Gill, D. L., & Strom, E. H. (1985). The effects of attentional focus on performance on endurance tasks. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 16, 217-223.

Internal and external focus on dissociative thinking in an endurance performance were compared. Females (N = 34) performed as many leg extensions as possible.

It was found that external distraction was better than internal and was preferred by the majority of Ss.

Implication. For repetitive, highly skilled or externally controlled tasks, external distractional techniques are most successful.

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