoustic flow manual manipulating: aiming (laser pointer) balancing (tube) holding (cup of water) balancing (cylinder/tray) manual fitting tracking (pursuit-rotor) tracking (stylus) Balasubramaniam et al., 2000;Chen & Stoffregen, 2012Wulf et al., 2003Morioka et al., 2005de Lima et al., 2010Haddad et al., 2010McNevin et al., 2013Flaters et al., 2014 AP-vs. ML direction dto. at sea ball in a tube full vs. empty glass moving platform time-to-boundary precision manual dexterity tracking task: bipedal stance handstand ! ...
In everyday life just as in the laboratory, postural control is neither the effect of a general motor ability nor the result of a specific skill. We consider dexterous postural control as an adaptation of well learned strategies which are functionally integrated in a broader action-perception system to facilitate suprapostural tasks or as an overlearned task-specific adaptation in the context of action. If we acknowledge that postural performance is always an integrated part of the particular action which enables the performance of a suprapostural task, it is not surprising that a general postural ability cannot be found. Furthermore we review a broad quantity of findings on postural control which supports a specific task based approach. Ubiquitous context effects can be verified as an interaction between task and personal constraints. Thus, no valid measurements are possible without an adjusted concept of postural control in the context of action. This understanding of balance is grounded on the basic assumptions of Karl Newell, Gary Riccio, Tom Stoffregen and colleagues as the constraints-led approach leads to a functional integration of balance that is generally used to master the perceptual suprapostural task as a specific part in goal-directed action. Therefore, we need a more functional complex and representative experimental design in the laboratory.
Running head Postural control in the context of action
Keywords postural control; suprapostural; task-context of action; task-specific adaptation
... Stoffregen, Faugloire, Yoshida, Flanagan, & Merhi, 2008;Dong, Yoshida, & Stoffregen, 2011;Munfado, Diedrick, & Stoffregen, 2017, resp.). searching for letters searching for target in an image light touch kinaesthetic contact acoustic flow manual manipulating: aiming (laser pointer) balancing (tube) holding (cup of water) balancing (cylinder/tray) manual fitting tracking (pursuit-rotor) tracking (stylus) Balasubramaniam et al., 2000;Chen & Stoffregen, 2012Wulf et al., 2003Morioka et al., 2005de Lima et al., 2010Haddad et al., 2010McNevin et al., 2013Flaters et al., 2014 AP-vs. ML direction dto. at sea ball in a tube full vs. empty glass moving platform time-to-boundary precision manual dexterity tracking task: bipedal stance handstand ! ...
In everyday life just as in the laboratory, postural control is neither the effect of a general motor ability nor the result of a specific skill. We consider dexterous postural control as an adaptation of well learned strategies which are functionally integrated in a broader action-perception system to facilitate suprapostural tasks or as an overlearned task-specific adaptation in the context of action. If we acknowledge that postural performance is always an integrated part of the particular action which enables to perform a suprapostural task, it is not surprising that a general postural ability cannot be found. Furthermore we review a broad quantity of findings on postural control which supports a specific task based approach. Ubiquitous context effects can be verified as an interaction between task and personal constraints. Thus, no valid measurements are possible without an adjusted concept of postural control in the context of action. This understanding of balance is grounded on the basic assumptions of Karl Newell, Gary Riccio, Tom Stoffregen and colleagues as the constraints-led approach leads to a functional integration of balance that is generally used to master the perceptual suprapostural task as a specific part in goal-directed action. Therefore, we need a more functional complex and representative experimental design in the laboratory.
Running head Postural control in the context of action
Keywords postural control - suprapostural task - context of action - task-specific adaptation
... Stoffregen, Faugloire, Yoshida, Flanagan, & Merhi, 2008;Dong, Yoshida, & Stoffregen, 2011;Munfado, Diedrick, & Stoffregen, 2017, resp.). searching for letters searching for target in an image light touch kinaesthetic contact acoustic flow manual manipulating: aiming (laser pointer) balancing (tube) holding (cup of water) balancing (cylinder/tray) manual fitting tracking (pursuit-rotor) tracking (stylus) Balasubramaniam et al., 2000;Chen & Stoffregen, 2012Wulf et al., 2003Morioka et al., 2005de Lima et al., 2010Haddad et al., 2010McNevin et al., 2013Flaters et al., 2014 AP-vs. ML direction dto. at sea ball in a tube full vs. empty glass moving platform time-to-boundary precision manual dexterity tracking task: bipedal stance handstand ! ...
In everyday life just as in the laboratory, postural control is neither the effect of a general motor ability nor the result of a specific skill. We consider dexterous postural control as an adaptation of well learned strategies which are functionally integrated in a broader action-perception system to facilitate suprapostural tasks or as an overlearned task-specific adaptation in the context of action. If we acknowledge that postural performance is always an integrated part of the particular action which enables to perform a suprapostural task, it is not surprising that a general postural ability cannot be found. Furthermore we review a broad quantity of findings on postural control which supports a specific task based approach. Ubiquitous context effects can be verified as an interaction between task and personal constraints. Thus, no valid measurements are possible without an adjusted concept of postural control in the context of action. This understanding of balance is grounded on the basic assumptions of Karl Newell, Gary Riccio, Tom Stoffregen and colleagues as the constraints-led approach leads to a functional integration of balance that is generally used to master the perceptual suprapostural task as a specific part in goal-directed action. Therefore, we need a more functional complex and representative experimental design in the laboratory. Running head Postural control in the context of action Keywords postural control-suprapostural task-context of action-task-specific adaptation 2 No functional movement … exists, except as embedded in a complex situation and nested into a given postural setting (Edward S. Reed, 1989)
... postural sway). For example, reductions in postural sway can be observed under external focus conditions in young and older adults (Chiviacowsky et al., 2010;McNevin et al., 2013;Wulf et al., 2004). In the present study, we specifically avoided instructions of internal focus of attention by asking participants to "minimise movements of the grocery bag". ...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of holding external loads on postural sway during upright stance across age decades. Sixty-five healthy adults (females, n = 35), aged 18–80 years were assessed in four conditions; (1) standing without holding a load, holding a load corresponding to 5% body mass in the (2) left hand, (3) right hand and (4) both hands. The centre of pressure (COP) path length and anteroposterior and mediolateral COP displacement were used to indirectly assess postural sway. External loading elicited reductions in COP measures of postural sway in older age groups only (P < 0.05). No changes were observed in younger or intermediate aged adults (P > 0.05). Holding external loads during standing is relevant to many activities of daily living (i.e. holding groceries). The reduction in postural sway may suggest this type of loading has a stabilising effect during quiet standing among older adults.
