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The
purpose of present research was to answer to this question that how attentional
instructions and increasing frequency of movement impress on relative phase
stability in coordination bimanual movements? Participants (N=14) practiced in
phase and anti phase under internal and external attention and increasing
frequency. In acquisition phase apply external v. internal attention and after
each trial KP were given to subjects. On delayed retention test no render
specific instruction. The results revealed that no difference between internal
and external attention about affect on phase stability on in phase and anti
phase patterns. Also increase frequency of movement lead to higher variability
in anti phase and higher stability on in phase.

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The purpose of present study was investigation of the effect of attention direction variation by instructional self-talk on performance and learning of Basketball free throw. Therefore, 33 novice female students (mean of the age=22 yr.) who had intermediate trait anxiety were selected randomly. The participants were assigned to 3 matched groups according to pretest. The self-talk with internal and external focus groups repeated the words “wrist” and “center of ring”, respectively, before each free throw during 6 sessions (2 blocks of 10 trials in each session). Control group performed the free throws without self-talk. Retention test was performed 48 hours after the acquisition phase and transfer test was done after that with spectators. In each test, throw accuracy was measured by a 5-point scale. Results of mix 2-factor and one-way ANOVA did not indicate significant differences between acquisition, retention, and transfer groups (p>.05), but the within subjects effect of external focus of attention on transfer was significant (p<.05). Therefore, it seems use of self-talk and its attentional focus variation is not necessary for novice Basketball players.

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The purpose of the present study was to study the effect of attentional focus instructions on motor skills that requiring near to maximum force production, such as shot put skill. In this experiment, twenty eight right- handed girl students with little shot put experience were selected voluntarily. They divided to two groups (internal and external focus) based on their shot put scores in pre- test (consists of 3 trial). They were asked to shot put using O׳brien technique. Experiment performed in three sessions and each session consists of three trials. Instructions referred specifically either to body movement (internal focus) or to shot (external focus). In this study, mixed ANOVA 2(group) ´ 3(session) with repeated measures on last factor is used for analyzing data. The results of this experiment showed that distance of shot put was greater in external focus group rather than internal focus group. Also interaction between attentional focus and practice session was significant (P< 0/001). In conclusion, external focus resulted in producing greater force relative to internal focus. These findings indicate that previously shown benefits of an external attentional focus generalize to motor skills requiring maximal force production.

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In the present investigation we determined the time course of attention demands during the jumping service in volleyball by the dual-task paradigm. Fourteen voluntary junior elite volleyball players performed 60 jumping serve. Jumping-serve performance (JSP) as primary task and verbal reaction time (RT) to an auditory stimulus that was administered in four probe positions (PP), as secondary task was measured. Repeated measures analyze of variance (ANOVA) showed no significant effect of the PP on JPS, indicates allocating the most attentional weight to the JSP. In second analyze, effect of PP on RT was significant, so that all probes RT were significantly higher than the base line RT, indicates attention demanding of the JSP. Results also showed that pre-shot in run-up (PP1) and after the ball strike (PP4) had the greatest attentional demands respectively while per-jump stepping ahead (PP2) and just pre-striking the ball (PP3) had respectively the lowest needs of attention. The results indicate that attention follows a non-linear pattern, in the JSP.

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In the current research, the dual-task paradigm was used to examine the temporal distribution of attentional demands during a tennis serve. Twenty experienced tennis players to performed tennis serves. The participants were asked to respond verbally to an auditory tone presented at four probe positions (PPs) during tennis serves. The probe reaction time measure of attention was administered during four segments of a tennis serve including preparation period (PP1), from onset of backswing-loading (PP2), from onset of forward movement just before stroke in the exploding period (PP3), and after the stroke during follow-through (PP4). Reaction time was significantly longer when the probe stimulus was presented at PP4 than those of the other segments. Reaction time at PP2 was significantly greater than those of PP1 and PP3. The results showed a unique non-liner distribution of attentional demands for tennis serves. It appears that monitoring of proprioceptive feedback following movement begins, and that initiation of corrective sub-movements is necessary for skillful performance of tennis serves. So it is concluded that from a motor control perspective, PP2 is the most important segment during a tennis serve.

