Abstract

OLIVEIRA, Francisco de Assis Furtado de; PACHECO, Matheus Maia  and  DREWS, Ricardo. Effects of different foci of attention in the motor performance of a task agility in children. Motri. [online]. 2015, vol.11, n.1, pp.108-117. ISSN 1646-107X.  https://doi.org/10.6063/motricidade.6882.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether instructions external focus of attention compared to internal focus and no particular focus differently affect motor performance of children. Additionally, we attempted to measure the adoption of the prescribed instructions on the focus of attention by the participants. Twenty-three children, of both sexes, mean age 10.04 ± .06 years performed a motor task agility in three different conditions: external focus, internal focus and no particular focus. They performed five trials of practice each experimental condition on different days and had their times recorded movement. After each trial, all participants answered a question regarding the focus of attention used. The analysis showed superiority of condition without specific focus and internal focus in relation to external focus condition. Regarding adoption of the focus of attention, the children used the priority focus of attention instructed by the experimenter. However, participants in the no particular focus condition used external focus (65%) in most of the attempts. We conclude that the instructions related to the external focus of attention not benefited the motor performance of a task agility in children.

Keywords : motor control; motor performance; external focus; internal focus; instructions; movement time.

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