Where should I focus? - 5.1

Question 1

attention definition

Answer 1

Concentration or focus

It can be described as what we are thinking about or what we are aware of

Consciousness, awareness and cognitive effort

Question 2

why do we care about attention?

Answer 2

Almost everything we do requires at least some attention

An individual’s focus of attention influences both learning and performance of motor skills (Wulf, 2007)

Attentional focus can be trained and directed
Attentional capacity is limited

Question 3

relevant env cues

Answer 3

Focussing on relevant environmental cues

Irrelevant environmental cues eliminated or disregarded

Question 4

what does the ability to select relevant cues depend on?

Answer 4

experience

quality of instruction

arousal

Question 5

attention not always directed appropriately

Answer 5

1. Reinvestment (Masters)
2. Explicit monitoring (Beilock)
3. Ironic Processing (Wegner)
4. HyperDistractibility (Eysenck)
5. Constrained action
   hypothesis (Wulf)

Important when considering instructions and feedback in skill acquisition environments

Question 6

internal focus

Answer 6

Body movements

Question 7

external focus

Answer 7

effect of movements on env

Question 8

Wulf, Hoß and Prinz (1998, exp 1)

Answer 8

Internal Focus group - “Exert force with your outer foot”

External Focus group - “Exert force on the outer wheels”

Control group - No focus instructions

One-word difference is optimal for changing attentional focus.

External focus better than internal focus

Question 9

Wulf, Hoß and Prinz (1998, exp 2)

Answer 9

Stabilometer Task

Internal Focus group - “Keep your feet horizontal”

External Focus group - “Keep the markers horizontal”

Less difference in the practice stage

But there was a difference in the retention phase

The issue might be that the markers where very close to the feet and so it would have been difficult for them to not think about their feet at all.

Question 10

McNevin, Shea and Wulf (2003)

Answer 10

Stabilometer Task

Manipulated External Focus Site

It does matter where the markers are and moving them away from the feet aids learning

Question 11

Wulf and Su (2007, exp 1)

Answer 11

Task: Golf pitch shot

Participants: Novices

Internal Focus group - “Focus on the swing of your arms”

External Focus group - “Focus on the swing of the club”

Control group - No focus instructions

Very little else that could influence the results other than the intervention

external scored more points

Question 12

Wulf and Su (2007, exp 2)

Answer 12

Task: Pitch shot to smaller target

Participants: Expert golfers (h’cap ~ 0)

Internal Focus group - “Focus on the swing of your arms”

External Focus group - “Focus on the swing of the club”

Control group - No focus instructions

higher score with external

Already at the top level.

Criticisms are that internal focus is always better than the control and publication biases – studies that don’t have significant results don’t get published.

Scientists are trying to move towards a more open science, so more people can access journals and articles.

Question 13

constrained action hyp

Answer 13

Internal focus ‘constrains’ motor system

Causes disruption of automatic control processes
External focus promotes automatic control

Other explanations (Beilock et al, 2002;2004):
• Skill focused (internal) better in early stages
• Environmental focus (external) better in later stages

Trying to consciously control one’s movements (internal focus) constrains the motor system by interfering with automatic control processes

Focusing on the movement effect (external focus) promotes the use of automatic control processes

However, novices don’t have automatic processes yet, so how does it work for them?

There is also nothing about how or why it works and doesn’t give detailed information that you want or need to have.

Question 14

evidence for CAH: probe RTs

Answer 14

Shorter reaction times with external focus

… implies reduced attentional demands

Question 15

evidence for CAH: movement freq

Answer 15

Faster movement adjustments with external focus

… implies use of reflexive control mechanisms

Question 16

Wulf, Zachry, Granados and Dufek (2007)

Answer 16

jump-and-reach task

Control group - No focus instruction

Internal Focus group - “Focus on your finger”

External Focus group - “Focus on the rung”

increased height, CoM displacement, impulse and joint movements with extenral

Question 17

Wulf, Dufek, Lozano and Pettigrew (2010)

Answer 17

Lower muscle activity with external focus

… implies greater movement efficiency

Question 18

Children

Answer 18

soccer throw-ins

int - hand

ext - beanbag

increased accuracy with ext

Uses an implicit learning style – analogies.

Therefore, is it an external focus study or an implicit learning study.

Question 19

Wulf, Landers, Lewthwaite and Töllner (2009) - PDs

Answer 19

control - no instruction

int - feet

ext - disk still

reduced RMSE with ext

Question 20

Fasioli et al. (2002) - persons after stroke

Answer 20

External focus: “Pay attention to the can: Think about where it is on the shelf and how big or heavy it is.”

Internal focus: “Pay attention to your arm: Think about how much you straighten your elbow and how your wrist and fingers move.”

decreased movement time, increased speed and decreased no. of movement units

When you think about how heavy something is this can change your perception of it.

Thinking about how it changes the mechanics of the move.

Question 21

Wulf and Kim (2013) - gold and x-factor

Answer 21

ext - push against ground

int - push against foot

increased x-factor and carry distance with ext

Question 22

Zachry et al. (2005) - movement efficiency

Answer 22

increased accuracy and decreased EMG with ext

Focusing on basket is more like QE training, rather than focusing on the ball which is the outcome of the movement.

Question 23

Lohse, Sherwood and Healy (2010)

Answer 23

Task - Dart throwing
Conditions
• Control (first)
• Internal focus - arm
• External focus - dart

decreased error, EMG and time with ext

Question 24

Lohse, Sherwood and Healty (2011)

Answer 24

Force platform/muscles

external focus = decreased error and surface EMG, more efficient motor unit recruitment patterns and increased perf

Question 25

self-invoking trigger hyp (Wulf and Lewthwaite, 2010)

Answer 25

The mere mention of the performer’s body (“your arms,” “your feet”) provokes implicit, probably unconscious, access to the self

This self-focus may lead to self-evaluation and activate self-regulatory processes – and result in “micro-choking” episodes

Question 26

Ring et al (2013) - support for micro-choking?

Answer 26

Internal
▪Focus: hands and grip ▪Cue: vibration on hand

External
▪Focus: ball and target
▪Cue: light on digital display

Self-reports confirm that manipulations successful in directing focus of attention

External focus associated with more accurate performance and reduced conscious processing

Question 27

conclusions

Answer 27

ext focus results in:
- more effective movement outcomes (e.g. enhanced balance, greater movement accuracy)
- greater automaticity
(probe RT, frequency of adjustments)
- more economical movement patterns (EMG, force production)

The benefits of adopting an external focus persist under pressure (counting backwards, evaluation, financial incentive)

They generalize to different skills, levels of expertise, age groups, and patient populations