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IntroductionPostural threat elicits modifications to standing balance. However, the underlying neural mechanism(s) responsible remain unclear. Shifts in attention focus including directing more attention to balance when threatened may contribute to the balance changes. Sample entropy, a measure of postural sway regularity with lower values reflecting less automatic and more conscious control of balance, may support attention to balance as a mechanism to explain threat-induced balance changes. The main objectives were to investigate the effects of postural threat on sample entropy, and the relationships between threat-induced changes in physiological arousal, perceived anxiety, attention focus, sample entropy, and traditional balance measures. A secondary objective was to explore if biological sex influenced these relationships.MethodsHealthy young adults (63 females, 42 males) stood quietly on a force plate without (No Threat) and with (Threat) the expectation of receiving a postural perturbation (i.e., forward/backward support surface translation). Mean electrodermal activity and anterior–posterior centre of pressure (COP) sample entropy, mean position, root mean square, mean power frequency, and power within low (0–0.05 Hz), medium (0.5–1.8 Hz), and high-frequency (1.8–5 Hz) components were calculated for each trial. Perceived anxiety and attention focus to balance, task objectives, threat-related stimuli, self-regulatory strategies, and task-irrelevant information were rated after each trial.Results and DiscussionSignificant threat effects were observed for all measures, except low-frequency sway. Participants were more physiologically aroused, more anxious, and directed more attention to balance, task objectives, threat-related stimuli, and self-regulatory strategies, and less to task-irrelevant information in the Threat compared to No Threat condition. Participants also increased sample entropy, leaned further forward, and increased the amplitude and frequency of COP displacements, including medium and high-frequency sway, when threatened. Males and females responded in the same way when threatened, except males had significantly larger threat-induced increases in attention to balance and high-frequency sway. A combination of sex and threat-induced changes in physiological arousal, perceived anxiety, and attention focus accounted for threat-induced changes in specific traditional balance measures, but not sample entropy. Increased sample entropy when threatened may reflect a shift to more automatic control. Directing more conscious control to balance when threatened may act to constrain these threat-induced automatic changes to balance.

Abstract Background The ‘OPTIMAL’ (Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning suggests that autonomy, external focus of attention, and perceived competence can improve learning of simple motor tasks. The authors hypothesized that enhanced (vs. routine) autonomy and external (vs. internal) focus of attention would improve first-try performance of two medical motor tasks. Methods The authors conducted a randomized two-by-two factorial design study with high school students as participants. Task instructions promoted either enhanced or routine autonomy, and either external or internal focus of attention. These conditions were replicated in a crossover design for two common medical tasks (chest compressions on a manikin and a Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery peg transfer task). Primary outcomes were objective measures of task performance (chest compression deviation from target depth; peg transfer time with penalties for errors). Secondary outcomes included subjective perceptions of confidence, autonomy, and workload. Results One hundred thirty-three high school students participated in this study. The primary outcomes concerning enhanced vs. routine autonomy demonstrated no statistically significant difference in either task (chest compression depth deviation: difference -0.7 mm [score range 0 to 37.5 mm]; 95% confidence interval (CI95) -3.85, 2.41; p = .65; peg transfer penalized time: rate ratio 1.03; CI95 0.91, 1.31; p = .79). The authors likewise found no statistically significant difference for external vs. internal focus of attention (depth deviation: difference 1.1 mm; CI95 -2.04, 4.17; p = .50; penalized time: rate ratio 0.89; CI95 0.75, 1.13; p = .33). The authors found no statistically significant differences for either comparison in confidence, autonomy and workload (p > .09; differences ranged from -0.83 to 0.79 [scale range 0 to 10]). Conclusions First-try performance of chest compressions and peg transfer by novice learners is not significantly affected by enhanced (vs. routine) autonomy or external (vs. internal) focus of attention.

