Where should I focus? - 5.1 Flashcards
attention definition
Concentration or focus
It can be described as what we are thinking about or what we are aware of
Consciousness, awareness and cognitive effort
why do we care about attention?
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
relevant env cues
Focussing on relevant environmental cues
Irrelevant environmental cues eliminated or disregarded
what does the ability to select relevant cues depend on?
experience
quality of instruction
arousal
attention not always directed appropriately
- Reinvestment (Masters)
- Explicit monitoring (Beilock)
- Ironic Processing (Wegner)
- HyperDistractibility (Eysenck)
- Constrained action
hypothesis (Wulf)
Important when considering instructions and feedback in skill acquisition environments
internal focus
Body movements
external focus
effect of movements on env
Wulf, Hoß and Prinz (1998, exp 1)
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
Wulf, Hoß and Prinz (1998, exp 2)
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.
McNevin, Shea and Wulf (2003)
Stabilometer Task
Manipulated External Focus Site
It does matter where the markers are and moving them away from the feet aids learning
Wulf and Su (2007, exp 1)
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
Wulf and Su (2007, exp 2)
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.
constrained action hyp
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.
evidence for CAH: probe RTs
Shorter reaction times with external focus
… implies reduced attentional demands
evidence for CAH: movement freq
Faster movement adjustments with external focus
… implies use of reflexive control mechanisms
Wulf, Zachry, Granados and Dufek (2007)
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
Wulf, Dufek, Lozano and Pettigrew (2010)
Lower muscle activity with external focus
… implies greater movement efficiency
Children
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.
Wulf, Landers, Lewthwaite and Töllner (2009) - PDs
control - no instruction
int - feet
ext - disk still
reduced RMSE with ext
Fasioli et al. (2002) - persons after stroke
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.
Wulf and Kim (2013) - gold and x-factor
ext - push against ground
int - push against foot
increased x-factor and carry distance with ext
Zachry et al. (2005) - movement efficiency
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.
Lohse, Sherwood and Healy (2010)
Task - Dart throwing Conditions • Control (first) • Internal focus - arm • External focus - dart
decreased error, EMG and time with ext
Lohse, Sherwood and Healty (2011)
Force platform/muscles
external focus = decreased error and surface EMG, more efficient motor unit recruitment patterns and increased perf
self-invoking trigger hyp (Wulf and Lewthwaite, 2010)
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
Ring et al (2013) - support for micro-choking?
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
conclusions
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
