Experience level influences the effect of attentional focus on sprint performance

Expert and Novice Performers Respond Differently to Attentional Focus Cues for Speed Jump Roping

“…The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of upper-body and lower-body internal and external focus cues on single-rope speed jump rope performance of expert and novice participants. The most important contribution of the current study was a pattern of findings that was consistent with previous literature showing that expert and novice performers responded in distinctly different ways to the various attentional focus cues ( Pelleck and Passmore, 2017 ; Winkelman et al, 2017 ). Consistent with previous studies involving experts, the present results demonstrated that focus cues either had no effect or degraded performance for experts compared to baseline (e.g., Wulf, 2008 ; Porter and Sims, 2013 ).…”

“…In contrast, no differences were seen for experts. These results combined with the mixed results from studies on expert performers ( Wulf and Su, 2007 ; Wulf, 2008 ; Porter and Sims, 2013 ; Halperin et al, 2017 ; Winkelman et al, 2017 ) indicate that attentional focus effects may not generalize to highly skilled populations. Presumably, expert performers have developed attentional focus strategies that support their high levels of skilled performance.…”

“…When the effects of attentional focus instructions have been examined using expert performers, results have been mixed. Some studies have reported findings consistent with an external focus benefit ( Wulf and Su, 2007 ; Halperin et al, 2017 ), while others have revealed no differences in performance between conditions or, occasionally, superior performance under control conditions compared to both internal and external focus conditions ( Wulf, 2008 ; Porter and Sims, 2013 ; Winkelman et al, 2017 ). Moreover, research examining the attentional focus behaviors adopted by expert performers during practice and competition has revealed that the use of internal foci is common ( Bernier et al, 2011 , 2016 ; Fairbrother et al, 2016 ; Guss-West and Wulf, 2016 ).…”

The Influence of External Focus Instruction Characteristics on Children’s Motor Performance

“…Moreover, when children and adults practice the same motor skill, several researchers have reported that the information processing abilities of children are lower than adults (e.g., Lambert & Bard, 2005). Furthermore, expertise has been shown to be a potentially important moderator of the effects of attentional focusing instructions (e.g., Winkelman, Clark, & Ryan, 2017). This leads to many unanswered questions about how children react to verbal instructions that are designed to affect how attention is allocated during movement.…”

Attentional Focus and Cueing for Speed Development

“…In summary, although the evidence for using an external focus of attention to optimize sprint performance and learning is still emerging, when considered in terms of the extant literature (70), it can be recommended that coaches should instruct and cue in a way that encourages athletes to adopt an external focus. However, the recommendation to use instructions and cues that encourage an external focus is only a starting point, because there seems to be a series of factors that potentially mediate the effectiveness of a given external cue (68). Therefore, the next section will discuss the characteristics of an external cue that can be manipulated to ensure that the athlete's focus of attention is directed at the most relevant feature of the to-be-learned motor skill (45), while identifying the subcharacteristics within an instruction or cue that can be manipulated to ensure individualized effectiveness (35).…”