... For example, the instructions given can prompt the learner to directly focus on the movement effect on the environment and away from the body (external focus). Alternatively, instructions can induce the learner to focus his or her attention on the body movement (internal focus) ( McNevin, Weir, & Quinn, 2013;Peh, Chow, & Davids, 2011;Wulf, 2013;Wulf et al., 1998;Wulf, Shea, & Lewthwaite, 2010). ...
Purpose: The present study was to use the aggregate data meta-analytic approach to examine the effects of attentional focus during balancing tasks in motor learning. Method: A literature search was conducted based on five electronic database searches, cross-referencing and expert review. Studies included randomized trials of external (EF) versus internal focus (IF). Risk of bias was assessed using a self-developed instrument. Random effects models using the standardized mean difference effect size (ES) were used to pooled results. Heterogeneity was examined using the Q statistic and inconsistency using I². Results: Of 790 studies screened, 16 representing 541 males and females and up to 17 ES met the inclusion criteria. Analyses indicated that the EF groups outperformed the IF groups for acquisition phase (ES= 0.48, n= 16; CI95%= 0.07 to 0.90, Q= 68.7, I²= 78.2%), retention (ES= 0.44, n= 17, CI95%= 0.14 to 0.74; Q= 26.1, I²= 38.6%), and transfer (ES= 1.41, n= 4, CI95%= 1.00 to 1.82, Q= 22, I²= 0%). Conclusion: The overall results suggest that EF results in better balance learning when compared to IF.
... Although, neural evidence of age-related deficits has been extensively sought using classic dual tasks, the findings up to date cannot be directly applied to postural-suprapostural dual tasks on account of issues of response compatibility (Salo et al., 2015). For instance, the task quality of a suprapostural motor task such as juggling or traycarrying takes advantage of stance stability (Balasubramaniam et al., 2000;Wulf et al., 2004;McNevin et al., 2013), whereas parallel loading of two cognitive tasks always causes mutual interference. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated alterations in information transfer for a postural-suprapostural task performed by older adults, despite the degeneration of the white matter integrity of the brain with aging (Furst and Fellgiebel, 2011;de Groot et al., 2016). ...
The aged brain may not make good use of central resources, so dual task performance may be degraded. From the brain connectome perspective, this study investigated dual task deficits of older adults that lead to task failure of a suprapostural motor task with increasing postural destabilization. Twelve younger (mean age: 25.3 years) and 12 older (mean age: 65.8 years) adults executed a designated force-matching task from a level-surface or a stabilometer board. Force-matching error, stance sway, and event-related potential (ERP) in the preparatory period were measured. The force-matching accuracy and the size of postural sway of the older adults tended to be more vulnerable to stance configuration than that of the young adults, although both groups consistently showed greater attentional investment on the postural task as sway regularity increased in the stabilometer condition. In terms of the synchronization likelihood (SL) of the ERP, both younger and older adults had net increases in the strengths of the functional connectivity in the whole brain and in the fronto-sensorimotor network in the stabilometer condition. Also, the SL in the fronto-sensorimotor network of the older adults was greater than that of the young adults for both stance conditions. However, unlike the young adults, the older adults did not exhibit concurrent deactivation of the functional connectivity of the left temporal-parietal-occipital network for postural-suprapostural task with increasing postural load. In addition, the older adults potentiated functional connectivity of the right prefrontal area to cope with concurrent force-matching with increasing postural load. In conclusion, despite a universal negative effect on brain volume conduction, our preliminary results showed that the older adults were still capable of increasing allocation of neural sources, particularly via compensatory recruitment of the right prefrontal loop, for concurrent force-matching under the challenging postural condition. Nevertheless, dual-task performance of the older adults tended to be more vulnerable to postural load than that of the younger adults, in relation to inferior neural economy or a slow adaptation process to stance destabilization for scant dissociation of control hubs in the temporal-parietal-occipital cortex.
... One of the methodological issues in attentional focus research is the lack of clarity with regards to instructions (Davids, 2007). Experimental instructions required participants to focus on different informational sources (McNevin et al., 2013;McNevin & Wulf, 2002;Wulf et al., 2004); however, it remains unknown whether participants followed the specific instructions. Without a careful "manipulation check," it is difficult to identify exactly to what information source participants might have been focusing their attention (Kee, Chatzisarantis, Kong, Chow, & Chen, 2012;Peh, Chow, & Davids, 2011). ...
Background/study context:
A manipulation check was used to investigate whether there is an age-related difference in the adherence to specific external- and internal-focus instructional constraints.
Methods:
Participants stood on a force platform and were to maintain a feedback cursor (representing their center of pressure) along the horizontal direction, within a target on a computer monitor. Trials were conducted with either an external focus of attention (keeping the feedback cursor within the target) or an internal focus of attention (keeping the weight evenly distributed between both legs).
Results:
The finding showed that younger adults followed the experimental instructions; however, older adults relied on external visual information when they were asked to focus on the body movements.
Conclusion:
Age-related declines may contribute to attention allocation differences. The authors propose that specific manipulation checks be used to ensure proper adherence to instructions when comparing age-related differences in postural control.
