The Influence of External Focus Instruction Characteristics on Children’s Motor Performance

ABSTRACTPurpose: Research has demonstrated that verbal instructions directing attention externally (i.e., toward the effect of the movement) significantly enhance motor skill performance, and this effect is enhanced when the distance of the external focus relative to the body is increased. However, few studies have investigated this distance-of-focus effect in children. The present study aimed to examine the effect of increasing the distance of an external focus on children’s motor performance in 2 experiments. Method: In Experiment 1, children performed standing long jumps under 3 instructional conditions (control, internal attentional focus, and external attentional focus). In Experiment 2, children performed standing long jumps under 4 instructional conditions (control, internal, proximal external attentional focus, and distal external attentional focus). Results: In Experiment 1, results revealed a statistically significant jump distance advantage for the external focus condition. In Experiment 2, a s...