Scheduled for Motor Behavior: Recent Research in Motor Behavior: Theory and Practice, Tuesday, April 9, 2002, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM, San Diego Convention Center: Room 7A


Feedback and Attentional Focus

Gabrielle Wulf, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

Several recent studies have demonstrated that the learner’s focus of attention induced, for example, by the instructions given to him or her has a considerable impact on motor skill learning. This presentation will specifically focus on the effectiveness of feedback as a function of the learner’s attentional focus. Studies will be presented that examined the learning of complex motor skills under conditions where the feedback either referred to the body movements (“internal” focus) or to the movement effects (“external” focus”). As will be demonstrated, feedback statements inducing an external focus produce more effective learning than those inducing an internal focus – in both novices and advanced performers. Moreover, feedback frequency seems to interact with attentional focus in that learning is degraded if internal-focus feedback is provided frequently, relative to feedback provided less frequently, while this is not the case for external-focus feedback. These findings suggest that there might be a need to revise current views regarding the role of feedback for motor learning.

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