... Our findings should be generalized very cautiously to other posture-motor situations. First, central resource allocation could vary with the relative task load of a posture-motor dual-task, as constraints placed on postural control by suprapostural task goals are divergent, depending on task difficulty, according to studies of behavior results [67,68]. By manipulation of force-matching among 25%, 50% and 75% of MVC, our pilot study (n = 12; subjects in the pilot study were different from those in the main experiment) using the current experimental setup revealed that the postural characteristics did not vary with the force-exertion level (p > 0.05), whereas force-matching at 50% MVC exhibited satisfactory within-subject consistency without causing motor fatigue. ...
With appropriate reallocation of central resources, the ability to maintain an erect posture is not necessarily degraded by a concurrent motor task. This study investigated the neural control of a particular postural-suprapostural procedure involving brain mechanisms to solve crosstalk between posture and motor subtasks. Participants completed a single posture task and a dual-task while concurrently conducting force-matching and maintaining a tilted stabilometer stance at a target angle. Stabilometer movements and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The added force-matching task increased the irregularity of postural response rather than the size of postural response prior to force-matching. In addition, the added force-matching task during stabilometer stance led to marked topographic ERP modulation, with greater P2 positivity in the frontal and sensorimotor-parietal areas of the N1-P2 transitional phase and in the sensorimotor-parietal area of the late P2 phase. The time-frequency distribution of the ERP primary principal component revealed that the dual-task condition manifested more pronounced delta (1-4 Hz) and beta (13-35 Hz) synchronizations but suppressed theta activity (4-8 Hz) before force-matching. The dual-task condition also manifested coherent fronto-parietal delta activity in the P2 period. In addition to a decrease in postural regularity, this study reveals spatio-temporal and temporal-spectral reorganizations of ERPs in the fronto-sensorimotor-parietal network due to the added suprapostural motor task. For a particular set of postural-suprapostural task, the behavior and neural data suggest a facilitatory role of autonomous postural response and central resource expansion with increasing interregional interactions for task-shift and planning the motor-suprapostural task.
Background
Dynamic postural control is impaired in older adults, as evidenced from worse dynamic postural stability compared to young adults during upright stance while concurrent goal-directed tasks. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is considered to play an important role in goal-directed tasks. This study aimed to investigate the age effects on dynamic postural stability and PFC activation during precision fitting tasks.
Methods
Participant performed precision fitting tasks under four different conditions: large opening size with their arm’s length (close-large), small opening size with their arm’s length (close-small), large opening size with 1.3 times arm’s length (far-large), and small opening size with 1.3 times arm’s length (far-small). We analyzed the center of pressure-related outcomes representing dynamic postural stability and PFC activation at the six different subregions from healthy older adults ( n = 15, 68.0 ± 3.5 years), and gender-matched middle-aged ( n = 15, 48.73 ± 3.06 years) and young ( n = 15, 19.47 ± 0.64 years) adults.
Results
The dynamic postural stability presented the young > middle-aged > older groups across the conditions. Specifically, the young group presented better dynamic postural stability than the older group in the close-large, far-large, and far-small conditions ( p < .05), while showed better dynamic postural stability than the middle-aged group in the close-large condition ( p < .05). Additionally, the older group had greater PFC activation at all PFC subregions than the young group ( p < .05), while had greater activation at left dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC than the middle-aged group ( p < .05). The middle-aged group presented greater activation at left dorsomedial PFC than the young group ( p < .05).
Conclusion
Heightened dorsomedial PFC activation in middle-aged adults compared to young adults may reflect a deficit in processing the visuomotor information during the precision fitting tasks. Degeneration of the ability in automatic coordination of dynamic postural control may begin to occur at midlife.
Evidence has ostensibly been accumulating over the past 2 decades suggesting that an external focus on the intended movement effect (e.g., on the golf club during a swing) is superior to an internal focus on body movements (e.g., on your arms during a swing) for skill acquisition. Seven previous meta-studies have all reported evidence of external focus superiority. The most comprehensive of these concluded that an external focus enhances motor skill retention, transfer, and performance and leads to reduced eletromyographic activity during performance and that more distal external foci are superior to proximal external foci for performance. Here, we reanalyzed these data using robust Bayesian meta-analyses that included several plausible models of publication bias. We found moderate to strong evidence of publication bias for all analyses. After correcting for publication bias, estimated mean effects were negligible: g = 0.01 (performance), g = 0.15 (retention), g = 0.09 (transfer), g = 0.06 (electromyography), and g = −0.01 (distance effect). Bayes factors indicated data favored the null for each analysis, ranging from BF01 = 1.3 (retention) to 5.75 (performance). We found clear evidence of heterogeneity in each analysis, suggesting the impact of attentional focus depends on yet unknown contextual factors. Our results contradict the existing consensus that an external focus is always more effective than an internal focus. Instead, focus of attention appears to have a variety of effects that we cannot account for, and, on average, those effects are small to nil. These results parallel previous metascience suggesting publication bias has obfuscated the motor learning literature.
We present a publicly available dataset, offering annotated full-body kinematics, gaze tracking, and ground reaction forces and moments from 48 healthy young adults performing a life-size suprapostural task. Using a 12-camera motion capture system, eye tracker, and force plate, we recorded full-body kinematics, eye gaze, and ground reaction forces and moments as participants completed four tasks: standing upright, performing the Trail Making Test (TMT) Part-A projected on a screen using a laser pointer and repeating these conditions on a mediolaterally oriented wobble board inducing instability along the mediolateral axis. Each trial lasted five minutes, and the total number of trail connections was recorded. The dataset comprises raw and processed data on TMT trajectories, individual performance scores, video recordings of the TMT, full-body kinematics, the center of mass (CoM), joint angles, forces, moments, powers, eye gaze and pupil diameter, ground reaction forces and moments, and the center of pressure (CoP). This resource provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate balance, motor control, and cognitive performance during concurrent suprapostural tasks.
