Q1. Which research designs have been used in the literature to examine the effects of internal and/or external attention on motor behaviors (balance, task performance, etc.)? What is the current consensus on the best type of attention for continuous and discrete tasks?
Which research design is ‘ideal’ to assess and compare internal and external attention? Which design would best control for individual confounders and practice or learning effects?
Q2. From a neurocognitive perspective, how is attention conceptualized? What are the different theories of attention and information processing? How is attention/focus measured in studies? What are some measures of task performance and motor learning that have been used in the literature?
Q3. What is the evidence for the role of an attention based cognitive task (or other types of cognitive tasks) on motor learning and task performance? Are cognitive training tasks better than internal or external focus to improve learning and performance?
Q4. Attention and performance has been extensively studied in motor behavior since 1950s. Describe attention theories related to human performance. Cite research literature to analyze how attentional focus affects motor performance and theoretical mechanisms behind the effects of different modes of attentional focus. Discuss how attention affects memory especially memory consolidation in motor learning.
Q5. Describe how control of posture is distributed in the nervous system. Cite research literature to discuss the effects of cognitive factors (attention and feedback) on postural control.