Neuromuscular Effects of Shifting the Focus of Attention in a Simple Force Production Task

Lohse, Keith R.; Sherwood, David E.; Healy, Alice F.

doi:10.1080/00222895.2011.555436

Cited by 104 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Instructional sets that encourage an internal focus of attention are more likely to induce conscious processing strategies resulting in slower and more purposeful movements, increased pre-movement times [26,28], and increased co-contraction of antagonist muscle groups. For example, under instruction to direct attention internally young adults will increase the co-contraction of affecting muscle groups during a biceps curl [29]. In contrast, when attention is directed externally toward action-effects rather than the action itself, the control processes are more likely to be subconscious, less prone to forgetting and more likely to be resistant to external stressors such as anxiety [25,26].…”

Section: Freezing Degrees Of Freedom: a Motor Learning Perspectivementioning

confidence: 97%

How fear of falling can increase fall-risk in older adults: Applying psychological theory to practical observations

2015

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It is widely reported that fear of falling (FOF) has a profound and largely detrimental effect on balance performance in older adults. However, the mechanisms by which FOF influence postural stability are poorly understood. In the current article, we use psychological theory to explain FOF-related changes to postural control. First, we review literature describing associations between FOF and the 'stiffening' strategies observed during control of posture, including observations of eye and head movements. Second, we present a framework illustrating the interactions between increased age, FOF, and altered attentional processes, which in turn influence balance performance and fall-risk. Psychological theory predicts that anxiety can cause attentional bias for threatening and task-irrelevant stimuli and compromise the efficiency of working memory resources. We argue that while the adoption of stiffening strategies is likely to be beneficial in avoiding a loss of balance during simple postural tasks, it will ultimately compromise performance in dynamic and highly demanding functional tasks. The adoption of stiffening strategies leads to inadequate acquisition of the sensory information necessary to plan and execute dynamic and interactive movements. We conclude with some suggestions for future research.

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Section: Freezing Degrees Of Freedom: a Motor Learning Perspectivementioning

confidence: 97%

How fear of falling can increase fall-risk in older adults: Applying psychological theory to practical observations

2015

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“…Lohse, Healy, and Sherwood (2011) found fewer co-contractions of agonist and antagonist muscles with an external relative to an internal focus on an isometric force production task, in addition to more accurate force production ( Figure 5) (see also Lohse & Sherwood, 2012). Furthermore, an analysis of the power spectral density of the EMG signal in the Lohse et al (2011) study demonstrated increases in the median power frequency-indicating superfluous motor unit recruitment of larger motor units within the muscles-when participants focused internally.…”

Section: Muscular Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, Christina and Alpenfels showed that experienced golfers learned to change their swing path more effectively with external rather than internal focus instructions. Overall, it is clear that the performer's attentional focus fundamentally Lohse et al (2011). The task involved pushing against a force platform with the foot and producing 30% of the maximal force.…”

Section: Movement Formmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other studies, participants were asked to produce a certain amount of force while concentrating on the effector, such as the hand, tongue (Freedman, Maas, Caligiuri, Wulf, & Robin, 2007) or foot (Lohse, 2012;Lohse, Sherwood, & Healy, 2011), or on the device against which the force was exerted, such as a bulb or platform. For example, Lohse trained participants to produce a certain percentage of their maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) in a plantar flexion task.…”

Section: Accuracymentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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“…Although there is one study proposing generally lower EMG activity when using an EF compared to an IF in CMJs (Wulf et al, 2010), a more recent study indicates comparable activity in the prime movers but reduced activity in the antagonist muscle when performing an isometric force task (Lohse, Sherwood, & Healy, 2011). Although we measured activity in three shank muscles and the VM, we did not assess EMG of hamstring muscles.…”

Section: Electromyographic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced jump performance when providing augmented feedback compared to an external or internal focus of attention

Keller

Lauber

Gottschalk

et al. 2014

Journal of Sports Sciences

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Factors such as an external focus of attention (EF) and augmented feedback (AF) have been shown to improve performance. However, the efficacy of providing AF to enhance motor performance has never been compared with the effects of an EF or an internal focus of attention (IF). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify which of the three conditions (AF, EF or IF) leads to the highest performance in a countermovement jump (CMJ). Nineteen volunteers performed 12 series of 8 maximum CMJs. Changes in jump height between conditions and within the series were analysed. Jump heights differed between conditions (P < 0.001), resulting in best performance with AF (32.04 ± 7.11 cm), followed by EF (31.21 ± 6.67 cm) and IF (30.77 ± 6.87 cm). Significantly different (P < 0.001) within-series effects of higher jump heights at the end of the series in AF (+1.60%) and lower jump heights at the end of the series in EF (−1.79%) and IF (−1.68%) were observed. Muscle activity did not differ between conditions. The differences between conditions and within the series provide evidence that AF leads to higher performance and better progression within one series than EF and IF. Consequently, AF seems to outperform EF and IF when maximising jump height.

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Neuromuscular Effects of Shifting the Focus of Attention in a Simple Force Production Task

Cited by 104 publications

References 49 publications

How fear of falling can increase fall-risk in older adults: Applying psychological theory to practical observations

How fear of falling can increase fall-risk in older adults: Applying psychological theory to practical observations

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

Enhanced jump performance when providing augmented feedback compared to an external or internal focus of attention

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