The Effects of Enhanced Expectancies and External Focus of Attention on Learning a Medical Motor Skill

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of enhanced expectancies and external focus of attention on learning a medical motor skill.

Participants included 80 medical students in the preclinical phase and were randomly divided into four groups: external focus, internal focus, social-comparative feedback, and control group. The motor task included vertical suturing. After the pretest, all participants practiced suturing for five days. During the training phase, the external focus group was told to focus at the rupture site on the mannequin while performing the skill, while the internal focus group was told to focus on the fingers. The social-comparative feedback group received positive feedback at the end of each day and were told that they performed better than the previous day. The control group did not receive any feedback or instructions. The retention test was performed one week after the acquisition stage. Suturing quality, self-efficacy, and focus of attention were measured as dependent variables. 

The findings of the present study supported the optimal theory and showed the components of external focus of attention and enhanced expectancies can be effective in optimizing performance and learning motor skills in the field of medicine.

The results showed that the external attention focus group had the best performance compared to the other groups in the acquisition phase and retention test;   and also, the social-comparative feedback group performed better than the control group. In addition, social-comparative feedback improved the level of self-efficacy. Finally, the instruction for external focus of attention led participants to focus on the goal of the motor task while performing the skill.