Introduction: CP is a congenital neurological disorder and the possibility of its occurrence is from conception to two years after birth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of attention focus on acquisition, retention and transfer of linear movement task in children with cerebral palsy.
Methodology: 30 girl children with CP (7–12 years old) were selected by convenience sampling from special schools in Tehran, Iran. Participants were randomly divided into three attentional focus groups (internal, external, control). Participants in the internal focus group were asked to focus their attention on the movements of their hand, whereas participants in the external focus group were asked to focus their attention to the movement course and target. Control group participants received no focus instructions. The instrument was linear movement apparatus (LM-01 model). The reliability of the apparatus by test-retest and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were determined 0.90 and 0.93, respectively. Analysis of Co variance and Bonhoeffer tests were used at p <0.05 level.
Results: The results of Covariance were significant in all acquisition, retention and transfer tests. Based on Bonferroni test results, external focus group performed better than both internal focus and control groups. However, internal focus and control groups had no significant difference in retention and transfer phases.
Discussion: These results are consistent with the findings of Wulf (2016) and Wulf, Lewthwaite (2016). According to the verification of constrained action hypothesis (Wulf et al, 2001) in our study, external focus of attention can be used in educational and rehabilitation programs for children with cerebral palsy.