Different methods of developing balance in the elderly are essential in to-day's society. In this study, we investigated the effect of instructional self-talk with internal and external and combined the focus of attention on the dynamic balance of elderly women. For this purpose, 12 healthy older women with a mean age of 74.38 (±7.92) years were randomly selected within-group design under the four conditions, without self-talk, internal self-talk, external self-talk, and combined self-talk. The order and transfer effect was controlled through counterbalancing. The dynamic balance of the participants was measured using the star test. The analysis of variance with repeated measures and the Bonferroni post hoc test (P< 0.05) showed that the balance of the women in their aging combined with the self-talk situation was significantly better than the internal and external self-talk condition, and in the control situation was the lowes. Therefore, in the dynamic balance task, When the elderly are focused on a task, a combination of internal and external focus using self-talk is more effective than using one type of focus attention with self-talk.
The focus of attention is one of the psychological interventions that can affect performance and motor learning improvement of individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Instructions for focus of attention on the control of the posture of boys aged 9-12 years in suprapostural tasks. The research design was Within and Between-Subject that Semi-experimental method implemented. 45 Elementary school boys in Malayer city were selected randomly, and divided into three groups (15 people): external attention, internal attention and control group. The participants were keep their postural control by using instructions on suprapostural task (3 efforts). In external attention; attention on the bar in their hands, in internal attention; attention on their own hands, and control group no instruction were received. The result showed that learning process in both internal focus group (P=0.022), and external focus group (P=0.040), is significant compared to the control group. However, no significant differences were found in learning between external focus group and internal focus group (P=0.794). According to the results it can be argued that the focus of attention as one of the cognitive tools can have a significant effect on improving the postural control of boys (9 to 12 years old).
Postural control is one of the important abilities in daily life and sport
activities of human beings and the importance of focus of attention is always
discussed in this issue. In this regard, the aim of the present study was to
investigate the effect of the instructions of focus of attention of suprapostural task on performance and learning of postural control in girls aged
between 9 and 12. 45 female students in an elementary school in Malayer
city participated in this study and were randomly divided into 3 groups:
external attention, internal attention and control by drawing of lots. The
participants were asked to maintain their postural control by instructions on
supra-postural task. Instructions included focus of attention on the bar they
held horizontally (external focus), on their hands (internal focus) and no
instructions (control). The results of analysis of variance with repeated
measures showed that learning process in external focus group was
significant compared with the internal focus (P=0.049) and control
(P=0.005) groups. However, no significant differences were found in
learning between internal focus and control groups (P=0.345). It can be
concluded that external attention instruction on supra-postural task led to
better postural control than internal attention instruction.
Background: Examining effects of attention on motor performance at the neurophysiological level, considering the skill level, seems there are still ambiguities. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the neurophysiological effect of Attentional Focus on in postural task as a function of skill level. The performance (postural sways) and muscular activity changes was recorded shift concurrently in two attentional conditions. Method: 20 gymnasts (19-26 Years old) participated and assigned to groups of skilled (10 years' experience) and novices (3-5 years history of training in Gymnastics). All participant of both groups performed ten trails of semi-dynamic balance (10 seconds) in tow conditions of internal and external focus in a counterbalanced order. Postural sways were measured using Biodex Stabilometer and Electromyography (EMG) signals of Tibalis Anterior and Soleus muscles recorded using ME6000 device. Data where data were analyzed using 2×2 mixed ANOVA. Results: Results showed higher performance (less postural sways) and reduced EMG under external focus condition for novices and lower EMG activity for experts. Conclusion: Research findings (enhanced performance and reduced EMG) support Constraint action hypothesis. Focus of attention can have profound effects on motor behavior and the underlying neurophysiologic factors regardless of skill level but in behavioral level of analyze it effects depended on expertise.
Background: Examining effects of attention on motor performance at the neurophysiological level, considering the skill level, seems there are still ambiguities.
Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to examine the neurophysiological effect of Attentional Focus on in postural task as a function of skill level. The performance (postural sways) and muscular activity changes was recorded shift concurrently in two attentional conditions.
Methods: 20 gymnasts (19-26 Years old) participated and assigned to groups of skilled (10 years’ experience) and novices (3-5 years history of training in Gymnastics). All participant of both groups performed ten trails of semi-dynamic balance (10 seconds) in tow conditions of internal and external focus in a counterbalanced order. Postural sways were measured using Biodex Stabilometer and Electromyography (EMG) signals of Tibalis Anterior and Soleus muscles recorded using ME6000 device. Data were data were analyzed using 2×2 mixed ANOVA.
Results: Results showed higher performance (less postural sways) and reduced EMG under external focus condition for novices and lower EMG activity for experts.
Conclusion: Research findings (enhanced performance and reduced EMG) support Constraint action hypothesis. Focus of attention can have profound effects on motor behavior and the underlying neurophysiologic factors regardless of skill level but in behavioral level of analyze it effects depended on expertise.
Considerable literature on the role of attentional focus in motor performance and learning has accumulated for over two decades. We report the results of comprehensive meta-analyses that address the impact of an external focus (EF, on intended movement effects) versus internal focus (IF, on movements of body parts) of attention on the performance and learning of motor skills. Values of effect sizes (ES) from 73 studies with 1,824 participants and 40 studies with 1,274 participants were used for examining the effects of EF versus IF on behavioral outcomes of motor performance and learning (separately for retention and transfer phases) respectively. The EF condition was more effective than the IF condition for performance, Hedges’ g value = 0.264 (95% CI [0.217, 0.310]), retention learning, Hedges’ g value = 0.583 (95% CI [0.425, 0.741]), and transfer learning, Hedges’ g value = 0.584 (95% CI [0.325, 0.842]). Multivariable metaregression analyses on behavioral measures further indicated that neither age group, health status, or skill level, nor their two-way interactions, moderated the ES differences between EF and IF in performance, retention, and transfer models (all p > .100). A secondary analysis on 12 studies with 216 participants that examined the effects of EF versus IF on electromyographic outcomes of motor performance also indicated that EF was associated with more efficient neuromuscular processing, Hedges’ g value = 0.833 (95% CI [0.453, 1.213]). From nine studies with 272 participants, performance measured by behavioral outcomes was found to be more effective when a more distal, rather than proximal, EF was used, Hedges’ g value = 0.224 (95% CI [0.019, 0.429]). Overall, the meta-analytic results are consistent with prior narrative reviews and indicate that an external focus is superior to an internal focus whether considering tests of motor performance or learning, and regardless of age, health condition, and level of skill expertise.
