不同注意力焦點對新手在鏡描作業的影響

The Effect of Attentional Focus for Novices in a Mirror-Drawing Task

人們在學習一項過去未曾接觸過的動作技能時，總會希望能找到最有效率的方法以節省時間而達成目標。過去研究顯示，在動作學習時若將注意力放在動作的後果（外在注意力）會比放在自身（內在注意力）佳，因為可以減少自動化動作協調的干擾。然而，一些運動學習理論認為新手需要協調自身的動作，也許內在注意力，而不是外在注意力，會比較有幫助。本研究即以日常生活中少見的鏡描作業為例，探討新手在不同注意力焦點下的學習效果。其中注意力焦點採受試者間設計，外在注意力焦點要求參與者將注意力放在鏡子呈現的筆軌跡，內在注意力焦點則放在操控筆的手上。本研究共有兩個實驗，實驗一發現鏡描作業僅需一次測試的經驗就可以有顯著的進步，然而注意力焦點的操弄沒有達顯著差異。不過相關分析顯示外在注意力組別在兩次嘗試的反應速度比較一致，高於內在注意力組別。實驗二則讓參與者先練習15次，第二天再測試保留和轉移的效果。結果發現練習達穩定之後，外在注意力組別表現較內在注意力組別好，且在轉移作業中外在注意力組別也完成得比較快。綜合本研究的結果顯示，外在注意力確實能讓參與者在鏡描作業有較好的學習效果，也有助於所習得的動作技能的轉移。針對初次接觸的動作而言，我們的資料不支持初學者會因內在注意力而促進動作學習。

Focus of attention can affect motor learning efficiency. In particular, external focus, i.e. focus on the consequence of actions, was shown to improve learning speed and learning retention more than internal focus, which is focus on the action per se. Previous studies suggest that external focus can avoid interference with automatic action control and thus improve motor learning. Meanwhile, some theories on motor learning suggest that a novice should first coordinate action components, which implies that internal focus, rather than external focus, may be critical for novice. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of attentional focus in a mirror drawing task. The mirror drawing task is rare in daily life and relies on eye-hand coordination, and therefore is selected to probe novice in motor learning in this study. The external focus group was instructed to follow their drawing behavior from the mirror, while the internal focus group to feel their wrist during drawing. Two experiments were carried out. Experiment 1 showed significant improvement of mirror drawing speed from one trial experience; however, no significant difference was observed between external and internal groups. Nevertheless, correlation analyses indicated that external focus group showed more consistent response speed across two trials than the internal group. Experiment 2 asked participants to practice 15 times for the first day, and tested retention and transfer at the second day. Results showed that after practice, external focus group completed drawing faster than internal focus group in the last 5 practice trials, as well as in the transfer test. Our results thus replicated that external focus can facilitate motor learning. For novices who were in the coordination stage, there was no evidence showing that internal focus of attention can facilitate motor learning.