Attentional focus research suggests an external focus leads to improved motor performance compared to an internal focus (Wulf in Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol 6:77-104, 2013), but skilled athletes often report using an internal focus (Fairbrother et al., Front Psychol 7:1028, 2016) and sometimes shifting between different foci in the preparation and execution phases of performance (Bernier et al. in J Appl Sport Psychol 23:326-341, 2011; Bernier et al. in Sport Psychol 30:256-266, 2016). To date, focus shifts have been unexplored in experimental research, thus the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of shifting focus between the preparation and execution phases of a standing long jump. Participants (N = 29) completed two jumps in a control condition (CON), followed by two jumps in four experimental conditions presented in a counterbalanced order. Conditions included using an external focus (EF) and internal focus (IF) in both preparation and execution of the skill, as well as shifting from an internal focus in preparation to an external focus in execution (ITE), and an external focus in preparation to an internal focus in execution (ETI). Jump distance was analyzed with a repeated measures ANOVA. The main effect of condition was significant, p < .001, with EF producing longer jumps than all other conditions (p's < 0.05). ITE also generated farther jumps than IF and CON (p's < 0.05). The superiority of the EF and ITE conditions suggests that the focus employed in execution has the strongest impact on performance. Additionally, if an internal focus must be used in preparation, the performance decrement can be ameliorated by shifting to an external focus during execution.
Directing attention to an external focus has been shown to facilitate motor performance. For expert performers, however, results have been mixed. Additionally, little is currently known about how focus cues affect the performance of complex continuous whole-body coordination tasks involving object manipulation such as jump roping. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of attentional focus cues on single-rope speed jumping by experts and novices. The cues directed attention toward the upper (UP) or lower (LB) body and either internally (IN) or externally (EX). Participants (N = 30) completed bouts of speed jumping during a baseline trial and under experimental conditions (UPIN, UPEX, LBIN, LBEX). Jumps and errors were recorded for each trial. Number of jumps (NJ) and errors (NE) were analyzed using separate Friedman’s Tests comparing for each group to compare trials, with Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests for post hoc comparisons. Cumulative number of jumps (CNJ) and errors (CNE) for each condition were compared using separate Friedman’s Tests with Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests for post hoc comparisons. For experts, baseline NJ was significantly higher than NJ for each trial under the UPIN, UPEX, and LBIN conditions. No differences between baseline NE and any trials were detected. Additionally, no differences were detected between conditions for NJ or NE. For novices, baseline NJ and NE were significantly higher and lower, respectively, compared to Trial 1 under the LBEX condition. Both the UPIN and UPEX conditions produced higher CNJ and lower CNE than the LBIN and LBEX conditions, respectively. Results showed that experts and novices responded in distinctly different patterns to the four conditions. Experts showed degraded performance under the UPIN, UPEX, and LBIN conditions whereas novices only showed temporarily degraded performance under the LBEX condition. These findings may reflect differences in mastery of whole-body coordination and are partially consistent with the Constrained Action Hypothesis (CAH) despite not supporting specific predictions related to the benefit of external focus cues.
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