Previous research suggests that using Fitts’ law; attentional focus or challenge point framework (CPF) is beneficial in balance control studies. A scoping review was conducted to examine studies that utilized these motor behavior concepts during balance control tasks. An extensive literature search was performed up to January 2018. Two independent reviewers conducted a study selection process followed by data extraction of the search results. Forty-six studies were identified, with 2 studies related to CPF, 12 studies related to Fitts’ law and 32 studies related to focus of attention. The CPF appears to be a useful method for designing a progressive therapeutic program. Fitts’ law can be used as a tool for controlling the difficulty of motor tasks. Focus of attention studies indicate that adopting an external focus of attention improves task performance. Overall, studies included in this review report benefit when using the selected motor behavior concepts. However, the majority (>80%) of studies included in the review involved healthy populations, with only three clinical trials. In order to ascertain the benefits of the selected motor behavior concepts in clinical settings, future research should focus on using these concepts for clinical trials to examine balance control among people with balance impairments.
Objectives This study aimed to compare the effects of sex and different types of attentional focus of supra-postural tasks on postural control learning in older adults.
Methods & Materials A total of 80 older adults (mean [SD] age: 72.5[4.9] year) participated in this study. The participants, selected according to inclusion criteria, were randomly divided into eight groups of internal and external attentional focus based on supra-postural cognitive and motor task guidelines. The postural status was evaluated by measuring the centre of gravity alignment through a master balancing system (modified clinical test of sensory interaction and balance).
Results The results showed that the men’s older adults with external focus in motor supra-postural task, had a better posture performance than the other groups (P
Objectives This study aimed to compare the effects of sex and different types of attentional focus of supra-postural tasks on postural control learning in older adults. Methods & Materials A total of 80 older adults (mean [SD] age: 72.5[4.9] year) participated in this study. The participants, selected according to inclusion criteria, were randomly divided into eight groups of internal and external attentional focus based on supra-postural cognitive and motor task guidelines. The postural status was evaluated by measuring the centre of gravity alignment through a master balancing system (modified clinical test of sensory interaction and balance). Results The results showed that the men's older adults with external focus in motor supra-postural task, had a better posture performance than the other groups (P < 0.05). Women older adults with internal focus in cognitive supra-postural tasks had the weakest status in postural control function. Men and women also had a better postural control function than the other test groups in external attentional focus. Conclusion Postural control loss is greater in older women than men according to the impact of focusing attention on postural control. It is possible to improve the balance by planning external focus in suprapostural task programs.
In everyday life just as in the laboratory, postural control is neither the effect of a general motor ability nor the result of a specific skill. We consider dexterous postural control as an adaptation of well learned strategies which are functionally integrated in a broader action-perception system to facilitate suprapostural tasks or as an overlearned task-specific adaptation in the context of action. If we acknowledge that postural performance is always an integrated part of the particular action which enables the performance of a suprapostural task, it is not surprising that a general postural ability cannot be found. Furthermore we review a broad quantity of findings on postural control which supports a specific task based approach. Ubiquitous context effects can be verified as an interaction between task and personal constraints.
Shooting depends on high level of focus of attention and it only progresses by the help of physical and intellectual abilities, thus the attentional focus could be effective on it. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different types of focus of attention instructions on the elite shooters' performance. Ten elite shooters who members of national team took 40 shots based on 4 instructions of No attentional instruction, External focus, Internal focus, and Prefer focus. In this study the shooters' scores and their performance features were recorded by the use of Scatt shooting analysis system. The ANOVA test results showed that the difference between the shooters' performance in different situations is significant, in a way that the external focus is along with performance improvement and the internal focus results in execution disorder and a decline in their performance. It seems that attentional focus of elite shooters toward the outcome of movement (reflect of fluctuations of pistol to target) which is designed based on the technical and functional features of skill even in a short period is observable. Additionally the results showed that when the type of focus is chosen by the shooters their performances are equal with the no attentional situation. Thus it is recommended that the elite shooters avoid internal focus and use the external focus. Also it is recommended to avoid giving the permission of choosing the type of focus.
The stability of a mechanical system may be defined as the time taken to return to its initial state when perturbed by external forces or torques.
This commentary provides a review of changes in data reporting in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport from Volumes 49 and 59 to 84. Improvements were noted in that all articles reported means, standard deviations, and sample sizes, while most (87%) articles reported an estimate of effect size (ES). Additional reporting recommendations were made about ES for mean differences, use of appropriate estimates of variability, when to use a table or figure, use of multivariate analyses, and power analyses.
