We assessed the effects on basketball free throw performance of two types of verbal directions with an external attentional focus. Novices (n = 16) were pre-tested on free throw performance and assigned to two groups of similar ability (n = 8 in each). Both groups received verbal instructions with an external focus on either movement dynamics (movement form) or movement effects (e.g. ball trajectory relative to basket). The participants also observed a skilled model performing the task on either a small or large screen monitor, to ascertain the effects of visual presentation mode on task performance. After observation of six videotaped trials, all participants were given a post-test. Visual search patterns were monitored during observation and cross-referenced with performance on the pre- and post-test. Group effects were noted for verbal instructions and image size on visual search strategies and free throw performance. The 'movement effects' group saw a significant improvement in outcome scores between the pre-test and post-test. These results supported evidence that this group spent more viewing time on information outside the body than the 'movement dynamics' group. Image size affected both groups equally with more fixations of shorter duration when viewing the small screen. The results support the benefits of instructions when observing a model with an external focus on movement effects, not dynamics.
This study examines the differences between expert and novice team-handball players in their sensitivity to instructions that emphasize speed or precision requirements. The effects of instructions on throwing speed and accuracy of a handball over arm throw and the speedÁaccuracy trade-off in experts and novices is revisited. An expert group (n 018) with a training experience of more than 10 years, and a novice group (n 024) without experience in team-handball, took part in the study. The participants were asked to throw to targets located at different positions following instructions emphasizing accuracy and instructions emphasizing accuracy and speed. Throwing speed was measured with a speed gun radar, and the centre of the ball when the ball entered the goal was digitalized for accuracy. Under these experimental conditions, the novice group was sensitive to instructions for reducing throwing speed and increasing accuracy when instructions emphasized accuracy. The expert group increased throwing speed when the instructions emphasized speed, but was not less accurate. The results indicate that it is advisable for experts' speed to be close to maximum speed since it does not seem to have a significant effect on accuracy of the throw.
The purpose of this study was to determine visual behavior and motor responses between experienced and novice wheelchair tennis players relative to the return in tennis. Novice (n = 7) and Experienced (n = 5) wheelchair tennis players took part in the study. Two series of serves performed to the forehand and the backhand sides were examined in both groups. One series was performed in a video-based setting (two dimensional) and the other one on court (three dimensional). Experienced participants focused initially on the head/shoulders and the free-arm, while novice players focused on the expected ball toss area or followed the ball from the toss to the apex. Results suggest that the experienced players obtain useful information from racket-arm cues during the stroke phase. They also performed faster motor responses as well.
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