Practice-Not Task Difficulty-Mediated the Focus of Attention Effect on a Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff Task

Area of Science:

• Motor Learning
• Cognitive Psychology
• Human Factors

Background:

• External focus (attending to movement effects) is generally beneficial for motor performance and learning.
• Prior research presents conflicting findings on whether attentional focus effects vary with task difficulty.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how attentional focus (external vs. internal) interacts with practice in motor skill acquisition.
• To examine the influence of practice on the effectiveness of different attentional focus strategies.

Main Methods:

• Three groups (external focus, internal focus, control) of 20 participants each practiced a Fitts reciprocal tapping task over two days.
• Attentional focus was manipulated via instructions: external (focus on movement effect), internal (focus on body part), or control (focus on performance goal).
• Performance was assessed using movement time (MT) and error taps (Err) at initial performance and after learning (retention/transfer phase).

Main Results:

• The internal focus group exhibited more errors than the control group specifically in the retention/transfer phase.
• No significant differences in movement time (MT) were observed between any of the groups.
• The effect of attentional focus on error rates differed between the initial performance phase and the retention/transfer phase, supporting the hypothesis that practice mediates these effects.

Conclusions:

• Practice significantly influences the effectiveness of attentional focus strategies in motor skill acquisition.
• Internal focus may lead to increased errors after a period of practice compared to a control condition.
• Findings suggest that attentional focus interventions should consider the role of practice and potentially leverage information theory for optimizing motor learning.