Efeitos do foco de atenção na aprendizagem motora em crianças: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

Over the past three decades, a number of studies have shown that the targeting of the focus of attention affects the acquisition of motor skills. While some studies have been conducted analyzing the scientific production on the provision of different attention focus instructions, few of them have included a systematic assessment of their effects on motor learning in children. The present study, therefore, aimed to systematically review the scientific production by analyzing the effects of the focus of attention on motor learning in children. This systematic review used the electronic databases MEDLINE via Pubmed, Web of Science and Scopus (Elsevier). As a search strategy, the crossing of the terms “Children AND Motor Learning OR Skill Acquisition AND Focus of attention OR Attentional focus” was used. The search was carried out between March and May 2021, limited to the English language, only in publications in scientific journals and without year restrictions. We adopted as inclusion criteria articles that presented one or more descriptors in the title and/or abstract and/or keywords; and articles that aimed to investigate the effects of the focus of attention on motor learning in children. As exclusion criteria, the following were not considered in the study: book publications, book chapters, theses and dissertations; review articles, conferences, articles published in annals and conference abstracts; studies with samples with pathologies and/or for rehabilitation purposes; studies that did not present the full text of the articles online; articles that were not in the English language; articles that did not include the age of the population between 6 and 12 years old; and articles that did not present tests to assess motor learning (retention and/or transfer). After selecting the articles, data referring to the authors and year of publication, purpose of the study, age group and sample size, information on the focus of attention and results found were extracted. Data were analyzed based on descriptive statistics of absolute (N) and relative (%) values. The search allowed for the identification of 764 articles, 747 of which were excluded for being duplicates or not meeting the eligibility criteria. Thus, seventeen articles were included in the study. The first study was found in 2008, but the increase in studies on the subject took place in the last 5 years, in which 65% of the articles in this review appear. Generally speaking, most studies found benefits in motor learning from the use of an external focus of attention in learning tests, compared to conditions with an internal focus and/or control. These results corroborate the panorama of studies analyzing motor learning in young adults. We conclude that the external focus of attention is a factor that positively affects the motor learning process in children.