Effect of attention direction variation by instructional selftalk on performance and learning of Basketball free throw in young female students

The purpose of present study was investigation of the effect of attention direction variation by instructional self-talk on performance and learning of Basketball free throw. Therefore, 33 novice female students (mean of the age=22 yr.) who had intermediate trait anxiety were selected randomly. The participants were assigned to 3 matched groups according to pretest. The self-talk with internal and external focus groups repeated the words “wrist” and “center of ring”, respectively, before each free throw during 6 sessions (2 blocks of 10 trials in each session). Control group performed the free throws without self-talk. Retention test was performed 48 hours after the acquisition phase and transfer test was done after that with spectators. In each test, throw accuracy was measured by a 5-point scale. Results of mix 2-factor and one-way ANOVA did not indicate significant differences between acquisition, retention, and transfer groups (p>.05), but the within subjects effect of external focus of attention on transfer was significant (p<.05). Therefore, it seems use of self-talk and its attentional focus variation is not necessary for novice Basketball players.