One study found that focusing on the sight rather than on bodily sensations does not change the score
1 study · 16 archers measured
The summary today
In the registry's bibliography a single test has compared the two ways of directing attention in the same archers, and it found no difference in score: sixteen elite teenagers, six arrows per condition at 70 m, and a gap measured in fractions of a point. The result does not say that attention makes no difference: with so few arrows a small difference would not have shown up anyway. What it does say is that the archers followed the instruction, because something under the skull really does change: with the gaze on the sight the visual areas work harder and the motor areas less, and in the premotor area the same score arrives with less activation. That part too, though, rests on five measurement channels out of forty-eight, too few to make a rule of.
Also phrased as: "external focus and archery score"; "thinking about the target instead of the body"; "internal and external focus of attention in archery"; "watching the sight or feeling the draw"; "where to put your attention while aiming"
In practice
Archers are often taught to stay on the target and the sight while aiming, on the idea that thinking about the arm or the back means steering a movement that should run by itself.
Evidence
-
2025
For Archers Published later
16 male recurve archers aged 16.4, the top sixteen of the Chinese national championship, in a randomised crossover: about 6 arrows at 70 m with the focus on the gold and as many with the focus on bodily sensations. The score does not change (t = 0.527, p = 0.606, d = 0.117). Near-infrared spectroscopy finds differences in 5 channels out of 48: activity in the secondary visual areas more than triples with the external focus (V2: 4.36 against 1.28; V3: 4.81 against 2.32, in units of 10 to the minus 5 mmol/L), while the primary motor cortex on the side that governs the bow arm activates less (1.43 against 3.18, d = 1.01, the largest effect). In one premotor channel the same score arrives with less activation (p = 0.026). With the internal focus the only area linked to the score is the premotor one (r = 0.626), and with the external focus the link reverses in another premotor channel (r = -0.769). The activation differences come from 48 channels with no correction for multiple comparisons: only the one at p = 0.005 holds with room to spare.
Brain activity and motor performance under different focus of attention in shooting of elite archer · Kun Qin, Juan Wu, Shikun Wang
Status history
- 1984 Not studied No one in the registry's bibliography had yet compared, in the same archers, attention directed to the sight and attention directed to bodily sensations.
- 2025 Reported The first test arrives: sixteen sixteen-year-old Chinese recurve archers, the best of the national championship, shoot at 70 m alternating in random order a focus on the sight and a focus on bodily sensations. Nothing changes in the score, and with six arrows per condition nothing would have changed even if the effect were there. The claim is therefore written in the direction of the result and takes the status reported, because a single study goes no further. The brain measurements show the instruction was carried out: the visual areas activate more with the external focus, the motor areas less, and in the premotor area the same score costs less activation.
Related
Related articles
- Where to put your attention: internal and external focus in archeryThink about the muscles or the sight? General research favoured an external focus, but in archers the score did not change. What changed was the brain's work.
- Common beginner mistakes in archery and how to avoid themThe most common beginner mistakes in archery, from posture and release to equipment, and what the measurements made on beginners actually show.
- EEG and neuroscience in archery: the brain of the elite archerWhat EEG studies on archers show about the best arrows, differences between levels, theta in beginners and neurofeedback, and how far each finding holds.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). One study found that focusing on the sight rather than on bodily sensations does not change the score (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/external-focus-score
@misc{campagna2026_focusesternopunteggio,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {One study found that focusing on the sight rather than on bodily sensations does not change the score},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/external-focus-score},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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