The effect of external focus attention and autonomy-support on learning of a motor targeting task

The aim of this study was to examine the separate and combined effects of the external focus of attention and autonomy support on learning a targeting task, according to OPTIMAL theory of motor learning. 60 female students were randomly assigned into 4 groups of 15 participants in each group including external focus - autonomy support (provided a choice about the place of throwing along with a focus on target); external focus (focus on target); autonomy support (provided a choice about the location of throwing); and a control (without attentional instruction). The research motor task was a controlling throw of a coin with a dominant hand on targets placed on the ground consisting of ten concentric circles. Participants in a 2 * 2 design, (focus externally: Yes/No) (autonomy-support: Yes/No) completed the acquisition phase consisting of 60 trials. Retention test using with 2 hours and 24 hours' delay, were performed. The analysis of variance revealed that the main effect of external focus (p=0.38) and the interaction effects of external focus and autonomy support (p=0.69) are not significant. The main effect of autonomy support is significant (p=0.002). Participants in autonomy support groups performed better than those without autonomy support in retention phase. Overall, these findings suggest that the autonomy support separately and without the combination of external focus affects the learning of a targeting motor skill.