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Previous research has shown practice within an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment improves performance in a physical environment. Increased user motivation is one possible advantage of practicing in VR. One recent study showed that an enriched gaming environment led to higher levels of engagement, resulting in a direct learning benefit. The purpose of this study was to compare the intrinsic motivation, engagement, and transfer of learning between VR practice and physical practice of the same motor skill. Participants (n = 61) were randomly assigned to a physical (n = 30) or a VR practice group (n = 31) in which they performed a golf putting task. Analyses showed VR practice led to a significantly greater increase in average intrinsic motivation inventory score than physical practice. Analyses for performance showed there was a significant (p < 0.001) improvement in accuracy (i.e., radial error) from pre- to posttest, but the two groups did not differ. Overall, these results partially support our hypotheses suggesting that VR practice led to a greater increase in motivation compared with physical practice. Additionally, these results suggest that VR practice was similarly effective at improving accuracy compared with physical practice. Future research directions are discussed.

Sports, along with nearly all facets of life, have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Basketball Association quickly adopted a unique method to finish the 2019-2020 regular season and playoffs. The entire league quarantined for months in what was known as the "NBA bubble" where games were played in spectator-less arenas. During this time, increases in shooting accuracy were reported, suggesting that free throws and field goals were made at recordbreaking levels. This study examined differences in free throw shooting accuracy with and without spectators. Archival data were retrieved and analyzed to evaluate the potential differences. Free throw shooting accuracy with and without spectators were examined in multiple analyses. Our examination revealed free throw percentages were significantly greater in spectator-less arenas compared with the 2018 and 2019 seasons with spectators. Changes of the environmental characteristics, due to spectator-less arenas, were likely contributors to the improved free throw phenomenon reported in this study.

Subtle instructional changes that direct attentional focus can lead to changes in performance, potentially hindering a fitness assessment. An external attentional focus has been found to improve motor performance, however less is known about instructional effects on performance and the physiological response during an isometric endurance test. To better understand how attentional focus effects endurance fitness tests, two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 showed that an external focus instruction (68.41 sec, SD = 34.20) led to significantly higher endurance performance compared to an internal instruction (60.22 sec, SD = 34.54). Experiment 2 revealed that heart rate during the internal condition (M = 117.51 bpm, SD = 14.19) was higher compared to the external (M = 114.17 bmp, SD = 13.19) and control (M = 115.40 bpm, SD = 16.85). Additionally, performance was greater during external instructions (M = 107.01 sec, SD = 46.35) compared to internal (M = 95.25 sec, SD = 38.19).

This study examined the test-retest reliability of the standing long jump (SLJ) and the countermovement jump (CMJ) following consistent and non-consistent attentional focus cuing instructions in physically active young adults (n = 30). The systematic error (as standardize change in mean), random error (as typical error), the Bland and Altman method (limits of agreement, LOA), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and two-way ANOVA with repeated measures were used to evaluate the reliability of measurements. Jump distance in the SLJ and jump height in the CMJ demonstrated acceptable reliability within the consistent and non-consistent attentional conditions. However, the consistent attentional condition resulted in smaller systematic errors, lower random errors, stronger ICCs, and narrower LOAs in comparison to the non-consistent condition. The present findings indicate that providing a consistent focus of attention instructions produced more reliable jump distance and jump height compared to providing a non-consistent focus of attention instructions to physically active adults.

Purpose: Research has demonstrated that verbal instructions directing attention externally (i.e., toward the effect of the movement) significantly enhance motor skill performance, and this effect is enhanced when the distance of the external focus relative to the body is increased. However, few studies have investigated this distance-of-focus effect in children. The present study aimed to examine the effect of increasing the distance of an external focus on children's motor performance in 2 experiments. Method: In Experiment 1, children performed standing long jumps under 3 instructional conditions (control, internal attentional focus, and external attentional focus). In Experiment 2, children performed standing long jumps under 4 instructional conditions (control, internal, proximal external attentional focus, and distal external attentional focus). Results: In Experiment 1, results revealed a statistically significant jump distance advantage for the external focus condition. In Experiment 2, a statistically significant jump distance advantage for the distal external focus condition was found. However, instructional and task characteristics beyond distance of focus may have been influential. Conclusions: External focus instructions benefit children's jump performance, but specifically when they are supported by a concrete movement goal reflecting relevant performance criteria. These findings highlight the importance of examining the content of instructions and relevant task characteristics provided to children beyond attentional focus to consider their motivational characteristics.