The article deals with the initial stage of training simultaneous interpreters and developing their professional skills. The authors single out and analyse a number of abilities and skills that learners are expected to develop in order to successfully obtain the qualification of simultaneous interpreters and offer a system of exercises and tasks that is intended to assist their acquisition. The article tackles the following issues typically arising at the early stages of student training: inability of unprepared students to concentrate and keep a lasting focus on the meaning and the structure of the source speech utterance, inability to control their short-term memory, the unfamiliar situation where the student is required to listen and speak at one and the same time, a lack of control over intonation and structure of his or her own speech during the interpreting process. In terms of language, particular attention is paid to the crucial role of collocations and fixed expressions in teaching simultaneous interpreting, as well as processing information that requires precision. The study is based on a textbook on political, economic, and legal translation which has been successfully used during several years at the Department of Theory and Practice of Translation at Lomonosov Moscow State University as a key training input. The methods of the current research include contextual and comparative analysis, information synthesis as well as experimental student training. The latter showed that learners’ performance substantially improved, both immediately after some of the preparatory exercises (particularly those aimed at short-term memory and anticipation skills development) and in the long run. The authors believe that exercises described here can form a sound basis for developing skills necessary for simultaneous interpreters.

Attention focus affects performance in postural control while standing, and it is divided into internal focus (IF) and external focus (EF). Each individual has a predominant attention focus, and research has revealed that the dominance of attention focus may be an acquired trait. However, the impact of non-invasive brain stimulation on attention-focus dominance remains unexplored in the current literature. Here, we examined the effect of high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) on θ waves in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) on standing postural control tasks in an EF condition for IF- and EF-dominant groups. The effect of θ HD-tACS on the ACC differed between IF- and EF-dominant groups, and θ HD-tACS in the IF-dominant group decreased the performance of standing postural control under the EF condition. The forced activation of the ACC with θ HD-tACS may have conversely reduced the activity of brain regions normally activated by the IF-dominant group. Additionally, the activation of ACC prioritized visual information processing and suppressed the superficial sensory processing that is normally potentially prioritized by the IF-dominant group. These results highlight the importance of changing the type of rehabilitation and sports training tasks to account for the individual’s dominance of attention focus.

Discourse markers of attention focus (enfocadores de alteridad in Spanish) frequently serve the purposes of drawing the hearer’s attention to what the speaker is saying, either to establish or maintain contact between the two interlocutors. The current study aims to determine whether the choice of appellative marker is socially or grammatically motivated. Using sociolinguistic corpora from two major Latin American cities, the study will analyze the variation among the markers. More specifically, are there extenuating factors that influence whether a speaker elects to use mira, fíjate or oye to focus the attention of the hearer? The study finds that the choice between markers in San Juan and Mexico City is conditioned by different markers in each locale and, additionally, hints that the style of discourse may have an effect on the prevalence of these markers in general.

Attention focus changes performance, and external focus (EF) improves performance compared to internal focus (IF). However, recently, the dominance of attention focus, rather than the effectiveness of unilateral EF, has been examined. Although the positive effects of EF on standing postural control have been reported, the dominance of attention focus has not yet been examined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the dominance of attention focus and its neural mechanism in standing postural control using electroencephalography (EEG). A standing postural control task under IF and EF conditions was performed on healthy young men. Gravity center sway and cortical activity simultaneously using a stabilometer and an EEG were measured. Participants were classified into IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups according to their index of postural stability. The EEG was analyzed, and cortical activity in the theta-wave band was compared between the IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups. Significant neural activity was observed in the left parietal lobe of the IF-dominant group in the IF condition, and in the left frontal lobe of the EF-dominant group in the EF condition (p < 0.05). Differences in EEG activity between IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups, in standing postural control, were detected. This contributes to the development of training methods that consider attentional focus dominance in postural control.

Newell's learning stages model is a learning model based on dynamic systems theory which is divided to three stages based on the relationship among learners' degree of freedom. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of attention focus of instruction on learning a simple skill (throwing darts) and a complex skill (non-dominant foot chip shot). Thestudyconsistedoftwoexperiments. In thefirst experiment,24male studentsofUniversity of Tehran were instructed tothrow darts. Participantsweredivided into two groupsbased onpretest scores, and thenone group received internalfocusinstructionsand the otherexternalfocus instruction. Results showed that external attention focus was more beneficial when learning the skill of throwing darts. In the second experiment, 24 male students of University of Tehranwere instructedto perform non-dominant foot chip shot skill. Participants were divided into two groups based on their pretest scores, and thenone groupreceived internalattention focusinstructionsand otherexternalfocus instruction. The results showed that internal focus of attention was more beneficial when learning the non-dominant foot chip shot. Results of this study suggested that it was more useful to adopt an internal focusin skills whose coordinative structures have not yet formed.

