Stay Focused! The Effects of Internal and External Focus of Attention on Movement Automaticity in Patients with Stroke.

ABSTRACT: Dual-task performance is often impaired after stroke. This may be resolved by enhancing patients' automaticity of movement. This study sets out to test the constrained action hypothesis, which holds that automaticity of movement is enhanced by triggering an external focus (on movement effects), rather than an internal focus (on movement execution). Thirty-nine individuals with chronic, unilateral stroke performed a one-leg-stepping task with both legs in single- and dual-task conditions. Attentional focus was manipulated with instructions. Motor performance (movement speed), movement automaticity (fluency of movement), and dual-task performance (dual-task costs) were assessed. The effects of focus on movement speed, single- and dual-task movement fluency, and dual-task costs were analysed

SUBMITTER: Kal EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4552655 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature