Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of an external relative to an internal focus of attention on motor skill acquisition and learning of a motor task in children with poor motor imagery ability.

Background: Research has shown that children with severe developmental coordination disorders and poor motor performance also have generalized motor imagery deficits, suggesting the linkage between poor motor imagery ability and poor motor performance (Williams, Thomas, Maruff, & Wilson, 2008). Research has also shown that an external relative to an internal focus of attention is more beneficial for optimizing movement effectiveness and efficiency in healthy individuals, as well as specific populations such as individuals with Parkinson disease and children with intellectual disability, including attention disorder hyper activity (Wulf, 2013).

Method: Motor imagery ability was determined by the movement imagery questionnaire – children (MIQ-C). One-hundred and ninety-one individuals (M = 10.13., SD: .65 years) completed the MIQ-C. From this initial pool, only twenty-four children with 1 SD below the average motor imagery scores were recruited for inclusion in the study. Children with poor imagery scores were pseudo-randomly assigned to either an internal or external focus groups. The participants in each group were asked to perform 60 trials of an overhand throwing task with their non-dominant hand while instructed to focus either focusing on their throwing arm (i.e., internal focus) or on the ball (i.e., external focus) on day 1. A retention test without providing any attentional focus instructions was conducted on day 2.

Results: The results from the manipulation check revealed high adherence to the respective attentional focus instructions for each group. There was no significant difference between groups in pre-test. However, the external focus group was significantly more accurate in their tosses than the internal focus group in both practice (p = .008) and retention (p = .017).

Conclusion: These findings suggest that an external, relative to internal focus instructions, facilitates motor performance and learning in children with poor motor imagery ability. As such, imagery ability does not moderate the benefit of an external focus (Wulf, & Lewthwaite, 2016).

References: Williams, J., Thomas, P. R., Maruff, P., & Wilson, P. H. (2008). The link between motor impairment level and motor imagery ability in children with developmental coordination disorder. Human Movement Science, 27, 270-285. Wulf, G. (2013). Attentional focus and motor learning: A review of 15 years. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 6, 77-104. Wulf, G., & Lewthwaite, R. (2016). Optimizing Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning: The OPTIMAL theory of motor learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23, 1382-1414. Funding: This study was financially supported by Czech Science Foundation under grant GAČR 18-16130S.

« Back to 2019 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/an-external-relative-to-an-internal-focus-of-attention-enhances-motor-learning-in-children-with-poor-motor-imagery-ability/