Effortless Motor Learning?: An External Focus of Attention Enhances Movement Effectiveness and Efficiency

Wulf, Gabriele; Lewthwaite, Rebecca

doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262013840.003.0004

Cited by 100 publications

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“…It has been suggested that the mere mention of body parts may promote a focus on the self that leads to self-regulatory processes, which cause "micro-choking" episodes and degrade performance (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2010). A reference to body parts (e.g., arm) in internal focus instructions seems to be sufficient to induce a self-focus, with the consequence that movement coordination is less than optimal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's learning of tennis skills is facilitated by external focus instructions

Hadler¹,

Chiviacowsky²,

Wulf³

et al. 2014

Motriz: rev. educ. fis.

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Abstract-The present study examined the effects of instructions promoting external versus internal foci of attention on the learning of a tennis forehand stroke in 11-year old children. Three groups of participants practiced hitting tennis balls at a target. External focus group participants were instructed to direct their attention to the movement of the racquet, while participants in the internal focus group were asked to direct their attention to the movements of their arm. Participants in a control group did not receive attentional focus instructions. Two days after the practice phase (60 trials), learning was assessed in retention and transfer tests. The results showed that the external focus group demonstrated greater accuracy in hitting a target relative to the two other groups in retention, and relative to the internal focus group in transfer. We conclude that instructions inducing an external focus of attention can enhance children's sport skill learning. Keywords: motor learning, attention, childhood, sportsResumo-"Aprendizagem de habilidades do tênis em crianças é facilitada por instruções de foco externo." O presente estudo examinou os efeitos de instruções promovendo foco de atenção externo versus interno na aprendizagem da rebatida de forehand do tênis em crianças de 11 anos de idade. Três grupos de participantes praticaram a tarefa. Os participantes do grupo de foco externo foram instruídos a direcionar a atenção para os movimentos da raquete, enquanto os participantes no grupo de foco interno a direcionar a atenção aos movimentos do braço. Participantes do grupo controle não receberam instruções de foco de atenção. Dois dias após a prática (60 tentativas) a aprendizagem foi avaliada através de testes de retenção e transferência. Os resultados demonstraram que o grupo de foco externo apresentou maior precisão em relação aos dois outros grupos na retenção e em relação ao grupo de foco interno na transferência. Conclui-se que instruções induzindo foco externo de atenção pode melhorar a aprendizagem de habilidades esportivas em crianças. Palavras-chave: aprendizagem motora, atenção, infância, esportesResumen-"Aprendizaje de habilidades del tenis en los niños es facilitada por instrucciones con foco externo." El presente estudio examinó los efectos de las instrucciones con foco de atención interno frente a externo en el aprendizaje de "forehand" del tenis en niños. Tres grupos de participantes practicaron la tarea. Los participantes en el grupo de foco externo fueron instruidos para dirigir la atención a los movimientos de la raqueta, mientras que los participantes en el grupo de foco interno a poner la atención a los movimientos del brazo. El grupo control no recibió instrucciones de foco de atención. Dos días después el aprendizaje se evaluó mediante pruebas de retención y transferencia. Los resultados mostraron que el grupo de foco externo presentó mayor precisión en relación con los otros grupos en la retención y al grupo de foco interno en la transferencia. Llegamos a la conclusión de que las ins...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's learning of tennis skills is facilitated by external focus instructions

Hadler¹,

Chiviacowsky²,

Wulf³

et al. 2014

Motriz: rev. educ. fis.

Self Cite

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“…This suggests that, left to their own devices, individuals tend to adopt less-than-optimal (possibly, internal) foci. A focus on the intended movement effect facilitates the utilization of unconscious or automatic processes, resulting in greater movement ease or fluidity [10,12]. Conversely, focusing on one's own movements leads to a more conscious type of control, thereby constraining the motor system and disrupting automatic control processes [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

An external focus of attention enhances balance learning in older adults

2010

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“…We have previously proposed the notion of a "self-invoking trigger" (McKay, Wulf, Lewthwaite, & Nordin, 2015;Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2010). According to this view, instructions that promote an internal focus by referring to body movements provoke access to the self and result in "microchoking" episodes (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2010), that is, widespread, inefficient activation of the muscular system, disruption of automaticity, and the use of more conscious control over ongoing movement.…”

Section: Mechanisms For Attentional Focus Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this view, instructions that promote an internal focus by referring to body movements provoke access to the self and result in "microchoking" episodes (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2010), that is, widespread, inefficient activation of the muscular system, disruption of automaticity, and the use of more conscious control over ongoing movement. The result is a constrained movement pattern which can be seen when a player "short-arms" a free throw in basketball or when a golfer leaves a putt short.…”

Section: Mechanisms For Attentional Focus Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning: The OPTIMAL theory of motor learning

2016

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Effective motor performance is important for surviving and thriving, and skilled movement is critical in many activities. Much theorizing over the past few decades has focused on how certain practice conditions affect the processing of task-related information to affect learning. Yet, existing theoretical perspectives do not accommodate significant recent lines of evidence demonstrating motivational and attentional effects on performance and learning. These include research on (a) conditions that enhance expectancies for future performance, (b) variables that influence learners' autonomy, and (c) an external focus of attention on the intended movement effect. We propose the OPTIMAL (Optimizing Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning. We suggest that motivational and attentional factors contribute to performance and learning by strengthening the coupling of goals to actions. We provide explanations for the performance and learning advantages of these variables on psychological and neuroscientific grounds. We describe a plausible mechanism for expectancy effects rooted in responses of dopamine to the anticipation of positive experience and temporally associated with skill practice. Learner autonomy acts perhaps largely through an enhanced expectancy pathway. Furthermore, we consider the influence of an external focus for the establishment of efficient functional connections across brain networks that subserve skilled movement. We speculate that enhanced expectancies and an external focus propel performers' cognitive and motor systems in productive "forward" directions and prevent "backsliding" into self-and non-task focused states. Expected success presumably breeds further success and helps consolidate memories. We discuss practical implications and future research directions.Keywords Motivation . Attentional focus . Self-efficacy . Positive affect . Dopamine . Motor performance Skilled movement is fundamental to surviving and thriving in the world and the basis as well for many of the highest human endeavors and cultural achievements, from sport to art to music. How people learn and relearn movement skills has been addressed from a number of disparate scientific perspectives and levels of analysis, including behavioral, social cognitive, neurophysiological, and neurocomputational. In part, differences in assumptions, scientific terminology and philosophy, as well as methodological approaches have made scholarly rapprochement challenging, but we see the end goal of optimizing motor learning as important. We suggest that it may be valuable to bring recent insights from various approaches together to identify a coherent way forward that can result in optimized learning from humans' earliest encounters with new motor skills to the lifelong development of motoric expertise.It is typically considered time to look afresh at dominant theories in a field when the accumulating evidence suggests that old frameworks cannot account for substantial new insights an...

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Effortless Motor Learning?: An External Focus of Attention Enhances Movement Effectiveness and Efficiency

Cited by 100 publications

References 0 publications

Children's learning of tennis skills is facilitated by external focus instructions

Children's learning of tennis skills is facilitated by external focus instructions

An external focus of attention enhances balance learning in older adults

Optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning: The OPTIMAL theory of motor learning

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