Background and purpose: Attentional focus cues have been shown to impact motor performance of adults and children. Specifically, an external focus of attention results in improved motor learning and performance as compared to adopting an internal focus of attention. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an internal and external attentional focus cue on children's object control skill performance during a commonly used motor skill assessment. Methods: Using a within-participant design, a total of 44 children (M[subscript age] = 7.7 years, 20 boys and 24 girls) completed all three attentional focus conditions. The object control subscale of the Test of Gross Motor Development-2nd Edition (TGMD-2; Ulrich, 2000. "Test of Gross Motor Development-2." Austin: Pro-Ed.) served as the motor skill assessment in present study. The TGMD-2 is a normed and criteria-referenced assessment frequently used to assess fundamental motor skill competence in children. The object control subtest of the TGMD-2 assesses a child's ability to complete six fundamental motor skills--striking a stationary ball, stationary dribble, catch, kick, overhand throw, and underhand roll. All participants completed the object control subtest of the TGMD-2 under three different attentional focus conditions: baseline (i.e. neutral focus), internal, and external. The internal cue focused on movement performance and the external cue focused on movement outcome. In all three conditions, a video demonstration of proper skill performance was used to ensure no difference in visual demonstration, but the overlaying audio was changed to encompass each attentional focus condition. Children's motor performance was recorded and later coded by a single researcher blinded to the study. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to determine if children's motor scores changed among the three conditions. Results: Findings demonstrated that children's performance differed among the three conditions (F[subscript (2,43)] = 3.5, p < 0.05). Post hoc analysis revealed that children scored significantly better in the external cue condition compared to the baseline (difference = 1.98, p < 0.05). No other significant differences were present. Conclusion: Children performed better when given a verbal instruction to focus their attention externally rather than a verbal instruction with no attentional focus cue. No significant differences exist between the internal and external focus condition or between the neutral and internal condition. Our findings align with the literature and support that external attentional focus cues have a positive effect on motor performance. From a teaching and learning standpoint, using consistent instructions appears to be essential for young learners. Slight changes in verbal cues can have a significant effect on how well children execute fundamental motor skills.

Changes in the workrate and seat position have been linked to changes in internal knee extension moment. However, there is limited research on effects of those changes on knee kinetics in recumbent bike. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different seat positions and workrates on KAbM, knee extension moment and perceived effort during stationary recumbent cycling. Fifteen cyclists cycled on a recumbent ergometer in 6 test conditions of pedalling in far, medium and close seat positions in each of the two workrates of 60 and 100 W at the cadence of 80 RPM. A three-dimensional motion analysis system and a pair of instrumented pedals collected kinematic and kinetic data. A 3 ×2 repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine the effect of seat positions and workrates on selected variables of interest. Different seat positions did not change either peak KAbM (p = 0.592) or knee extension moment (p = 0.132). Increased workrates significantly increased peak KAbM (p <0.001 and η p 2 =0.794) and knee extension moment (p <0.001 and η p 2 =0.722). This study showed that the far or close seat position did not increase frontal-plane or overall knee joint loading and provided evidence for prescribing recumbent bike for healthy population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several experiments have demonstrated that focusing a performer's attention externally (i.e., on the effects of a movement) rather than internally (i.e., on specific parts of the body) enhances performance when the task requires object manipulation (i.e., throwing a ball to a target). The purpose of this experiment was to investigate if whole-body movements (e.g., standing long jump), without object manipulation, are influenced by an internal or external focus of attention. After participants (n = 120) completed a short warm-up, they were assigned to either an internal (INT) or external (EXT) focus of attention group. All participants completed 5 standing long jumps separated by a 2-minute seated rest. Before each jump, participants in the INT condition were read the following instructions: 'When you are attempting to jump as far as possible, I want you to focus your attention on extending your knees as rapidly as possible.' Participants in the EXT condition were read the following instructions: 'When you are attempting to jump as far as possible, I want you to focus your attention on jumping as far past the start line as possible.' An independent samples t-test revealed a significant difference (p = 0.003) in the average distance jumped between the EXT (187.37 [+ or -] 42.66 cm) group and the INT group (177.33 [+ or -] 40.97 cm). The results suggest that providing instructions that focus attention externally enhances standing long-jump performance compared with instructions that focus attention internally. This finding is valuable for strength and conditioning professionals that use jumping tests to evaluate performance. KEY WORDS verbal instructions, motor learning, coaching cues, motor control