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The present study examined the effectiveness of distal versus proximal external
foci of attentions a function of performers’ preferences for a certain focus. dart
throwing task were used, and participants (N=20) were instructed to direct their
attention either to the target (distal focus) or the flight of the dart (proximal focus).
Participants were asked to select their preferred focus after one trial under each
focus condition without knowledge of results. Subsequently, all participants
performed two 24-trial blocks, one under each condition, with focus order
(preferred first vs non-preferred)counterbalanced.
Degree of significance was regarded as p<0.05. Dart throwing accuracy was
generally enhanced when participants adopted a distal focus, regardless of focus
order or preference. The present findings provide further evidence that the
“distance” effect in attentional focus is a general phenomenon that does not
depend on individual preferences.

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The aim of this study was to examine the effects of attentional focus on accuracy,
effectiveness, and perception of the performance in volleyball jump serve of
professional players. 12 professional volleyball players completed a 4 blocks of 8
trail (4 for accuracy, and 4 for effectiveness) of jump serve in four experimental
conditions (Non-Instruction, Internal focus on hand movement, Near external
focus on ball, and Far external focus on target zone or player). The data of
accuracy, effectiveness, and self-perception of the performance was acquired by
pointed target areas, analyzing volleyball serve effectiveness method, and selfrated
manipulative check, respectively. Results of ANOVA with repeated
measures showed that accuracy scores, effectiveness, and self-perception of the
performance in far external condition was better than near external and internal
conditions. In addition, the significant differences between non-instructional and
far external conditions were observed only in self-perception of the performance.
On the whole, these results confirmed recent findings regarding the detrimental
effects of internal focus of attention and the facilitative effects of external focus of
attention on skilled performance, especially far external focus.

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The purpose of this research was comparing the effectiveness of drug therapy,
motion-perceptual exercises and their combination on attentive function in
children between 6 to 12 years old with attention- hyperactivity disorder. In this
Semi-empirical study, three groups were selected including 12 girls and boys (6-
12 years old) with attention/hyperactivity disorde. To collect data Conners
Parents Rating Scale, CBCL, Continious performance test, and Bruninks –
Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency were used. The selected motion program
included motion-perceptual exercises and was implemented over 18 sessions
within 6 weeks and the selected metions, Ritalinica & Respridoon, were
prescribed. With 95% confidence level, there was significant difference in
components of Continues Performance test (attention deficit, impulsivity and
reaction time) before and after implementing motion-perceptual exercises. Data
analysis using ANOVA to evaluate the effectiveness of each method and subjects
ANOVA to test the difference between mean scores of subjects in the Subcomponents
continuous performance test for comparison of various methods was
used in treatment. There were no significant differences in all components of CPT
test in cdifferent methods and. The results showed no significant differences with
95% confidence level between effectiveness of drug therapy groups, motionperceptual
exercises and combination method and it was confirmed that the
effectiveness of methods (attention deficit, impulsivity and reaction time) is similar
to the other.

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In this investigation the authors presented an attentional demand explanation for the choking under pressure occurred in sport skills. For this porpouse, attentional demands in tennis serve performance was compared under low and high pressure conditions by using dual task paradigm. Twenty tennis players served as participants and performed sixty serves as primary task in low and high (competition) conditions. Secondary task was to respond an auditory stimuli that presented during tennis serve in four probe positions. The results showed that on one hand, the pressure condition deteriorated tennis serves performance and on the other hand, it caused an increment in level of attentional resources and changeed pattern of attentinal demands. The results indicated that skillful athletes allocated more attention to their performance and more focusing to some positions of the skill under pressure condition compared to normal condition. It suggested that such attention demands changes can cause choking in sport. The results provide objective and stronge support for the predictions of self-focus theories proposed for choking in sports.

