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

Abstract

The influence of external focus instruction characteristics on children's motor performance

Superiority of external attentional focus for motor performance and learning: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

“…A distal EF has also been shown to increase the degree of automaticity in movement control, as measured by the mean power frequency of balance adjustments (McNevin et al, 2003). The tasks used in distance effect evaluations encompassed a wide range of activities such as jumping (Coker, 2018; Marchant, Griffiths, et al, 2018; Porter et al, 2013), golf putting (Kearney, 2015), musical performance (Stambaugh, 2017), dart throwing (Lohse et al, 2014; McKay & Wulf, 2012), and landing mechanics (Raisbeck & Yamada, 2019). Together, these findings suggest that the distance effect is reliable and generalizable.…”

A test of optimal theory on young adolescents' standing long jump performance and motivation

“…Based on a repeated measures factorial design, with an estimated effect size of ηp 2 = 0.25 (i.e., a large effect size) (Marchant, Griffiths, et al, 2018), an alpha level of 0.05, and a power value of 90%, a sample size of 7 participants was identified as providing adequate statistical power using G*power software (Version.3.1;Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2007). In total, 48 male PE students aged 11-13 years participated in the study.…”

“…Jumps were performed on an anti-slip jump mat (Eveque; England) that included measurement lines in 2 cm increments to a distance of 250 cm. The primary outcome measure was jump distance (Marchant, Griffiths, et al, 2018) and secondary outcome measures were the motivational characteristics: self-efficacy (Ghorbani, 2019), perceived competence (Teixeira da Silva, Thofehrn Lessa, & Chiviacowsky, 2017), task effort (Hutchinson et al, 2008), task importance (Gonçalves et al, 2018) and positive affect (Lemos et al, 2017). A manipulation check was also completed verbally by participants after each experimental condition to determine comprehension and adherence to the instructions (Perreault & French, 2016).…”

“…In standing long jump tasks (the task used in the present study), the benefits of an EF have been well-documented (e.g., Asadi, Farsi, Abdoli, Saemi, & Porter, 2019;Coker, 2016;Coker, 2018;Marchant, Griffiths, Partridge, Belsley, & Porter, 2018;Porter, Ostrowski, Nolan, & Wu, 2010). However, recent studies have suggested that the presence of an external cue (i.e., a cone) may have augmented the effects of an EF by promoting a concrete movement goal and increased the perceived attainability of the movement outcome (e.g., enhancing expectations of successful performance) in comparison to an EF which did not promote a visual cue (Marchant, Griffiths, et al, 2018). Effectively, EF conditions which do not promote a clear visual goal are sub-optimal to performance as the presence of a visual task goal (i.e., a cone to jump towards) can have added motivational effects which may contribute to efficient goal-action coupling (Coker, 2016;Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016).…”

“…Effectively, EF conditions which do not promote a clear visual goal are sub-optimal to performance as the presence of a visual task goal (i.e., a cone to jump towards) can have added motivational effects which may contribute to efficient goal-action coupling (Coker, 2016;Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016). Marchant, Griffiths, et al (2018) reported that children's standing long jump performance was better under a distal-EF (jump as close to the cone as possible) compared to a proximal-EF (jump as far past the start line as possible), an internal focus, and a control group. Whilst the benefits were explained by the constrained action hypothesis (e.g., greater motor automaticity), the placement of a cone at the end of the jump mat (and explicit EF cueing) in the distal-EF condition inadvertently emphasised the task goal and thereby enhanced expectancies by providing a clear and meaningful external visual cue (e.g., an EF; Coker, 2016).…”