Impact of Attentional Focus on Dance Performance: A Critically Appraised Topic

Area of Science:

• Dance science and motor learning.
• Cognitive psychology in sports performance.

Background:

• Dancers frequently experience injuries, with attentional focus strategies used in training and rehabilitation.
• External attentional focus (outcome-oriented) is suggested to enhance performance over internal focus (body-movement-oriented).
• Dancers often naturally adopt an internal focus, yet research on its impact is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how external versus internal attentional focus influences performance in dancers.
• To synthesize existing evidence on attentional focus strategies in dance.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review and meta-analysis of quasi-experimental studies.
• Inclusion of four original studies examining attentional focus in dancers.

Main Results:

• External focus improved performance in less experienced dancers but not in experienced dancers.
• No significant performance difference was observed between external and internal focus in experienced dancers.
• Internal focus did not negatively impact performance in several studies, and external focus yielded positive motivational effects.

Conclusions:

• Low-quality evidence suggests external focus benefits less experienced dancers and enhances motivation.
• Attentional focus type does not appear to affect experienced dancers' performance.
• Clinicians can tailor feedback, favoring external focus for its psychological benefits, based on dancer experience level.