The Power of Attentional Focus Part I

Does where you focus your attention have an impact on how well you do at a skill, either in practice or performance? To sum up these videos in one word: YES!
Part I: Background research on the power of attentional focus:    • The Power of Attentional Focus Part I  
Part II: Applying this to musicians and people at different skill levels:    • The Power of Attentional Focus Part II  
Part III: Implications for teaching and practicing:    • The Power of Attentional Focus Part III  

Papers cited in this video:
Wulf, G., Höß, M., & Prinz, W. (1998). Instructions for motor learning: Differential effects of internal versus external focus of attention. Journal of motor behavior, 30(2), 169-179.
Wulf, G., Lauterbach, B., & Toole, T. (1999). The learning advantages of an external focus of attention in golf. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 70(2), 120-126.
Zarghami, M., Saemi, E., & Fathi, I. (2012). External focus of attention enhances discus throwing performance. Kinesiology, 44(1.), 47-51.
Zachry, T., Wulf, G., Mercer, J., & Bezodis, N. (2005). Increased movement accuracy and reduced EMG activity as the result of adopting an external focus of attention. Brain research bulletin, 67(4), 304-309.
Schücker, L., Hagemann, N., Strauss, B., & Völker, K. (2009). The effect of attentional focus on running economy. Journal of sports sciences, 27(12), 1241-1248.
Wulf, G., McNevin, N., & Shea, C. H. (2001). The automaticity of complex motor skill learning as a function of attentional focus. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 54(4), 1143-1154.
Lohse, K. R., Sherwood, D. E., & Healy, A. F. (2010). How changing the focus of attention affects performance, kinematics, and electromyography in dart throwing. Human movement science, 29(4), 542-555.
Wulf, G., Dufek, J. S., Lozano, L., & Pettigrew, C. (2010). Increased jump height and reduced EMG activity with an external focus. Human movement science, 29(3), 440-448.
Wulf, G., McNevin, N. H., Fuchs, T., Ritter, F., & Toole, T. (2000). Attentional focus in complex skill learning. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 71(3), 229-239.

A little bit on my background:
I attended Oberlin College and Conservatory as an undergraduate, double majoring in viola performance and neuroscience. The neuroscience was just for fun (truly!) and I had no plans to continue with it after I graduated. But when I got to New England Conservatory for my masters in viola performance, I realized something was missing. After my roommate came home from being a subject in a study at Harvard looking at musicians’ versus non-musicians’ brains, I realized I had to be a double degree student my whole life. So at NEC, I did a number of independent studies looking at topics having to do with music and the brain, as well as working for Dr. Mark Tramo, the director of the Institute for Music and Brain Science, at that time at Harvard (now at UCLA). After NEC, I attended the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University for my DMA in viola performance. While there, I took graduate-level neuroscience classes nearly every semester, I worked in a lab for a long time, I was the assistant director for two interdisciplinary symposia on music and the brain, and I developed and taught a class on music and the brain. Since that time, I have published several articles in both music and scientific journals on music and the brain (many of which you can access on my website: https://mollygebrian.com/writing/) and give presentations on the topic regularly at conferences, universities, and schools around the world. For five years, I taught viola at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where I also taught an honors course on music and the brain. Now, I teach viola at the University of Arizona, where I also continue to investigate aspects of the cognitive neuroscience of music.