The Effect of Attentional Focus on Hurdle Athletes Motor
Running Retention Area of Focus
It is a common belief held by most beginner athletes that physical training is all it takes to win an athletic competition, be it swimming, skiing, hurdles, mountain climbing or golfing. Most athletes spend much of their time training to condition the body with the objective of being able to handle competition. Notable athletes such as Bolt, the 100 meter runner, and the fastest man recorded on the planet, is well endowed in masculine structure attained over time training. Therefore, is that all it takes? Emerging studies are approaching athleticism from a new and entirely different perspective. Attention is central to achieving physical tests in athletes. Contemporary athletes are now being trained to train the mind as well as the body during practice in order to calibrate their minds and body better.
The mind and body link has been cited to have a significant effect on the physical output of athletes. According to a study on golfers, the attentional focus of athletes can generally be categorized based on their area of focus: external and internal focus. External attentional focus means that the athlete focuses on the external objectives, for instance, a golfer will focus on the speed with which he hits the ball to achieve a putt. On the other hand, the attentional focus is internal if the golfer focuses on the mechanics of moving his arm to swing the golf stick. According to extensive studies on the subject, the development of attentional focus has an effect on the body-action movement that is permanent. Since this notion applies to all manner of athletes, this paper will focus on hurdle athletes.
This research paper aims to establish background information on the effect of attentional focus on hurdle athletes running motor retention area of focus. The purpose of this research is to explore emerging studies and recent studies in this area will inform the development of this discovery. This will be presented chronologically to show the development of these studies by different researcher. This will be accompanied by exploration of specific areas of study and findings of various researchers will be used as supportive evidence: documenting the extent and limitations of these studies.
Introduction
Track and field is a very intricate sport. The most elite professional athletes are said to have mastered the art of mind and body synchronization in order to complete muscular functions with speed, accuracy, and effortless power. Every day, athletes are faced with the tedious task of learning a new muscular function. The hurdles are one of the most technical events in the sport of track and field. Athletes who participate in the 100 and 400-meter hurdle events have over 20 drills to master, as well as multiple technical movements to fix during one indoor and outdoor season.
History
Professional athletes today are trained to master both the mind and body during training. Traditional trainers such as ancient Chinese martial artists believed that the mind-body link was essential to unleashing the full potential of the body. The belief was stemmed on a three-way link of the mind, body and spirit. Ancient Chinese teachings were based on philosophies that expressed the method applied. The focus here is the results which are tied to contemporary research finding that support these philosophies. For instance, Tai Chi Chuan, a popular martial art culture advocates for the mind and body link. Tai chi literally translates to mind-body method – taiji chuan. It was mainly attributed to culture and not science at the time. In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games were regarded with passion. This is mainly attributed to the ideology at the time that stressed a holistic training of the mind, body and spirit. The Greeks are regarded as great athletes of their time and appreciated through contemporary Olympic Competitions today. The Greeks belief on athleticism was based on their ideology: "a healthy mind in a healthy body". As such, athletic victory was accredited to physical and mental attributes. Contemporary athletics trainers today are educated on the mind-body link which is crucial, according to emerging studies, to their motor learning.
Background Study
In 1998, a study to establish the link between motor learning and attentional focus proved conclusively that there was a significant influence of attentional focus on motor learning. According to the empirical research conducted to validate these finding, a German scientist, Gabrielle Wulf, found out that attentional focus that was external in nature produced significantly more motor learning compared to internal attentional focus. They conducted a study on the role of instructions on physical principals on motor learning and attention. Their research findings, participants instructed to focus internally and not externally failed to acquire and retain motor skills. According to these findings, she concluded that attention that was focused on a movement-effect related focus (external attentional focus) produced significantly better results on motor learning and retention in participants compared to the results from athletes who focused on body-movement related focus (internal attentional focus).
