Increased movement accuracy and reduced EMG activity as the result of adopting an external focus of attention

Zachry, Tiffany; Wulf, Gabriele; Mercer, John A.; Bezodis, Neil E.

doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2005.06.035

Cited by 400 publications

(295 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This confirmed in children as in adults that postural stability decreases when attention is focused on postural sway, which may be explained by an increase of the neuromuscular activity (Vuillerme and Nafati 2007;Wulf and Prinz 2001;Zachry et al 2005). At least since the age of 4, focusing attention on the control of upright stance would increase the number of motor units recruited in the lower limb muscles that are involved.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…One explanation of this degradation was that focusing attention on the movement implies an increase of the voluntary control which then comes to interfere with the automatic processes usually used to realize it (Wulf and Prinz 2001). From a neurological point of view, the degradation observed when voluntary attention focused on the movement (Zachry et al 2005) or on body sway (Vuillerme and Nafati 2007) was associated with an increase of the neuromuscular activity. These last authors interpreted this modulation of neuromuscular activity by the fact that voluntary motor control increases the recruitment of additional motor units, inducing an increase of the muscular force which in turn degrades the control of upright stance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of attentional focus on postural sway in children and adults

2008

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The present study examined, in children aged 4-11 and in adults, the postural control modifications when attention was oriented voluntary on postural sway. Since (1) there are less attentional resources in children than in adults, (2) the selective attention processing improves with age, i.e., children use a different strategy to focus their attention than adults, and (3) adults' postural stability decreases when attention is focused on postural sway, we hypothesized that postural stability was less affected in children than in adults when attention was focused on postural sway. Fourty four children aged 4-to 11-year-old and 11 adults participated in the experiments. The postural control task was executed in a Romberg position. Two experimental conditions were presented to the subjects, (1) to look at a video on a TV screen without instruction about the posture, and (2) to fixate a cross placed at the center of the TV screen with the instruction to remain as stable as possible. Postural performance was measured by means of a force platform. Results from this study (1) confirmed a non-monotonic improvement of postural stability during the ontogenetic period without reaching the adults' level at the age of 11, (2) suggested that children, aged 4-11, are able to focus their attention on the control of posture, and (3) showed that the automatic control of posture increases postural stability since the age of 4.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of attentional focus on postural sway in children and adults

2008

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“…Our results contradicted much of the established literature regarding the healthy population and the constrained action hypothesis, which favors EF over IF during motor skill training. 12,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39] According to the constrained action hypothesis, EF elicits better performance in healthy individuals because it increases the coherence of sensory input and effector output, improving the coupling of the agonist/antagonist Abbreviations: DV, change in absolute value of outcome variable; 1/2, P value from baseline to discharge; 2/3, P value from discharge to follow-up; 1/3, P value from baseline to follow-up; Jtindep-EF, joint independence EF condition; Jt-indep-IF, joint independence IF condition; Sig, significance. * Greenhouse-Geisser coefficient used to interpret within-subject effects for Jt-indep-EF because of significant Mauchly test.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response From the Authors

Hinojosa

Rao

Batavia

et al. 2018

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

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Objective: To compare the long-term effects of external focus (EF) and internal focus (IF) of attention after 4 weeks of arm training. Design: Randomized, repeated-measures, mixed analysis of variance. Setting: Outpatient clinic. Participants: Individuals with stroke and moderate-to-severe arm impairment living in the community (NZ33; withdrawals: nZ3). Interventions: Four-week arm training protocol on a robotic device (12 sessions). Main Outcome Measures: Joint independence, Fugl-Meyer Assessment, and Wolf Motor Function Test measured at baseline, discharge, and 4-week follow-up. Results: There were no between-group effects for attentional focus. Participants in both groups improved significantly on all outcome measures from baseline to discharge and maintained those changes at 4-week follow-up regardless of group assignment (joint independence EF condition: F Conclusions: There were no differences in retention of motor skills between EF and IF participants 4 weeks after arm training, suggesting that individuals with moderate-to-severe arm impairment may not experience the advantages of an EF found in healthy individuals. Attentional focus is most likely not an active ingredient for retention of trained motor skills for individuals with moderate-to-severe arm impairment, whereas dosage and intensity of practice appear to be pivotal. Future studies should investigate the long-term effects of attentional focus for individuals with mild arm impairment.

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“…As medidas de resultados de tempo em equilíbrio e de números de desequilíbrios não foram diferentes entre as condições de instrução de foco de atenção. Portanto, nossos resultados são contrários aos estudos que demonstraram superioridade do foco externo em comparação ao foco interno em habilidades motoras, tais como equilíbrio (PARK et al, 2000;WULF, 2003), zig-zag em simulador de esqui (WULF; HOB; PRINZ, 1998), arremesso do basquete (ZACHRY et al, 2005;AL-ABOOD et al, 2002), força isométrica por meio da geração de sinais de EMG (VANCE et al, 2004), tacada no golfe (WULF; SU, 2007) e chute no futebol americano (ZACHRY, 2005). A falta de evidência para a superioridade do foco externo, no presente estudo, foi explicada pela pouca experiência dos participantes na tarefa analisada.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…Os resultados mostraram que a precisão do lance livre foi maior quando o arremesso foi desempenhado com o foco externo em comparação à condição de foco interno. Zachry (2005) (2001), poucos estudos têm analisado a hipótese de restrição da ação. Ademais, apesar de a vantagem da utilização do foco externo sobre o foco interno ocorrer em situações de aprendizagem (em que há realização de um período com tentativas de prática) e de desempenho (sem prática prévia da tarefa), não é claro se a utilização dos processos mais automáticos do movimento ocorreria apenas em situações de aprendizagem ou se também poderia ser verificada em condições de desempenho.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Análise da hipótese de restrição da ação e do efeito do foco de atenção em tarefa de equilíbrio em plataforma instável

2013

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RESUMOEste estudo objetivou comparar o foco interno (FI) e externo (FE) de atenção e analisar a hipótese de restrição da ação. Para tanto, o desempenho de equilíbrio em plataforma instável foi analisado concomitantemente com a tarefa de tempo de reação (probatória). A tarefa de equilíbrio dinâmico foi realizada por 22 participantes (16 e 17 anos), durante 10 s, juntamente com tarefa de tempo de reação auditivo. No FI, os participantes foram instruídos para direcionar sua atenção aos movimentos dos pés e para mantê-los na horizontal. No FE, os participantes foram instruídos a direcionar sua atenção na parte inferior da plataforma para que esta não tocasse o solo. Não foi verificada diferença no desempenho da tarefa de equilíbrio e de tempo de reação entre FI e FE (P>0,05). Tais resultados foram explicados pelos níveis de experiência dos participantes na tarefa.Palavras-chave: Atenção. Equilíbrio Postural. Tempo de reação.

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Increased movement accuracy and reduced EMG activity as the result of adopting an external focus of attention

Cited by 400 publications

References 19 publications

Effects of attentional focus on postural sway in children and adults

Effects of attentional focus on postural sway in children and adults

Response From the Authors

Análise da hipótese de restrição da ação e do efeito do foco de atenção em tarefa de equilíbrio em plataforma instável

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