Mahdiyeh Gharelar; Masumeh Shojaei; Hasan Mohammadzadeh
Abstract
Psychological states affect focus of attention and play a mediating role in its effect on motor performance and learning. The present study investigated the effect of practice under psychological pressure and attention focusing with instruction on learning billiard shot. Participants were 48 female volunteer ...
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Psychological states affect focus of attention and play a mediating role in its effect on motor performance and learning. The present study investigated the effect of practice under psychological pressure and attention focusing with instruction on learning billiard shot. Participants were 48 female volunteer students (19-23 years old) who were randomly selected and assigned to 4 experimental groups (internal focus under high and low pressure, external focus under high and low pressure). The groups practiced for 8 sessions after the pretest. Acquisition test was performed in the last session of practice, and the retention test was conducted with 2 and 10 days of delay after the last practice session. The accuracy of the shots was scored according to the distance of the ball from the pit. The results of U Mann-Whitney test showed priority of internal attention in the acquisition and 10-day delay retention tests and priority of practice under low pressure in 10-day delay retention test (P<0.05). The results of Kruskal–Wallis test and pairwise comparisons indicated priority of the acquisition of internal attention under high pressure on external attention under high pressure and the priority of delayed retention of internal attention under low pressure on external attention under high pressure (P<0.05). It seems that given the nature of skill in terms of unchanged environmental conditions and high accuracy and attention requirements especially in the early stages of learning, practice under low psychological pressure conditions and internal focusing will result in more delayed retention for novice people
Nastaran Naderirad; Ali Akbar Jaberi Moghadam; Shahzad Tahmasebi Boroujeni
Abstract
Postural control is one of the important abilities in daily life and sport activities of human beings and the importance of focus of attention is always discussed in this issue. In this regard, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the instructions of focus of attention ...
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Postural control is one of the important abilities in daily life and sport activities of human beings and the importance of focus of attention is always discussed in this issue. In this regard, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the instructions of focus of attention of supra-postural task on performance and learning of postural control in girls aged between 9 and 12. 45 female students in an elementary school in Malayer city participated in this study and were randomly divided into 3 groups: external attention, internal attention and control by drawing of lots. The participants were asked to maintain their postural control by instructions on supra-postural task. Instructions included focus of attention on the bar they held horizontally (external focus), on their hands (internal focus) and no instructions (control). The results of analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that learning process in external focus group was significant compared with the internal focus (P=0.049) and control (P=0.005) groups. However, no significant differences were found in learning between internal focus and control groups (P=0.345). It can be concluded that external attention instruction on supra-postural task led to better postural control than internal attention instruction.
Hamid Salehi; Zahra Zamanpour Boroujeni
Abstract
This study examined the effects of practice scheduling and attentional focus on learning a sport skill. 40 female high school students (mean age = 16.02 ± 0.88 years) practiced dart-throwing skill under either blocked or random practice schedules while their attention was directed ...
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This study examined the effects of practice scheduling and attentional focus on learning a sport skill. 40 female high school students (mean age = 16.02 ± 0.88 years) practiced dart-throwing skill under either blocked or random practice schedules while their attention was directed to either the skill (dart scores) or an irrelevant cue (auditory tones) using dual-tasks. Analysis of variance were conducted at baseline, practice phase and a delayed transfer test. Results demonstrated a significant score improvement from baseline to delayed transfer test for all groups. Furthermore, the greatest improvement from baseline to delayed transfer test was observed in random-irrelevant condition compared with the other conditions. In conclusion, the current study provided new information about the interactive relationship between practice scheduling and attentional focus during learning a sport skill.
Borhanaldin Ghari; Hasan Mohammadzadeh; Jalal Dehghanizadeh
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance and the perception of size of target under internal and external attention focus conditions as well as the relationship between the initial perception of the size of target and performance. 70 male students (mean age ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance and the perception of size of target under internal and external attention focus conditions as well as the relationship between the initial perception of the size of target and performance. 70 male students (mean age of 21±1.6 years) voluntarily participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to internal and external attention focus based on the type of attentional instruction. Subjects performed dart throwing task in 20 trials. The target size estimation test was performed before the trials, after the last trial and after the first successful trail. Pearson correlation coefficient was used for data analysis. The results showed a significant and positive relationship between the performance and perception of target size in external focus group. But in internal focus group, a significant relationship between performance and perception of the size of the target was not observed. Also, there was no significant relationship between the initial perception and performance in both groups. It is suggested that the focus of attention can be a mediating factor for action-specific perception phenomenon.
Ghoobad Mehrabeyan; Ali Heirani; Mahmoud Gholipoor
Abstract
This study aimed at examining the effect of different focus of attention instructions and cognitive styles on the learning of dart throwing skill. 80 children were randomly selected and divided into four equal groups: a) field independent-external attention, b) field independent-internal attention, c) ...
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This study aimed at examining the effect of different focus of attention instructions and cognitive styles on the learning of dart throwing skill. 80 children were randomly selected and divided into four equal groups: a) field independent-external attention, b) field independent-internal attention, c) field dependent-external attention and d) field independent-internal attention based on their pretest scores (10 trials of dart throwing). Then, in acquisition phase, they practiced 6 blocks of 10 trials of dart throwing task with regard to their focus of attention and cognitive style. Retention test was conducted 24 hours after the acquisition phase similar to pretest. After ensuring data normality by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, ANOVA 4*6 with repeated measures was conducted on block factor and one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test was applied in acquisition and retention phases respectively. Results showed significant differences in scores of all groups in all phases (P<0.05) and those with field independent style had better performance in external focus of attention than internal focus of attention and those with field dependent style had better performance in internal focus of attention than external focus of attention. In other words, cognitive styles must be noted during recruiting the focuses of attention.