A separate study by Wulf et al hypothesized that participants would choose external focus to achieve performance on the challenges presented to each of them. The results were a success and supported the hypothesis: that most people if given the chance to choose between external focus and internal focus, would choose external focus eventually to maximize their performance in a physically demanding task. The findings also revealed that the benefits of choosing specific attentional focus only became apparent once a participant was proficient at the task given: retention. Therefore, performance was significantly better in those that chose external focus and retention was revealed – once proficiency was attained – to be significantly higher in external focus.
The mind generally has been documented to have a significant effect on performance of an athlete. Given the fact the hurdle athletics is quite challenging, an athlete is therefore required to invest a lot of focus during practice. According to Christine Yu, “90 percent of performance is mental.” The mind therefore plays a significant role in athletic performance. In an online article on fitness, she explores the role of the brain in athletic performance. Athletes generally experience a certain level of stress. This element of stress causes ‘mental chatter’ which consequently derails focus of an athlete. Athletes can adapt by adopting mindfulness: mental training that creates a stronger mind body response. Athletes who adopted mental training indicated that they experienced higher levels of performance by adopting mindfulness. Her article summarizes that the brains plays a central role in performance and mental focus is also integral to performance in athletes who are trained.
The aspect of training is also crucial to athletes since a trainer is able to augment the performance of an athlete through instruction. To test this theory, Wulf and Shea decided to conduct an experiment which included instructions to the participants: showing them how and where to focus. They were divided into two groups that focused internally and externally. The group given instruction to focus on the external intended objective performed better in the task assigned than the former. The augmented feedback however, did not have any negative effect on the performance of the participants when withdrawn: which shows that retention was not affected once proficiency was developed. It also shows that augmented feedback from athletic trainers play the role of motivation and influences athletes to adopt an external focus.
Research by Cornelia et al studied whether instructions – biased to either internal or external focus – had any significant effect on skill representation during motor learning. They did a study on participants playing golf. The participants were instructed to focus either internally - action of the arms – or externally – speed of hitting the ball. Their findings revealed that the external focus group showed significant performance and significant development in motor learning and retention. They concluded their research saying that external focus was crucial to achieving performance and crucial for motor learning and retention.
Conclusion
In concluding this research paper, the mind has been established to have a central role in performance of an athlete. Consequently, the body must also be trained to perform in any athletic capacity. However, in order to achieve a harmonious and significant, the mind and body must be trained together. The findings of all the scholars cited in this paper support the hypothesis that attention has a significant effect on athletic performance. Christine advocates for mental training to be done concurrently with physical training in order to conquer mental noise that derail focus. Wulf et al note that athletic performance is highest when athletes orient their attentional focus externally rather than internally. Their research also supports the view that motor learning and retention is best developed by external attentional focus. Additional research also shows that instruction influences athletes to orient their focus externally. Also, having an instructor influences an athlete to develop extensively in terms of motor learning and retention.
References
Caldwell, K. H. (2009). Effect of Pilates and taiji quan training on self-efficacy, sleep quality, mood, and physical performance of college students. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 155-163.
Hossner, E.-J., & Wenderoth, N. (2007). Gabriele Wulf on Attention and Motor Learning. E-Journal Bewegung und Training, 1-64.
Land, W. M., Cornelia, F., & Schack, T. (2014). The Influence of Attentional Focus on the Developement of Skill Representation in Complex Action. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 30-38.
Olympic-Legacy. (2003). Athletic Ideal. Retrieved May 14, 2016, from Olympic-Legacy.com: http://www.pe04.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php
Wulf, G., & Shea, C. H. (1999). Enhancing Motor Learning Through External-Focus Instruction and Feedback. Human Movement and Science, 553-571.
Wulf, G., Shea, C., & Pak, J.-H. (2001). Attentiona and Motor Performance: Preferences for and Advantages of an External Focus. Mind Control and Learning, 335-344.
Yu, C. (2014, October 06). Mindfulness for Athletes: The Secret to Better Performance? Retrieved May 14, 2016, from Daily Burn: http://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/mindfulness-techniques-athletes/
