Attentional Focus in Musical Performance: Insights from Motor Metacognition

In the field of motor learning, converging evidence suggests that focusing attention on the outcome of the movement, rather than on the movement itself, improves performance (McNevin et al., 2003; Wulf, 2013). However, this evidence is primarily drawn from the fields of sport and movement sciences – mostly gross motor skills — with limited research in music. While research in sports has shown that this effect has broad generalizability across tasks, populations and performance measures, the evidence in musical tasks is particularly mixed. Although some studies have shown that external focus can enhance aspects such as temporal evenness (Duke et al., 2011) and sound quality in skilled musicians (Atkins, 2017), others on untrained singers (Atkins & Duke, 2013) and wind players (Stambaugh, 2017, 2019) indicate that internal focus can also improve performance. Indeed, attending to movement is not always detrimental, especially when performing relatively novel motor tasks (Masters & Maxwell, 2008; Tang et al., 2023). In music, novices often prioritize attention to their body movements, such as finger placement, which is essential for correct performance in the initial stages of learning to play an instrument (Stambaugh, 2019). Overall, these findings suggest that the benefits of different focus of attention strategies may depend heavily on the circumstances. Instead of seeking wide applicability of the attentional focus effect — which may lead to inconsistent results in music — we should aim to understand the specific contingencies that determine its impact. Metacognition, as a higher cognitive function, that allows us to reflect on, evaluate and control mental function (including movement and attention), and that has been also associated with the development of expertise (Concina, 2019; Sternberg, 1998; Zimmerman, 2006), could be an overlooked factor in previous research. This ability could provide insights that previous studies may have missed, and offer a more nuanced and comprehensive framework for determining the optimal focus of attention in musical performance. This study aims to clarify the underlying mechanisms of the attentional focus effect in musical performance, by exploring its dependencies on metacognitive precision. To achieve this, we will first assess the effect of the focus of attention in musical performance. We will then evaluate the role of metacognitive ability within this relationship. Our methodology will involve measuring motor metacognition using an experimental design based on previous studies and tailored to the ecologically valid task of playing the guitar (Maniscalco & Lau, 2012). Additionally, we will use self-reported questionnaires commonly employed in the educational field, as well as some of them adapted to the musical context. When performing a movement, individuals may have metacognitive access to internal parameters (i.e., motor commands driving the action) and external parameters (i.e., the environmental effects of the action). In the context of musical performance, this monitoring aligns with the spatial movement features, for the former, and with the resulting sound, for the latter. We will investigate how guitarists of different skill levels monitor these spatial and tonal aspects under different conditions. In addition, we will examine whether their ability to monitor movement affects their performance of a simple melody under different focus of attention instructions. By examining the effects of attentional focus on musical performance and disentangling its underlying mechanisms through the study of motor metacognition, we aim to also bridge cognitive science and education. Findings from this study can inform better instructional strategies during learning processes in educational contexts.