Comparisons of different focuses of attention on children’s learning and performance: a systematic review

A growing body of investigation has suggested the benefits of an external focus of attention on the performance and learning of motor skills in adults and the elderly. This systematic review investigates the effects of focus of attention on the performance and learning of motor skills in children with typical and atypical development. The literature search was conducted in the electronic databases PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Scielo, with data inception in December 2023. Of the 43 studies in the review, 30 involved the performance and learning of motor skills in children with typical development and 13 in children with atypical development. The current systematic review demonstrates that the direction of instructions/feedback can influence the performance and learning of children's motor skills, regardless of the children's developmental condition or task.