Examining the Mechanisms of Internal and External Focus of Attention With Donders' Subtractive Method.

The goal of the current study was to measure the processing demands on the stages of information processing with internal and external foci of attention. Participants completed simple and two-choice reaction time tasks with internal and external foci of attention. Donders' subtraction method was used to isolate the cumulative duration of stages unique to simple and choice reaction time tasks. Mean reaction time was comparable with internal and external foci of attention in simple and two-choice reaction time tasks. These results suggest that processing demands were comparable with internal and external foci of attention. We hypothesize that there was not a processing advantage for an external focus in simple reaction time because the required movements had low movement complexity.

Equivalency of reaction times for simple and primed tasks.

Both simple and choice reaction-time tasks have been used to examine the processes involved in response preparation. With a response priming task, complete information prior to the presentation of the imperative stimulus is given as to which response among several will be required. It is assumed that with the priming procedure, the advanced information allows for the complete preparation of the response to be made prior to the presentation of the imperative stimulus [Klapp, S. T. (1996). Reaction time analysis of central motor control. In H. N. Zelaznik (Ed.), Advances in motor learning and control (pp. 13-36). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics]. This study used two experiments to test the underlying assumption that the processes occurring within the reaction time interval are equivalent for simple and primed tasks, and to determine if the validity of the prime influences performance. In both experiments, participants completed three reaction-time tasks: simple, primed (100%), and choice. The second experiment added a fourth task in which the prime was valid only 80% of the time. In both experiments, the reaction times were significantly slower for the choice task than for either the simple or 100%-primed tasks. Most important, the simple and primed (100%) reaction times were not significantly different. For the second experiment, the reaction times were not significantly different for the choice and 80%-valid prime tasks. The results of these experiments demonstrate that equivalent response preparation processes occur for simple and primed tasks, but that the validity of the prime does influence the response preparation processes for the primed task. Thus, equivalency is not achieved when invalid primes are used.

Influence of auditory modeling on learning a swimming skill.

Auditory modeling has been an effective method of learning a new skill in laboratory settings; however, research examining the effectiveness of auditory modeling in a real world task is limited. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of auditory modeling on the learning of a swimming skill, specifically the butterfly stroke. Participants were 37 male college students enrolled in two swimming classes. The classes were randomly assigned as the control group, i.e., the standard swimming curriculum for the butterfly stroke including demonstration, verbal instructions, and practice, and the auditory modeling group, i.e., standard swimming curriculum for the butterfly stroke plus auditory modeling. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that auditory modeling is an effective method for enhancing the learning of this real world motor skill.

Influence of participation in a cup-stacking unit on timing tasks.

Cup stacking is a relatively new activity which has been promoted at conferences for physical educators as having many direct and indirect benefits, such as improved quickness. This study examined the influence of a cup-stacking instructional unit on reaction and anticipation times of 69 children in Grades 2 and 4. Within each grade participants were assigned to an experimental or a control group. The former received a 3-wk. instructional unit following the lesson plans provided by the promoters of cup stacking. The control groups received a standard physical education curriculum. Analysis indicated no significant differences in reaction and anticipation times between the groups before and after practicing the instructional unit.

Influence of practice on response-selection and response-implementation processes involved in the response-interference effect.

In a choice reaction-time task, the response-interference effect is an increase in reaction times when the two possible responses are from the same hand compared to when the two possible responses are from different hands [Psychonomic Science 2 (1965) 55-56; Human Motor Control, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1991]. Although the influence of practice on other reaction-time effects (i.e., the complexity effect and precuing) has been examined, research evaluating the influence of practice on the response-interference effect is limited. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to determine the influence of practice on the response-interference effect. In Experiment 1, a bilateral transfer task was used to assess the influence of practice on the response-selection processes associated with the response-interference effect. The practice results indicated decreased reaction times, but did not influence the response-interference effect. In Experiment 2, a priming task was used to assess the influence of practice on response-implementation processes associated with the response-interference effect. The reaction time results indicated a change in the response-interference effect. The results of these two experiments suggest that with only two fingers on response keys, practice alters the mechanical constraints affecting the response-implementation processes and thereby decreases the response-interference effect.