Ankle joint flexibility is necessary if functional tasks such as walking quickly, negotiating stairs and rising from a chair are to be safely achieved and falls risk reduced. Lifestyles that include higher levels of physical activity might preserve ankle flexibility whereas ageing might lead to loss of range. The aim of the study was to: 1] determine whether age reflects a loss of ankle dorsiflexion range 2] determine whether range loss is associated with falls and 3] whether habitual activity level interacts with range loss and/or falls irrespective of age. Subjects included 372 women aged between 40 and 80 years who were recruited from the community and were divided into four decade cohorts: 40-49 years, 50-59 years, 60-69 years and 70-79 years. Ankle dorsiflexion range was measured using a gravity goniometer as the subject performed a weight-bearing lunge. Results showed a significant relationship between range of movement, age decade and number of falls but not activity level. There was a two-way interaction between ankle range, age decade and falls and a three-way interaction between age, falls and activity level. These results support the notion that less ankle dorsiflexion range is seen in older women and might contribute to a fall. © Copyright New Zealand Society of Physiotherapists, 2004
A survey of 197 cognitive aging studies revealed infrequent use of structured health assessments and random recruitment. In this study, a health screening questionnarie developed to identify subjects with medical problems that might impair cognition was administered to 315 adults aged 60 and older who were recruited by random digit dialing. On the basis of self-reported medical problems, 35% of the subjects were excluded. Those excluded were older (p less than .001) and tended to be male but did not differ in education from those who passed the screening. Subjects who passed the screening and decided to participate in a neuropsychological research project were younger (p less than .001), better educated (p less than .001), and more likely to be male (p less than .001) than nonparticipants. These findings suggest that careful assessment, selection, and description of subjects is needed to aid interpretation of cognitive aging research. Further attention to health status is needed to aid interpretation of cognitive aging research. Although random recruitment of the elderly is feasible, obtaining representative samples may require stratification on demographic variables.
Choking under pressure is defined as performance decrements under circumstances that increase the importance of good or improved performance. A model for choking on coordination and skill tasks is proposed, holding that the pressure increases the conscious attention to the performer's own process of performance and that this increased conscious attention disrupts the automatic or overlearned nature of the execution. Six experiments provided data consistent with this model. Three studies showed that increased attention to one's own process of performance resulted in performance decrements. Three other studies showed similar decrements produced by situational manipulations of pressure (i.e., implicit competition, a cash incentive, and audience-induced pressure). Individuals low in dispositional self-consciousness were shown to be more susceptible to choking under pressure than those high in it.
The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the performances of implicit and explicit learners would converge over an extended period of learning. Participants practised a complex motor skill--golf putting--for 3000 trials, either with a concurrent secondary, tone-counting task (implicit learning) or without such a task (explicit learning). The cognitive demands of the secondary task were predicted to prevent the accumulation of verbalizable rules about the motor task. The implicit group reported significantly fewer rules than the explicit group on subsequent verbal protocols. The performance of the implicit group remained below that of the explicit group throughout the learning phase. However, no significant differences were found between groups during a delayed retention test. Additionally, for the participants in the explicit group only, a Reinvestment Scale score correlated positively with the number of rules accrued and negatively with overall putting performance during the learning phase. We use the results to argue against the excessive use of verbal instruction during skill acquisition, which might be unnecessary and ultimately might hamper performance under stressful conditions.
The present experiment was designed to test the predictions of the constrained-action hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes that when performers utilize an internal focus of attention (focus on their movements) they may actually constrain or interfere with automatic control processes that would normally regulate the movement, whereas an external focus of attention (focus on the movement effect) allows the motor system to more naturally self-organize. To test this hypothesis, a dynamic balance task (stabilometer) was used with participants instructed to adopt either an internal or external focus of attention. Consistent with earlier experiments, the external focus group produced generally smaller balance errors than did the internal focus group and responded at a higher frequency indicating higher confluence between voluntary and reflexive mechanisms. In addition, probe reaction times (RTs) were taken as a measure of the attention demands required under the two attentional focus conditions. Consistent with the hypothesis, the external focus participants demonstrated lower probe RTs than did the internal focus participants, indicating a higher degree of automaticity and less conscious interference in the control processes associated with the balance task.
This study examined individuad differences in the preference for and effectiveness of the type of attentional focus for motor learning. In two experiments, participants practicing a balance task (stabilometer) were asked to find out whether focusing on their feet (internal focus) or on two markets in front of their feet (external focus) was more effective. In Experiment 1, participants switched their attentional focus from trial to trial on Day 1 and used their preferred attentional focus on Day 2. In Experiment 2, participants were free to switch their attentional focus any time during 2 days of practice. Retention tests were performed on Day 3. Most participants chose an external focus. Also, they were more effective in retention than participants who preferred an internal focus.
In previous studies of attentional focus effects, investigators have measured performance outcome. Here, however, the authors used electromyography (EMG) to determine whether difference between external and internal foci would also be manifested at the neuromuscular level. In 2 experiments, participants (N=11, Experiment 1; N=12, Experiment 2) performed biceps curls while focusing on the movements of the curl bar (external focus) or on their arms (internal focus). In Experiment 1, movements were performed faster under external than under internal focus conditions. Also, integrated EMG (iEMG) activity was reduced when performers adopted an external focus. In Experiment 2, movement time was controlled through the use of a metronome, and iEMG activity was again reduced under external focus conditions. Those findings are in line with the constrained action hypothesis (G. Wulf, N. McNevin, & C. H. Shea, 2001), according to which an external focus promotes the use of more automatic control processes.
A common way of predicting falling risks in elderly people can be to study center of pressure (CP) trajectories during undisturbed upright stance maintenance. By estimating the difference between CP and center of gravity (CG) motions (CP - CGv), one can estimate the neuromuscular activity. The results of this study, which included 34 sedentary elderly persons aged over 75 years (21 fallers and 13 nonfallers), demonstrated significantly increased CGh and CP - CGv motions in both axes for the fallers. In addition, the fallers presented larger CGh motions in the mediolateral axis, suggesting an enlarged loading-unloading mechanism, which could have reflected the adoption of a step-initiating strategy. As highlighted by fractional Brownian motion modeling, the distance covered by the CP - CGv motions before the successive control mechanisms switched was enhanced for the fallers in both axes, therefore increasing the risk that the CG would be outside of the base of support.
