Abstract

An external focus of attention can improve performance, but there is little research on effects for the elderly in every day, well-learned mobility tasks. 57 older and 59 young adults performed the sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit while holding a cup, at three difficulty levels (cup empty or full, at normal or fast speed). Half were instructed to focus internally (on their movements) and half externally (on the cup). The effects of focus, age, and difficulty level were tested for movement time, mean inclination of the cup, inclination variability, and smoothness with 2 × 2 × 3 ANOVAs. Significant effects of difficulty were consistent across variables (p < 0.05). An effect of focus was present only for the inclination variability of the stand-to-sit (p < 0.03), favoring an internal focus (less variability). The age × focus interaction was significant for mean cup inclination, but post hoc tests failed to reveal any significant differences. The results of this study, together with the literature, suggest that an external focus may not benefit the performance of young or older adults in general mobility activities of daily living. The prevalent assumption that an external focus is always beneficial for performance needs further empirical testing.

摘要

外部关注的焦点可以提高性能，但是很少有关于每天学习良好的移动性任务对老年人的影响的研究。57名年龄较大的成年人和59名年轻成年人在握住杯子时以三种难度级别（杯子空了或满了，以正常或快速的速度）进行了坐着坐着和站着坐着的动作。一半的人被指示着眼于内部（专注于他们的动作），另一半的人专注于着眼于（杯子）。使用2×2×3方差分析（ANOVA）测试了运动时间，杯子的平均倾斜度，倾斜度变异性和平滑度，测试了焦点，年龄和难度水平的影响。困难的显着影响在各个变量之间是一致的（p  <0.05）。焦点的影响仅存在于站立姿势的倾斜度变化（p <0.03），有利于内部关注（可变性较小）。年龄×焦点互动对平均杯子倾斜度有显着影响，但事后测试未能发现任何显着差异。这项研究的结果与文献一起表明，外部关注可能无法使年轻人或老年人在日常生活中的一般活动中受益。关于外部关注点始终对性能有益的普遍假设需要进一步的经验测试。