Attention deficit is one of the core elements of learning disorder. Aimed at studying attention deficit, this paper compares attention control and distraction in students with and without learning impairments. Three groups of students with learning impairments (one group of 15 with dyslexia-dysgraphia, another group of 15 with dyscalculia, and yet another group of 15 with mixed disorder) were randomly selected out of students enrolled in centers for learning impairments supervised by regional office of Ministry of Education in Uremia. A forth group of 15 normal students was also randomly selected. The study followed a causal-comparative research design. The diagnosis of type of learning impairment for each student was checked using structured clinical interviews, and the students were then asked to complete the attention control and effortful control questionnaires (the distraction-persistence subscale). The data were analyzed using one way ANOVA, MANOVA and the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test. The results showed significant differences between the groups’ mean test score in attention focus, attention control and level of distraction. The result of the LSD test showed that the main difference existed between the group of normal students and the other three groups, whose members were children with learning disorders. In other words, no significant difference existed in the three groups themselves. The results reveal that, compared to normal children, students with learning impairments have far less attention control and far more distractibility. Furthermore children with different types of learning impairments are homogeneous in terms of attention control and distractibility.

There is strong evidence that focussing on the goal of an action improves performance relative to focussing on the concrete motor behaviours. The current study tests whether blind action guided by imagery relies on the same foci of attention. Thirty female participants took part in an experiment. In each condition there were 20 trials, they were asked to close their eyes and draw a straight line between two landmarks on a graphics tablet. We instructed them, in three conditions, to focus on (1) mental imagery of the goal landmark (external focus of attention), (2) drawing a straight line with the fingers (internal focus), or (3) without a specific focus of attention (control). We tested to what extent these attention instructions affected drawing performance, in terms of both deviations of the participants’ lines from an ideal straight line, and the time it took to complete the line. The study revealed that the manipulation specifically affected the deviation measure and that an external focus of attention was better than an internal focus and the control condition. These findings reveal that that mental imagery during blind action relies on same processes as actual performance. These data give perceptual representations of a direct role in motor control. They will be related to current theories of action control (constrained action hypothesis, ideomotor theories, and dual task accounts).

Music use in golf receives minimal attention from both applied and empirical perspectives. Golfers, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners alike may benefit from understanding and utilizing music within their work. Since music use in golf has become an increasingly common practice, the purpose of the current study was to investigate current music use among golfers using a qualitative approach. Researchers aimed to identify potential psychological and physiological effects derived from music use during golf practice and pre-performance, given the limited empirical research in this area to date. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten amateur and semi-professional golfers (five male, five female, Mage = 22.9 years, SD = 5.04 years). Consensual qualitative research (CQR) methodology was used to analyze the interview data. Six domains emerged from the CQR analysis regarding participants’ self-reported music use in golf: tempo, attention, physiological regulation, psychological regulation, effects of music on performance perceptions, and context (to use or not to use). Given the capacity of carefully selected music to elicit profound affective, neurophysiological, and behavioral responses, there is clear potential for mental performance consultants to utilize music in working with golfers in training contexts. Implications, caveats, and future research recommendations are provided.

There is strong evidence that focussing on the goal of an action improves performance relative to focussing on the concrete motor behaviours. The current study tests whether blind action guided by imagery relies on the same foci of attention. Thirty female participants took part in an experiment. In each condition there were 20 trials, they were asked to close their eyes and draw a straight line between two landmarks on a graphics tablet. We instructed them, in three conditions, to focus on (1) mental imagery of the goal landmark (external focus of attention), (2) drawing a straight line with the fingers (internal focus), or (3) without a specific focus of attention (control). We tested to what extent these attention instructions affected drawing performance, in terms of both deviations of the participants’ lines from an ideal straight line, and the time it took to complete the line. The study revealed that the manipulation specifically affected the deviation measure and that an external focus of attention was better than an internal focus and the control condition. These findings reveal that that mental imagery during blind action relies on same processes as actual performance. These data give perceptual representations of a direct role in motor control. They will be related to current theories of action control (constrained action hypothesis, ideomotor theories, and dual task accounts).