title: Mindfulness, movement control, and attentional focus strategies: effects of mindfulness on a postural balance task.
abstract: We examined whether the momentary induction of state mindfulness benefited subsequent balance performance, taking into consideration the effects of dispositional mindfulness. We also tested whether our mindfulness induction, grounded in sustaining moment-to-moment attention, influenced the attentional focus strategies that were adopted by the participants during the balancing task. Balance performance was ascertained based on approximate entropy (ApEn) of the center of pressure (COP) data. The study involved 32 males (age: M = 22.8, SD = 1.94) who were randomly assigned to the mindfulness or control group. Using difference in pretest to posttest performance based on the medio-lateral movements as the dependent variable, the test for interaction showed that the mindfulness induction was more effective for participants with higher dispositional mindfulness. Participants who underwent mindfulness induction also reported greater use of external focus strategies than those in the control group. Results suggest that momentary mindful attention could benefit balance performance and affect the use of attentional focus strategies during movement control.
authors.affiliation: Motivation in Educational Research Laboratory-MERL and Physical Education & Sports Science-PESS Academic Group at the National Institute of Education in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ying Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kee
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chatzisarantis
authors.forename: Pui Wah
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Jia Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Lung Hung
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012846:Singapore; D055815:Young Adult