Contributions of External Attentional Focus, Enhanced Expectancies and Autonomy Support to Enhance Learning Skills of Throwing Darts

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of the combination of attention (external focus) and internal motivation (autonomy support and enhanced expectancies) on learning the skill of throwing darts. Methods: For this purpose, 60 women participated in the study. our study included 4 groups: a) autonomy support external focus (ASEF); b) enhanced expectancies external focus (EEEF); C) enhanced expectancies autonomy support (EEAS); and d) enhanced expectancies autonomy support external focus (EEASEF). Participants were asked to throw darts at a target with their nondominant arm. In the EE conditions, they received (false) positive socialcomparative feedback. In the AS conditions, they were allowed to throw 5 of 10 trials in each block with their dominant arm chosen by them. In the EF conditions, participants were asked to focus on the target. on the posttest after the end of the training period and retention and transfer test 24 hours after practice, the ASEEEF group had the highest accuracy scores and outperformed all other groups. Results: The results of the betweengroup comparison for throwing accuracy showed that the EEASEF group was a significant difference compared to the other groups. Conclusions: The findings provide evidence that enhanced expectancies, autonomy support, and an external focus can contribute in an additive style to optimize motor performance and learning.