Optimizing External Focus of Attention Instructions: The Role of Attainability

Abstract

This study examined the effect of individually tailoring an external focus reference point in line with ability on standing long jump (SLJ) performance. Twenty-one female Division III hockey players (ages 18–23 years) performed two SLJs under 4 attentional focus conditions: (a) no focus provided (control), (b) focused on rapid knee extension (internal); (c) focused on jumping as close as possible to a cone placed at 3 m (external far), and (d) focused on jumping as far as possible past a cone placed, unbeknownst to them, at the maximum distance achieved on their last SLJ test, recorded during team testing at an earlier date (attainable). Findings were consistent with the literataure in that instructions that induced an external versus internal focus of attention resulted in significantly longer jumping distances. In addition, horizontal displacement was significantly longer when participants adopted an external focus of attention toward an attainable distance goal versus all other conditions. Results suggest that for goal-oriented movements that require maximum effort, individualizing the distance of an external focus of attention according to capability enhances its effect.

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

“…Such an explanation is supported by Coker (2016) who highlighted potential motivational considerations as the effectiveness of externally focused cues is influenced by the perceived attainability of the movement outcomes being promoted. Using a standing long jump task, young adult athletes achieved a greater jump distance when cued to jump towards a cone placed at an attainable and individually tailored distance, compared to a nominal and unattainable distance (Coker, 2016). This effect is explained in terms of goal difficulty (e.g., Locke & Latham, 2002), where the achievable external cue condition fostered greater effort by physically providing (e.g., the cone) and then clearly identifying a specific and challenging task goal.…”

“…These findings provide compelling evidence that FOCUS OF ATTENTION AND CHILDREN'S JUMP PERFORMANCE 5 instructions increasing the distance of an external focus benefit standing long jump performance. Proposed theoretical explanations for the distance of focus effect suggest that it may be due to an increased distinction between action effects and bodily movements (e.g., McNevin et al), emphasis of higher 'hierarchical' movement goals (Wulf, 2013), as well as potential motivational influences (e.g., Coker, 2016). However, there is also evidence that novices benefit from instructions emphasizing a more proximal external focus (Wulf, McNevin, Fuchs, Ritter, & Toole, 2000) whilst experts benefit from a more distal external focus (Bell & Hardy, 2009).…”

A systematic review of motivational and attentional variables on children’s fundamental movement skill development: the OPTIMAL theory

“…Therefore, task designs and verbal instruction which allow children to adopt various external foci (e.g., throwing tasks with different objects and target sizes) can afford the learner opportunities to develop adaptive movement solutions and thus increase movement competence to enhance the ability to exploit affordances to achieve future task success (i.e., enhance expectancies for successful performance) (Seifert & Davids, 2017;Simpson, Cronin, Ellison, Carnegie, & Marchant, 2020). In addition to the EF distance effect, Marchant, Griffiths et al (2018) explain that pairing distal-EF instructions with visual cues (i.e., a cone to jump towards) can emphasise the task goal and increase the perceived attainability of the movement goal (e.g., enhanced expectancies for successful performance; Coker, 2016;Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016). If children are limited in cognitive capacity and comprehension (Agar et al, 2016;Buszard et al, 2017) and tend to rely on visual coding (Cadopi, Chatillon, & Brady, 1995;Guilbert, Alamargot, & Morin, 2019), then a visual target becomes a useful external cue to enhance goal-action coupling, invite affordances and promote movement exploration (Chow et al, 2011;Seifert & Davids, 2017;Withagen, Araújo, & de Poel 2017).…”

“…Nevertheless, the language used within EF instructions and feedback needs to be carefully considered as developmental differences in comprehension, cognition and motor repertories can critically impact its effectiveness on motor learning (Petranek et al, 2019). Moreover, the presence of visual aids (e.g., a cone to jump towards) to promote an EF may inadvertently enhance expectancies by increasing the perceived attainability of the movement goal (Marchant, Griffiths et al, 2018;Coker, 2016), whilst implicit manipulations (e.g., illusions to make target size appear larger) may inadvertently promote an EF (McKay et al, 2015;Simpson et al, 2020). Importantly, each OPTIMAL factor can influence another and potentially confound their benefits on motor learning.…”

Kinematic Effects of Varying Adolescents' Attentional Instructions for Standing Long Jump

“…Given its prominence as a measure of muscular fitness, the SLJ has become the focus of numerous studies examining the influence of instructional manipulations on performance. Those studies demonstrated the superiority of external focusing cues on SLJ performance in adults (e.g., Coker, 2016; Porter, Anton, Wikoff, & Ostrowski, 2013; Porter, Anton, & Wu, 2012), while no parallel youth studies have been conducted. Further, attempts have been made to determine the underlying mechanisms of this performance effect, beyond the theoretical explanation offered by the Constrained Action Hypothesis (Wulf, McNevin, & Shea, 2001), suggesting that an external focus promotes the use of more automatic controls.…”