title: Effects of attentional focus and age on suprapostural task performance and postural control.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Suprapostural task performance (manual tracking) and postural control (sway and frequency) were examined as a function of attentional focus, age, and tracking difficulty. Given the performance benefits often found under external focus conditions, it was hypothesized that external focus instructions would promote superior tracking and reduced postural sway for both age groups, most notably as a function of tracking difficulty.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postural sway, frequency of postural adjustments, and tracking accuracy under two levels of task difficulty were assessed for younger (M(age) = 20.98 years) and older (M(age) = 70.80 years) participants while they manually tracked a pursuit-rotor target. Participants received instructions to focus on either their actions (internal focus) or the effect of their actions (external focus).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses revealed a beneficial effect of an external focus on suprapostural performance on the less-difficult (0.5 Hz) tracking task, and this performance was associated with a modest improvement in medial-lateral postural sway.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings offer limited support for external focus-of-attention benefits under a mildly challenging tracking task. While older adults tend to adopt a conservative postural control strategy regardless of tracking task difficulty, external focus instructions on a suprapostural task promoted a modest, beneficial shift in postural control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave., Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada. nmcnevin@uwindsor.ca
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McNevin
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Quinn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis