Effect of internal versus external focus of attention on implicit motor learning in children with developmental coordination disorder.
External-focus hints lose their magic during quiet, implicit learning for kids with DCD—use explicit steps instead.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Jarus et al. (2015) split kids with and without DCD into two groups. One group heard internal cues like 'keep your cursor steady.' The other heard external cues like 'keep the line steady.'
All kids practiced a hidden-pattern computer tracking task. The goal was to see if external-focus hints help kids learn the pattern without knowing it.
What they found
Typically developing kids learned the hidden pattern better with external cues. Kids with DCD did not. Their learning stayed low no matter which cue they got.
The result flips the usual motor-learning rule that external focus always wins.
How this fits with other research
Psotta et al. (2020) seems to disagree. They saw bigger jumps when kids with DCD were told to 'touch the ceiling' instead of 'extend your knees.' The gap is about the task: jumping rewards external focus, but hidden-pattern tracking does not.
Capio et al. (2013) helps explain why. They showed that children with DCD produce knee force more slowly and use hip strategy for balance. Slow force build-up may block the quiet, automatic learning that external cues usually boost.
Hui-Ang et al. (2019) and Sánchez-Matas et al. (2024) extend the story into real life. Both found that plain movement practice—PE lessons or playground games—still improves skills for kids with DCD. Attention focus is only one piece of the puzzle.
Why it matters
When you teach a new motor skill to a child with DCD, start by checking the task demand. If the skill needs hidden timing or force control, drop the catchy external cues and give clear, step-by-step directions instead. Save the 'focus on the ribbon' prompts for skills like jumping or throwing where the payoff is quick and visible.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) struggle to learn new motor skills. It is unknown whether children with DCD learn motor skills more effectively with an external focus of attention (focusing on impact of movement on the environment) or an internal focus of attention (focusing on one's body movements) during implicit (unconscious) and explicit (conscious) motor learning. PURPOSE: This paper aims to determine the trends of implicit motor learning in children with DCD, and how focus of attention influences motor learning in children with DCD in comparison with typically developing children. METHODS: 25 children, aged 8-12, with (n=12) and without (n=13) DCD were randomly assigned to receive instructions that focused attention externally or internally while completing a computer tracking task during acquisition, retention, and transfer phases. The motor task involved tracking both repeated and random patterns, with the repeated pattern indicative of implicit learning. RESULTS: Children with DCD scored lower on the motor task in all three phases of the study, demonstrating poorer implicit learning. Furthermore, graphical data showed that for the children with DCD, there was no apparent difference between internal and external focus of attention during retention and transfer, while there was an advantage to the external focus of attention group for typically developing children. CONCLUSION: Children with DCD demonstrate less accuracy than typically developing children in learning a motor task. Also, the effect of focus of attention on motor performance is different in children with DCD versus their typically developing counterparts during the three phases of motor learning. IMPLICATIONS: Results may inform clinicians how to facilitate motor learning in children with DCD by incorporating explicit learning with either internal or external focus of attention within interventions.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.11.009