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The use of virtual reality as a training mechanism continues to gain popularity as equipment becomes more readily available. It is important to not only understand the relationship between virtual reality training and motor learning, but to understand the extent to which practice manipulations enhance performance in virtual reality. One common practice manipulation is adopting an external focus of attention, which has been shown to facilitate motor learning in a variety tasks. The purposes of the present study were to investigate the effectiveness of an external focus of attention and the effects of target occlusion times in virtual reality. Fifty-six participants performed a single-leg long jump during baseline, training, and retention and were randomly assigned to either an external or control group. During baseline and retention, all participants performed the task in both a virtual reality (VR) and real world (RW) environments. Training was all done in VR where participants were provided an external focus cue or no cue. Results revealed that individuals jumped significantly further in RW than VR in both baseline and retention (p < .001). During training, the external group jumped significantly further than control (p < .05). These results suggest that the adoption of an external focus improves performance during training. However, we did not see a benefit of an external focus in retention. These findings should be taken into consideration when using virtual reality as a training tool when performance must be transferred to a real world environment., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Rationale: We have previously demonstrated that subchronic (five daily administrations of 2.6 mg/kg PCP) and chronic intermittent administration of 2.6 mg/kg PCP to rats produces hypofrontality and other neurochemical changes akin to schizophrenia pathology (Cochran et al., Neuropsychopharmacology, 28:265-275, 2003)., Objectives: We sought to determine whether behavioral alterations related to discrete aspects of schizophrenia are also induced by these PCP treatment regimes., Materials and Methods: Following administration of vehicle or PCP according to the protocols described above, rats were assessed for attentional set shifting ability, prepulse inhibition (PPI), or social interaction and the locomotor response to a challenge dose of amphetamine., Results: Ability to shift attentional set was impaired 72 h after the last PCP administration following the subchronic and chronic intermittent treatment regimes. PPI was disrupted after each acute administration of PCP in animals under the subchronic treatment regime. However, PPI deficits were not sustained 72 h after the last of five daily administrations. In subchronic and chronic PCP treated animals, no change was found in social interaction behavior, and there was little change in baseline or amphetamine-stimulated locomotor activity, employed as an indicator of dopaminergic hyperfunction., Conclusions: The temporally distinct behavioral effects of these PCP treatment regimes suggest that PPI deficits relate directly to acute NMDA receptor antagonism, whereas the more enduring set shifting deficits relate to the longer term consequences of NMDA receptor blockade. Therefore, these subchronic and chronic PCP treatment regimes produce hypofrontality (Cochran et al., Neuropsychopharmacology, 28:265-275, 2003) and associated prefrontal cortex-dependent deficits in behavioral flexibility which mirror core deficits in schizophrenia.