Abstract
Both movement outcomes and the quality of movement can be influenced by instructions and feedback provided to a learner during acquisition of a motor task (see Wulf & Prinz, 2001 for review). Typically, an external focus of attention (a focus on the effects of an action) results in a performance advantage when compared to an internal focus of attention (a focus on the body’s movements). The purpose of the present experiment was to examine the influence of kinematic (velocity) and outcome (movement time) instructions and feedback on performance in acquisition, retention, and transfer. Two groups, differing only in the instructions and visual feedback given (velocity or movement time) were tasked with learning to slide a wooden block along a portion of a fixed track (40cm) at either a constant velocity or in a goal MT, resulting in an identical movement. We hypothesized that kinematic instructions and feedback would induce an internal focus of attention while outcome instructions and feedback would induce an external focus of attention. No differences between groups were revealed for the acquisition period. The group that received kinematic instructions and feedback performed with more error than the group that received outcome instructions and feedback in block two of the retention test and in block one of the transfer test. These results provided evidence for kinematic instructions inducing an internal focus of attention, and consequently, poorer learning.Acknowledgments: This study was supported by NSERC