AI Insight
This study investigated whether switching between internal and external attentional focus during swimming improves performance compared to maintaining a single focus type. Twenty novice male swimmers (average age 11.5 years) completed 25-meter front-crawl sprints under four conditions: no instruction, internal focus, external focus, and switching focus. Results showed that the switching focus condition produced significantly faster swimming times and higher attentional flexibility compared to both fixed internal and fixed external focus conditions, while the two fixed focus conditions did not differ significantly from each other.
Why it matters
These findings suggest that coaches and athletes should consider incorporating dynamic attentional strategies rather than relying solely on either internal or external focus instructions when teaching complex motor skills like swimming. The approach may be particularly valuable for developing attentional flexibility in beginner swimmers, potentially improving both performance outcomes and cognitive adaptability during skill acquisition.
Understand the Science
Previous studies have shown that directing attention externally can facilitate more fluent and automatic motor control, whereas an internal focus of attention may introduce excessive conscious regulation and impair performance in land-based tasks such as archery, shooting, and golf putting. However, emerging evidence suggests that switching attentional focus may be functionally beneficial for performance in complex motor skills that require continuous coordination of multiple body segments, such as swimming. However, prior research has rarely manipulated switching attentional focus, leaving a critical gap in understanding how dynamic attentional regulation influences motor performance. To address this gap, the present study examined whether a switching focus strategy would lead to superior swimming performance compared to fixed internal or external focus strategies. A total of 20 novice male swimmers (M_age = 11.50 years, SD = 0.76) performed 25-m front-crawl sprints under four conditions: no-instruction control, internal focus, external focus, and switching focus. The results showed a significant condition effect on swimming time, F(3, 57) = 16.20, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.460, with the switching-focus condition producing shorter swimming times than both the internal-focus and external-focus conditions; however, no significant difference was observed between the internal-focus and external-focus conditions. In addition, a significant condition effect was found for attentional flexibility, F(3, 57) = 26.10, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.579, with the switching-focus condition showing higher attentional flexibility than the control, internal-focus, and external-focus conditions. Both internal-focus and external-focus conditions also demonstrated higher attentional flexibility than the control condition. However, no significant difference in attentional flexibility was observed between the internal- and external-focus conditions. These findings suggest that adopting a switching attentional focus may enhance task-specific perceived attentional flexibility and is associated with improved performance in complex motor skills, highlighting the importance of dynamic attentional regulation in swimming.
Source: Switching focus enhances swimming performance and attentional flexibility in beginner swimmers