Abstract
Research suggests that implicit strategies adopted during learning help prevent breakdown of automatic processes and subsequent performance decrements associated with the presence of pressure. According to the Constrained Action Hypothesis, automaticity of movement is promoted when adopting an external focus of attention. The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate if learning with an external focus of attention can enhance performance under subsequent pressure situations through promoting implicit learning and automaticity. Since previous research has generally used outcome measures of performance, the current study adopted measures of movement production. Specifically, we calculated within-subject variability in trajectory velocity and distance traveled every 10% of movement time. This detailed kinematic analysis allowed investigation into some of the previously unexplored mechanisms responsible for the benefits of adopting an external focus of attention. Novice participants performed a 2.5 m golf putt. Following a pre-test, participants were randomly assigned to one of three focus groups (internal, external, control). Participants then completed 400 acquisition trials over two consecutive days before being subjected to both a low anxiety and high anxiety (HA) transfer test. Dependent variables included variability, number of successful putts and mean radial error. Results revealed that variability was greater in the internal compared to the external and control groups. Putting performance revealed that all groups increased performance following acquisition. However, only the control group demonstrated a decrement in performance in the HA transfer test. These findings suggest that adopting an appropriate focus of attention during learning can prevent choking; with an external focus inhibiting the breakdown of automatic processes and an internal focus acting as a self-focus learning strategy and thus desensitizing individuals to anxiety effects.
Highlights
Previous research suggests that strategies adopted during learning which direct a performer’s focus of attention away from their movements can help alleviate performance decrements typically associated with the presence of pressure (Masters, 1992; Hardy et al, 1996; Jackson et al, 2006)
Pre-test, low anxiety (LA), and high anxiety (HA) Results revealed a significant main effect for experimental phase (F 2,52 = 16.45, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.39) and a significant group × experimental phase interaction (F 4,52 = 2.80, p < 0.05, η2 = 0.18). Breakdown of this revealed a significant decrease in number of successful putts (NSP) from LA to HA for participants in the control group, a significant increase in NSP from LA to HA for participants in the external focus group and no change in NSP from LA to HA for participants in the internal focus group
The purpose of the current study was three fold; 1, to investigate the effects of learning under different attentional focus conditions on subsequent anxious performance; 2, to determine if the positive effects of learning with an external focus of attention on anxious performance could be explained by the nature of the explicit rules generated during learning; 3, to adopt dependent measures that allowed investigation into the effects of the different attentional foci on movement kinematics
Summary
Previous research suggests that strategies adopted during learning which direct a performer’s focus of attention away from their movements can help alleviate performance decrements typically associated with the presence of pressure (Masters, 1992; Hardy et al, 1996; Jackson et al, 2006). The current investigation endeavored to inhibit the undesirable effects of choking during anxious performance through manipulating attentional focus during the learning of a golf putt and measuring both movement production and movement outcome. Distraction theories (Eysenck, 1992) suggest that the detrimental effect of anxiety on performance is due to worry consuming the central executive component of working memory, which would normally be used in information processing. Research by Fitts and Posner (1967) supports this notion, ascertaining that conscious control is redundant once skills reach the autonomous phase of learning and according to Masters’ (1992) conscious processing hypothesis (CPH) can be detrimental to performance
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