Effects of attentional focus instructions on the learning of a target task: a moderation role of visual feedback

The present study examined whether visual feedback can have a moderating effect on the relation between attentional focus instructions and the learning of a target movement skill. Participants (N: 100, mean age: 21.0 years, SD: 2.1) were randomly assigned into visual feedback versus non-visual feedback groups. Each group was split into five subgroups: control, internal focus on the arm, and three external focus groups including focus on the dart, on the flight of the dart, and on the bull’s-eye. Participants in each subgroup were asked to throw the darts at the dartboard using their specified focus instructions with either full-visual or nonvisual information on results. The accuracy scores of throws were analyzed in 2 (visual groups) x 5 (focus subgroups) x 6 (trial blocks) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last factor in acquisition, and 2 (visual groups) x 5 (focus subgroups) analysis of variance in retention and transfer. While the attentional focus instructions were not confirmed as a significant factor in practice, visual feedback was more beneficial than non-visual feedback in the acquisition of a target task. However, the benefits of practicing with visual feedback were not observed in the retention and transfer tests when vision was available. Furthermore, external focus on the flight of the dart was more beneficial than the other attentional focus instructions in transfer test, showing that the optimized distance of external focus of attention for the learning may change when a target task is executed on a stable or variable (moving) target