The present study was designed to fill a gap in the literature on attentional focus and sports performance. Specifically, in contrast to most previous studies in which an external focus was directed at an implement, we used a gymnastics skill that did not involve the use of an implement. Furthermore, while most studies used only outcome measures of performance, we also assessed movement quality. Twelve-year-old gymnasts performed a maximum vertical jump with a 180-degree turn while airborne, with their hands crossing in front of their chest during the turn under three different focus conditions. Under the external focus condition, participants were asked to focus on the direction in which a tape marker, which was attached to their chest, was pointing after the turn. Under the internal focus condition, they were asked to focus on the direction in which their hands were pointing after the turn. Under the control condition, no focus instructions were given. The external focus condition resulted in both superior movement form and greater jump height than did the other two conditions, which produced comparable results. The present findings show that, similar to other tasks, the performance of form-based skills can be enhanced relatively easily by appropriate external focus instructions.

Purpose: Studies have suggested that the use of visual information may underlie the benefit associated with an external focus of attention. Recent studies exploring this connection have primarily relied on motor tasks that involve manipulation of an object (object projection). The present study examined whether vision influences the effect of attentional focus on the performance of body movements through space (body projection). Method: Participants (N = 24, M_age = 25.0 ± 3.3 years) performed a maximum vertical jump in a room with a 4-m ceiling under full-vision and no-vision conditions. Additionally, participants performed 3 trials under each of 3 attentional conditions, presented in a counterbalanced order: external focus (ExF; “concentrate on the ceiling and try to touch it”), internal focus (InF; “concentrate on your fingers and try to bring them up as high as possible”), and control (Con; no-focus instruction). Results: Results indicated that regardless of visual condition, a statistically significant difference was observed such that participants in the ExF condition (30.93 ± 8.37 cm) jumped significantly higher than participants in both the InF (30.09 ± 8.66 cm, p = .004, d = 0.68) and Con (30.23 ± 8.73 cm, p = .002, d = 0.57) conditions. Furthermore, jump height was overall significantly higher in the full-vision condition compared with the no-vision condition (p = .004, d = 0.47). Importantly, there was no interaction between ExF and vision. Conclusion: The present findings demonstrate the benefit of an ExF on a body projection task and further provide evidence of the independence of ExF and visual information.

Background: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2nd edition (MABC-2) is used for the assessment of motor proficiency and identification of motor impairments in 3-16 year old children. Although there are some gender differences in the motor development of children, in the MABC-2 test the same tasks and norms are used for both genders. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine gender differences in performance of motor tasks involved in the MABC-2 test in adolescents aged 15 to 16. Methods: Participants (N = 121, 50 boys and 71 girls, mean age 16.0 ± 0.5 years) randomly recruited from schools were assessed using the MABC-2 test. The Mann-Whitney U test and effect size r were used to analyse gender differences in performance outcome in the particular motor tasks of the MABC-2 test. Results: As compared to the boys, the girls achieved a significantly shorter time of completion of the unimanual coordination task executed with their preferred hand (p < .001, r = .33) and significantly fewer errors in the graphomotor task (p = .001, r = .29). On the other hand, the boys achieved significantly better results than the girls in the aiming and catching tasks (p ≤ .030, r = .20-.33). Performance in the dynamic balance tasks was not significantly different between genders. The girls demonstrated a significantly longer duration of static balance in one-leg standing as compared to the boys (p = .011, r = .23). For the motor tasks some statistical differences were found, however the effect size of the gender on performance was small or medium. Conclusions: The findings of the study suggest that gender could be a significant factor of performance in the motor tasks associated with object control such as aiming and catching. Other domains, such as manual dexterity and balance, seem to be influenced by gender to a small extent

The performance benefits of adopting an external relative to an internal focus of attention have been demonstrated for many different targeting and balance tasks. No study has examined attentional focus effects for interceptive motor skills. Also, the majority of studies have used adult participants. In this study, children (mean age: 8.75 years, SD=0.79; 15 girls, 9 boys) were required to catch tennis balls in the frontal plane under the external focus (EF), internal focus (IF), and control (Cont) conditions. Participants were asked to stand behind a yellow line (2 × 100 cm), 15 m apart from a tennis ball throwing machine. In a within-participant design, participants performed 10 trials under each IF (“concentrate on your hands”), EF (“concentrate on the ball”), or Cont (no focus instructions) conditions. The order of conditions was counterbalanced. Performance data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on attentional focus conditions (internal, external, and control) (alpha=.05). Catching performance was significantly different and more effective in the EF (M=1.53, SD=0.25) than in the IF (M=1.39, SD=0.35) condition, while both EF and IF were not significantly different from the Cont (M=1.49, SD=0.28) condition. The current findings suggest that the external focus of attention is more beneficial, compared to the internal focus, to motor performance of an interceptive skill in children.