Attentional Focus and the Effect on Change-of-Direction and Acceleration Performance

ABSTRACTMcNicholas, K and Comyns, TM. Attentional focus and the effect on change-of-direction and acceleration performance. J Strength Cond Res 34(7)1860–1866, 2020—The purpose of this study was to investigate whether changing the focus of attention of field sport athletes would affect their performance for a change-of-direction (COD) and acceleration task incorporating diagonal cutting movements of less than or equal to 90°, specific to the demands of field-based sports. Seventeen male college students were recruited to perform 9 trials each of a change-of-direction and acceleration test using verbal instructions designed to induce a neutral (NEU), internal (INT), and external (EXT) focus of attention. Qualitative data were collected and assessed by use of questionnaires to determine whether subjects performed the trials using the prescribed focus of attention. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed that the EXT experimental condition was significantly faster (p ≤ 0.001) than both the NEU and INT experimental conditions. In addition, the NEU and INT experimental conditions were not significantly different (p ≤ 0.001). Questionnaire responses provided qualitative data that showed subjects performing in the INT and EXT conditions invoked the desired focus of attention 47 and 82% of the time, respectively. Furthermore, the qualitative data also showed that subjects performing in the NEU condition did not use an explicit INT or EXT focus of attention 82% of the time. The results indicated that athletes can enhance their performance by invoking an EXT focus of attention while performing complex motor skills such as COD and acceleration. Practitioners and coaches could direct their verbal instructions toward the movement effects of their athleteʼs actions to achieve this.