Does the Attentional Focus Adopted by Swimmers Affect Their Performance?

Abstract

The study examined effects of attentional focus on swim speed in expert swimmers. In previous studies, an external focus directed at the movement effect has been shown to enhance automaticity, relative to an internal focus directed at the body movements (or no particular focus). The swimmers in the present study were given focus instructions related to the arm stroke in crawl swimming. All participants swam 3 lengths of a 25-yard pool, once under each of 3 conditions. In the external focus condition, they were instructed to focus on “pushing the water back”, in the internal focus conditions they were asked to focus on “pulling your hands back”, and in the control condition they were not given instructions. Swim times were similar in the control and external focus conditions, but they were significantly slower with an internal focus. Furthermore, questionnaire results revealed that most swimmers focused on the overall outcome (e.g., speed) in the control condition, whereas others indicated that they focused on specific body parts. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated that those in the latter group had slower swim times in the control condition than those with a focus on the outcome. Overall, the results provide converging evidence that a body-related, internal focus hampers performance. Moreover, when movements are already controlled automatically at a high skill level (and the focus is on the outcome), external focus instructions may be superfluous.