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Taking individuals' cognitive abilities into consideration can play an important role in the initial stages of learning motor skills. So, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of cognitive functions on feedback request strategy and learning of a perceptual motor task. A number of 60 university male students with a mean age of 22/4 years (SD = 1/99) were selected through convenience sampling and were assigned to 6 groups according to their intelligence quotient, memory quotient and attention scores. All participants performed 100 badminton long services during the practice phase, and 20 services, during the retention and transfer phases. Wechsler Revised Intelligence Test, Wechsler memory scale, Toulouse and Pieron Test, and Scott and Fax Badminton Long Service were used to collect the data on intelligence quotient, memory quotient, attention, and badminton long service performance, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures and Independent t-test (α=0/05) were used to analyze the collected data. The analyses demonstrated that intelligence quotient, memory quotient, and attention had a significant effect on decreasing feedback request frequency during the acquisition phase, and increasing badminton long service scores during the acquisition, retention and transfer phases. Therefore, it can be concluded that bearing individuals' cognitive abilities in mind during motor skills training can be beneficial.

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Focus of attention instruction has a great influence on performance and learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the predicted constrained action hypothesis in badminton backhand serv. 30 women student participants from physical education classes of University of Kharazmi are selected as sample. Participants are tested in probe task at different stage of serve after identifying base of reaction time, and level of attention demanding of different parts was measured. Then participants divided into two groups (internal and external focus of attention) and they are tested with their specific instruction again. The results revealed that first stage of serve has the most attention need (p<0/001), but there is not any difference between two groups and different serve stage in the effect of focus of attention type. Accordance with these results the constrained action hypothesis at discrete skills is not confirmed.

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One of the recent research challenges in the field of attentional focus instructions, are the study of its effects on the performance of elite athletes in continuous tasks. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of different attentional focus instructions on performance of agility in elite futsal players. Participants included 12 elite futsal players (mean age 23.91±1.56) that were selected from the first league of Division Qom via convenience sampling method. Participants were asked to perform the agility L run test under three attentional focus  instructions (the internal, external and control) in three trials. Rrepeated measure Analysis of Variance and paired t test were used for analysis of data. The results showed a significant effects of the type of attentional focus  instructions on  test execution time. Analyses showed that performance in the external focus of attention was higher than the internal focus conditions. Also, the result demonstrated that there is no significant difference between internal focus of attention and control conditions, and also between external focus of attention and control condition. The results of this study provide evidence that in skilled athletes, executing the continuous tasks improve through verbal instructions that conduct focus of attention externally.
 

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The aim of this study was to investigate the role of attention in skilled performance in real conditions, using a mixed-method study. Fourteen expert judo player participated in the study. The stimulated recall was used in the qualitative phase of the study to explore athletes’ attention in real competitive conditions. In the quantitative portion of the study, number and percentages of foci in preparation phase, execution phase, and total (preparation +execution) were associated with performance movement time. Our results indicated that while attention during execution phase was not associated with performance time, attention in the preparation phase was associated with better performance time. specifically, less attentional cues with higher percentages of focus on the opponent resulted in more quick performances. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that focus on opponent during preparation phase is associated with superior technique execution during real competitions.

 

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​Many studies have shown the effectiveness of verbal instructions and observational training on the improvement of children’s motor skills; however, there is not enough information about the simultaneous effects of these two variables. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of attention instructions during observation of the model on gaze behavior and accuracy of overarm throwing in children. 24 children 7 to 10 years of age with normal growth selected purposefully and randomly divided into two internal and external attentions during modeling groups. Training in both groups included observation 10 times skilled model overarm throwing’s film with eye movement recording, with the difference that before it each group received its own instruction. The results of mix-ANOVA and paired and independent t-tests showed that both groups showed a significant increase from the pre-test to post-test in the accuracy (p=0.001; p=0.001) and duration of the quiet eye (p=0.005; p=0.001) of overarm throwing. In the post-test, the external attention during modeling group compared to the internal attention during modeling had significantly higher accuracy (p=0.01) and longer quiet eye duration (p=0.001). Also, the external attention during modeling had more percentage viewing time to relevant external cues (ball and trajectory). Therefore, directing visual attention to movement effect of observed pattern cause improvement in motor performance and visual-motor expertise in children.