This study investigated kinematic and kinetic variable changes in the power snatch (PS) after 4 weeks of training and the use of summary feedback. Twenty-four collegiate football players participated as subjects in this study. The subjects were pretested for their 1-repetition maximum (1RM) and were separated into feedback (FG; n = 12) and control (CG; n = 12) groups. The FG was provided with augmented feedback (AF) during power snatch training sessions, which took place 3 times per week for 4 weeks. The AF is defined as information that is received in addition to what is naturally available. Variables measured include peak force (PF), peak power (PP), and several kinematic variables at 50, 70, and 90% of the subjects' pre-1RM. The PF was improved at 50% 1RM from 567 [+ or 1] 202 to 769 [+ or -] 230 N, at 70% from 725 [+ or -] 186 to 890 [+ or -] 199 N, and at 90% from 822 [+ or -] 197 to 1008 [+ or -] 201 N in the FG (p [less than or equal to] 0.05). The PP was increased at 50% 1RM from 2061 [+ or -] 562 to 2538 [+ or -] 498 W, at 70% from 2321 [+ or -] 743 to 2754 [+ or -] 629 W, and at 90% from 2076 [+ or -] 437 to 2491 [+ or -] 526 W in the FG (p [less than or equal to] 0.05). Variables with respect to bar path kinematics improved significantly. No improvements in kinetics or kinematics were noted in the CG. These results indicate that both kinematic and kinetic variables improve through training and AF. Practitioners wishing to improve weightlifting performance should attempt to use evidence-based AF. KEY WORDS feedback, peak power, technique, weight lifting

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different foci of attention on parameters related to maximum muscular power in older women. Using a counterbalanced within-participant design, 23 physically active young-old women (age 59-69) completed a maximum effort cycle ergometer test following three types of verbal instructions. The external instruction (EXF) was designed to focus attention on moving the pedals as fast as possible, internal instruction (INF) directed attention toward moving the legs as fast as possible, and a control condition (CON) was created in which participants were instructed to perform the task to the best of their abilities. Results indicated that the EXF and CON conditions resulted in greater muscular power compared with the INF condition. Results also indicated that directing attention internally hindered muscular power performance in older women, which is consistent with the predictions of the constrained action hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An external focus of attention has been shown to be superior to adopting an internal focus of attention in a variety of motor skills. Purpose: To examine the efficacy of directing attention externally toward an imagined object when performing the standing long jump. This form of practice was compared to a group of participants that practiced the same motor skill while directing their attention toward an object that was physically present in the practice environment. Method: All participants performed a series of standing long-jumps on a rubber mat. Participants were randomly assigned to either an external focus condition where they were instructed to jump as close as possible to a cone that was directly in front of them. Or they were assigned to an imagery condition in which they were instructed to jump toward an imagined cone. Following acquisition trials, a 24-hr retention and transfer test was completed by all participants. Results: Significant improvement was demonstrated by both groups during acquisition, retention and transfer phases compared to the baseline measure. However, no significant differences were observed between the two experimental conditions. Conclusion: The findings of this experiment demonstrate that attention directed externally toward a physical object and an imagined object has a similar effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several previous studied have demonstrated that adopting an external focus of attention (i.e., directing attention towards the result of the movement) improves the performance of a variety of motor skills. The objective of this study was to investigate if increasing the distance of an external focus of attention would further improve standing long jump performance. We hypothesized that as the distance of the external focus increased so would jumping distance. We also hypothesized that when subjects completed jumps in the external focus of attention conditions they would jump significantly further than jumps completed in the baseline condition. Using a within-participant design, college aged students (N = 46) completed two standing long jumps in each of the three experimental conditions. When participants were in the Baseline condition they were instructed to "Jump to the best of your ability." When participants were in the External-3m and External-5m conditions they were instructed to "Jump as close to the cone as possible." The cone was placed at a distance of three or five meters away, respectively. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results showed that trials completed in both of the external focus of attention conditions were significantly further than trails completed in the Baseline condition. Additionally, the analysis revealed that the jump distances completed in the External-3m and the External-5m conditions were not significantly different. The findings of this study suggest that there were limited benefits for extending the distance of an external focus of attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the current experiment was to investigate if altering the focus of attention of highly trained athletes influenced the performance of a short distance sprint. Participants completed nine total trials following instructions that were designed to elicit an internal (INT) focus of attention, external (EXT) focus of attention, and a control (CON) set of instructions inducing no specific focus of attention. The analysis revealed that participants ran the second portion of the sprinting task faster when they were following the CON instructions compared to when they were following the INT and EXT instructions. These results suggest that highly trained athletes should not be instructed to focus internally or externally on the task when performing a short distance sprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of adopting an external, internal, and neutral focus of attention while executing an underhand and overhead shot put. Using a counterbalanced withinparticipant design, thirty highly skilled athletes (height 183±6 cm, body mass 78±7 kg, age 22.2±2.4 years) performed five underhand and five overhead shot puts. The results indicated that the shot put distances were greater (p<.05) when the participants were in the external condition compared to the internal and neutral conditions in both tests. Additionally, it was observed that the neutral condition provided better throwing results compared to the internal condition. These results support the constrained action hypothesis, and provide additional evidence that skilled athletes should adopt an external focus of attention when executing motor skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]