title: Influence of practice schedules and attention on skill development and retention.
abstract: Focus of attention during dual-tasks and practice schedules are important components of motor skill performance and learning; often studied in isolation. The current study required participants to complete a simple key-pressing task under a blocked or random practice schedule. To manipulate attention, participants reported their finger position (i.e., skill-focused attention) or the pitch of an auditory tone (i.e., extraneous attention) while performing two variations of a dual-task key-pressing task. Analyses were conducted at baseline, 10 min and 24h after acquisition. The results revealed that participants in a blocked schedule, extraneous focus condition had significantly faster movement times during retention compared to a blocked schedule, skill focus condition. Furthermore, greatest improvements from baseline to immediate and delayed retention were evident for an extraneous attention compared to the skill-focused attention, regardless of practice schedule. A discussion of the unique benefits an extraneous focus of attention may have on the learning process during dual-task conditions is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA. Electronic address: ldraisbe@uncg.edu.
authors.forename: Louisa D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Raisbeck
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Science, Finlandia University, Hancock, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Regal
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Jed A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Diekfuss
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Rhea
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ward
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Contextual interference; Dual-tasks; Extraneous focus; Practice scheduling; Skill acquisition; Skill-focus