We investigated changes in postural sway and its fractions associated with manipulations of the dimensions of the support area. Nine healthy adults stood as quietly as possible, with their eyes open, on a force plate as well as on 5 boards with reduced support area. The center of pressure (COP) trajectory was computed and decomposed into rambling (Rm) and trembling (Tr) trajectories. Sway components were quantified using RMS (root mean square) value, average velocity, and sway area. During standing on the force plate, the RMS was larger for the anterior-posterior (AP) sway components than for the mediolateral (ML) components. During standing on boards with reduced support area, sway increased in both directions. The increase was more pronounced when standing on boards with a smaller support area. Changes in the larger dimension of the support area also affected sway, but not as much as changes in the smaller dimension. ML instability had larger effects on indices of sway compared to AP instability. The average velocity of Rm was larger while the average velocity of Tr was smaller in the AP direction vs. the ML direction. The findings can be interpreted within the hypothesis of an active search function of postural sway. During standing on boards with reduced support area, increased sway may by itself lead to loss of balance. The findings also corroborate the hypothesis of Duarte and Zatsiorsky that Rm and Tr reveal different postural control mechanisms.
This experiment followed up on previous studies showing learning benefits of instructions directing the performers' attention to the effects of their movements (external focus) relative to instructions directing attention to the movements themselves (internal focus). The main purpose was to determine whether similar advantages could be achieved by preventing learners from focusing on their movements through the use of an attention-demanding secondary task. Participants practiced balancing on a stabilometer. External and internal focus group participants were instructed to focus on markers attached to the balance platform or on their feet, respectively. A third group was required to shadow a story presented to them while balancing. In addition, a control group without attentional focus instructions or a secondary task was included. The external focus group showed more effective balance learning than the other groups. The results provide evidence for the learning benefits of external focus instructions. In addition, they show that similar advantages cannot be achieved by simply preventing learners from focusing on the task to be learned.
The effectiveness of 3 learning strategies on achievement was compared in the learning and performance of a self-paced motor task. More specifically, investigated were the influence of (1) an awareness strategy (to consciously attend to the act and to what one is doing during execution); (2) a nonawareness strategy (to preplan the movement and perform the task without conscious attention to it); (3) the 5-step approach of R. N. Singer (see PA, Vol 76:20593 [to systematically read oneself, image the act, focus attention on a cue, execute without thought, and evaluate the act and previous steps]); and (4) a control condition (to use one's own approach). 72 university students received 250 trials to master a computer-managed ball-throwing task, and 50 more in a dual-task situation. The 5-step approach and nonawareness strategies resulted in less radial error in comparison to the control condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Failure of expert motor skill is common in cases where performers are highly motivated to succeed. One cause of this can be an inward focus of attention in which an attempt is made to perform the skill by consciously processing explicit knowledge of how it works. The resulting disruption of the automaticity of the skill leads to its failure. It follows from this that disruption of automatic processing will be avoided if performers have little or no explicit knowledge of their skill. Subjects in the reported experiment were required to acquire a golf-putting skill, either explicitly (with knowledge of rules) or implicitly (without knowledge of rules) and were then tested under conditions of stress, induced by a combination of evaluation apprehension and financial inducement. Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that the skill of performers with a small pool of explicit knowledge is less likely to fail under pressure than that of performers with a large pool of explicit knowledge.
We attempted to distinguish between task-related (supra-postural) and perceptual influences on postural motions. Two groups of participants had to make very light tactile contact with an adjacent pliable surface while standing with their eyes closed. In the absence of vision, such light touching with a finger is known to reduce sway. For one group, tactile contact with the surface was merely the result of extending the right forearm. For the other group, variability in the point of tactile contact had to be kept to a minimum. Touching reduced postural sway relative to non-touching only for participants in the latter group. The present results, in combination with others addressing similar task differences, question the assumption that information detected haptically and/or visually is used solely to reduce postural fluctuations. It seems that postural fluctuations are modulated to facilitate performance of tasks over and above the task of standing upright and still.
We explored relations between visual performance and postural control. Variability in postural sway was analyzed in the context of variations in supra-postural visual tasks. We varied target distance (near vs. far) and visual task (inspecting a blank target vs. counting the frequency of letters in a block of text). Variability in postural sway was reduced when participants fixated near targets as opposed to far targets. Also, postural sway during the visual search task was reduced relative to sway during inspection of blank targets. We argue that the search task placed more restrictive constraints on the visual system, and that postural sway was reduced to facilitate visual search. The results support the hypothesis that postural control is not an autonomous system, but is organized as part of an integrated perception–action system. Postural control can be used to improve visual performance.
In two experiments we investigated whether the dynamics of standing upright were lateralized. The postural task of Experiment 1 introduced a lateral bias of attention; the postural task of Experiment 2 did not. In Experiment 1, six left-handed and six right-handed participants passively held a laser pointer at the side of the body in either the left or right hand. Successful pointing at targets that varied in distance and size required minimizing the body's medio-lateral (ML) sway. Sway variability, in the range of 2.8–5 mm, was smaller in the anterior–posterior (AP) direction (of relevance to keeping upright) and larger in the ML direction when the pointer was on the preferred rather than non-preferred side. In Experiment 2, six left-handed and six right-handed participants maintained quiet stance while visually fixating a target. Variability of ML and AP sway changed in the same way with difficulty of the precision aiming task and did so independently of handedness. Discussion focused upon the possible mechanism of postural lateralization and the nature of the tasks by which such lateralization is revealed.
Aging is widely considered to be associated with limited balance capacity. It is not clear if forward reach ability is also affected by aging. The purpose of this study was to determine if aging was associated with reduced ability of forward reach or changes in movement patterns. Thirty-three young and 31 older adults were instructed to reach forward as far as possible without losing balance. A motion analysis system was used to record the body kinematics to calculate the joint angle and estimate the motion of center of mass (COM) using a five-segment model. Reach distance (measured from the finger marker), COM displacement, and the distance that the COM exceeded the 2nd toe marker (COM-toe) were used to represent reach performance. The movement patterns were classified as hip, ankle or mixed strategies based upon joint kinematics. It was found that the initial location of the COM was significantly more anterior in the older adults. Older adults were found to have significantly smaller COM displacement and greater hip flexion, but did not differ from young adults in reach distance or COM-toe. Older adults overwhelmingly adopted a hip strategy, but none adopted an ankle strategy. The distribution of the different strategies also differed significantly between groups. These findings suggest that aging appears to be associated with modifications in movement patterns, but not necessarily with a reduction in the ability to approach the boundary of stability. Clinically, balance training for older adults may include the exploration and instruction of atypical movement patterns.
