Effects of Externally Focused Instructional Self-Talk on Motor Skills: Meta-Analysis and Risk of Bias Assessment

Research on motor learning shows that people who use externally focused cues consistently perform better than those who use internally focused cues. In the sport psychology literature, externally and internally focused instructional self-talk have been studied but direct comparisons between externally focused and other types of instructional self-talk have not been made. To explore the relative effects of externally focused instructional self-talk and determine if empirical experiments comparing externally focused instructional self-talk to other self-talk is warranted, we conducted a meta-analysis of 38 experiments from 32 articles, along with a risk of bias assessment (to identify potential shortcomings in the literature). Results indicated that externally focused instructional self-talk leads to better performance than other types of instructional self-talk, but also that there are several different areas of bias in this literature. Practical applied implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research empirically comparing the effects of externally focused instructional self-talk to other types of self-talk and reducing the risk of bias are provided.