Effect of different attentional instructions on the acquisition of a serial movement task

Recent research in attentional focus of instruction has predominantly over-emphasized the investigation of discrete and continuous skills rather than serial skills. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the effect of different attentional focus instructions on learning a serial skill task (i.e., taekwondo routine) in novice learners. It was predicted that the use of movement outcome instructions could enhance the learning of a serial skill as previously supported in studies examining the acquisition of discrete and continuous skills. Thirteen female participants were recruited for this study and were assigned to either movement form condition - control group (n = 7) or movement outcome condition - treatment group (n = 6). All participants underwent 12 practice sessions over an 8-week period with their respective instructional conditions with each session lasting 30 minutes. Video recording of the serial skill tasks (hand techniques, kicking techniques and 10-step routine) were captured at "the-twelfth-training session", "after 1-week", and "after 1-month". It was found that more participants in the treatment group obtained a higher score in all three serial skill tasks, especially in Mastery component of 'Kicking' techniques at 'after 1-week' (p < 0.05, r = 0.57). This study suggested that movement outcome instructions have positive medium effect on balance control for serial skill task, especially in kicking actions. Key PointsMovement outcome (MO) instructions have a positive impact on learning a serial task, especially in kicking actions.More functional coordination during movement executions for MO participants.Benefits for MO instructions may be individual specific.