Studies investigating the influence of the learner’s focus of attention, induced by instructions or feedback, on motor skill learning are reviewed. In general, directing performers’ attention to the effects of their movements (external focus of attention) appears to be more beneficial than directing their attention to their own movements (internal focus of attention). Preliminary evidence is presented indicating that an internal attentional focus constrains the motor system by interfering with natural control processes, whereas an external focus seems to allow automatic control processes to regulate the movements. Support for the view that actions are controlled by their anticipated effects comes from research demonstrating functional variability in motor control, as well as the benefits of purposeful activity in occupational therapy. We explain these results in terms of the ideomotor principle of human actions (James, 1890) and its more modern derivatives (Hommel, 1996; Prinz, 1990, 1997).
A recent study by Masters (1992) investigated the effect of stress upon the performance of a well-learned motor skill, golf putting, acquired under implicit and explicit learning conditions. Masters found that stress had a detrimental effect on performance for the explicit learning group but not for the implicit learning group. However, the implicit learning group was required to perform articulatory suppression during the learning trials but not during the stress trials. As such, it is possible that the subjects in the implicit learning group continued to improve during the stress session simply because they were performing an easier task. This paper reports an experiment which re-examines Masters' (1992) conclusions by replicating and extending his method. An additional implicit learning group was included which was required to carry out articulatory suppression during both the learning trials and the stress trials. It was hypothesized that this 'new' implicit learning group would suffer the same disruption to performance as the explicit learning group, providing evidence which would contradict Masters' explanation. Thirty-two subjects were allocated to one of four groups. Performance measures were analysed using two-factor analysis of variance (4 x 5: groups x sessions) with repeated measures on the sessions factor. The main dependent variable was the number of putts successfully completed. The analysis revealed that both the implicit learning groups continued to improve their performance under stress whilst the explicit learning group did not. Despite limitations to both Masters' (1992) and the present study, these results add support to Masters' explicit knowledge hypothesis.
We examined whether the attentional focus adopted on a supra-postural task has an influence on postural control. Similar to Riley, Stoffregen, Grocki, and Turvey (Human Movement Science 18 (1999) 795), participants were instructed to stand still while lightly touching a loosely hanging sheet with their fingertips. However, instructions varied slightly under two conditions: Participants were either asked to minimize movements of the finger (internal focus) or to minimize movements of the sheet (external focus). In contrast to Riley et al.'s findings, both touch conditions resulted in increased postural sway, compared to a baseline condition (no touch). However, in line with previous findings (e.g., Wulf, McNevin, & Shea, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 54A (2001) 1143), frequency of responding (fast Fourier transformation) was greater under the external focus condition, compared to both internal focus and baseline conditions. The findings indicate improved static balance responses under external focus conditions and compromised static balance response under internal focus conditions.
We examined whether the attentional focus induced by a suprapostural task has an influence on the learning of a dynamic balance task. Participants balanced on a stabilometer and were required to hold a tube horizontal with both hands. In Experiment 1, the tube contained a table tennis ball, whereas it was empty in Experiment 2. Participants were instructed to focus on either their hands (internal focus) or the tube (external focus). We measured balance performance as a function of attentional focus on the suprapostural task. Participants practised for 2 days, and on Day 3 they performed a retention test (with tube) and a transfer test (without tube). In both experiments, the external focus groups demonstrated more effective retention and transfer than the internal focus groups (and than the control group in transfer in Experiment 2). In addition, in Experiment 1 the external group was superior in keeping the tube horizontal. This suggests that the performer's attentional focus regarding the suprapostural task affects performance and learning not only of the suprapostural task itself, but also of the postural task.
The authors examined the influence that attentional focus on either a postural or a suprapostural task had on the performance of each task. Participants (N = 32) stood on an inflated rubber disk and held a pole horizontally. All participants performed under 4 attentional focus conditions: external (disk) or internal (feet) focus on the postural task, and external (pole) or internal (hands) focus on the suprapostural task. Compared with internal focuses, external focuses on either task resulted in similar and reduced postural sway. Response frequency on each task increased when participants focused on the respective task. Finally, an external focus on either task produced higher frequencies of responding on the suprapostural task. The authors conclude that suprapostural task goals have a stronger influence on postural control than vice versa, reflecting the propensity of the motor system to optimize control processes on the basis of the desired movement effect.
The performance and learning of motor skills has been shown to be enhanced if the performer adopts an external focus of attention (focus on the movement effect) compared to an internal focus (focus on the movements themselves) [G. Wulf, W. Prinz, Directing attention to movement effects enhances learning: a review, Psychon. Bull. Rev. 8 (2001) 648-660]. While most previous studies examining attentional focus effects have exclusively used performance outcome (e.g., accuracy) measures, in the present study electromyography (EMG) was used to determine neuromuscular correlates of external versus internal focus differences in movement outcome. Participants performed basketball free throws under both internal focus (wrist motion) and external focus (basket) conditions. EMG activity was recorded for m. flexor carpi radialis, m. biceps brachii, m. triceps triceps brachii, and m. deltoid of each participant's shooting arm. The results showed that free throw accuracy was greater when participants adopted an external compared to an internal focus. In addition, EMG activity of the biceps and triceps muscles was lower with an external relative to an internal focus. This suggests that an external focus of attention enhances movement economy, and presumably reduces "noise" in the motor system that hampers fine movement control and makes the outcome of the movement less reliable.
Knowledge, knerves, and know-how
- R S W Masters
Masters, R. S. W. (1992). Knowledge, knerves, and know-how. British
Journal of Psychology, 83,343 -358.