3. Attention, Anxiety, Arousal

Question 1

Define arousal.

Answer 1

All-inclusive, well-ranging continuum of psychological activation

Question 2

Define anxiety.

Answer 2

A negatively charged emotional state that is characterized by internal discomfort and a feeling of extreme nervousness

Question 3

Describe the arousal continuum.

Answer 3

• Like a number line w/ high and low arousal on opposing sides
• Continuum of “daily functioning” in middle
• Deep sleep = low arousal
• Life threat (fight or flight) = high arousal

Question 4

Define activation.

Answer 4

Process in the central nervous system that increases the activity in the brain from a lower level to a higher level, and maintains this high level

Question 5

List the neurophysiological mechanisms of the brain?

Answer 5

• Cerebral cortex
• Hypothalamus
• Reticular Activating System

Question 6

How does the cerebral cortex act as a neurophysiological mechanism? What does it look like?

Answer 6

• Higher Intellectual Functions
• “like the bark of a tree” –> rough appearance
• Thought processes including the cognitive representations of anxiety

Question 7

How does the hypothalamus act as a neurophysiological mechanism?

Answer 7

• Controls Endocrine System
• Regulates sympathetic NS & pituitary gland
• Triggers cascade of hormonal chemical changes in body

Question 8

How does the Reticular Activating System act as a neurophysiological mechanism?

Answer 8

• Activates cortex from brainstem

- