Abstract
Attentional focus benefits performance by directing one’s concentration to specific task characteristics. While much research has centered on the effects of internal and external attentional cues, very little research has examined the effect of holistic focus cues during discrete motor task performance. PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to compare attentional focus instructions: control (CON), internal (IF), external (EF), and holistic (HF), on the performance of a countermovement vertical jump task. METHODS: 20 participants performed 4 sets of 3 countermovement jumps (3-CON, 3-IF, 3-EF, 3-HF) in a counterbalanced order during one data session. The vertical jumping task was performed on Contemplas Force Plates using a 3D Markerless Motion Capture System. RESULTS: The dependent variables were flight height calculated by impulse and the rate of force development (RFD). A 4 (condition) x 1 (participant) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to analyze the data with a Holm post-hoc comparison. A significant main effect for the rate of force development was observed [F(3,57) = 5.487, p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.224]. The Holm post-hoc test revealed the rate of force development for CON was significantly lower than IF (p = 0.034), EF (p = 0.005), and HF (p = 0.005). The post-hoc revealed no significant differences between the experimental conditions for RFD (p = 1.000). No significant differences were observed between experimental conditions for flight height (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Results suggest all three attentional focus instructions improved vertical jump performance by increasing the rate of force development. This finding suggests that specific attentional cues enhance discrete motor task performance by increasing the rate of force development. However, further research should be conducted to analyze different variables such as force production, flight height, etc. to better understand the effects that attentional focus cues have on discrete motor task performance.
Recommended Citation
Damron, Caylin; McWhorter, Lily; Sharma, Raghav; and Zhuravleva, Tatiana
(2025)
"The Effect of Attentional Focus Cues on Vertical Jump Performance,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2:
Iss.
17, Article 164.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss17/164