The Effects of Attentional Strategies (Augmented feedback, Instructional Self-talk, and Instruction) on Motor Learning in Ten-Year-Old Children

Background: The external focus of attention is one of the most important and effective variables of performance and motor learning. Objectives : The current study aimed at comparing the effects of external focus of attention with instructions, instructional self-talk, and augmented feedback strategies on motor learning in 10-year-old male students. Methods: Sixty students (with the mean age of 10.10 ± 0.20 years) participated in the current study voluntarily as the study samples and were randomly divided into four groups of 15 students (three experimental groups and one control group). Participants practiced overarm throwing using their non-dominant arm. In the training phase, the subjects were trained for 300 throws in five sessions (60 attempts per session) and then, they performed a retention test. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the difference between the groups. In order to investigate the intervening effects in the four groups within the pre-test, post-test, retention stages, repeated measures ANOVA and in order to determine the differences between the groups, Bonferroni post-hoc test was applied. Results: The results showed that all groups except the control group progressed in post-test and retention tests. On both tests (post-test and retention), the augmented feedback group showed the greatest throwing accuracy (P < 0.001). Also, the accuracy scores of the instructional self-talk and instruction groups were better than those of the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings of the current study showed that the external focus of attention with the augmented feedback method was the best strategy to take advantage of the external focus of attention on motor learning in 10-year-old male students.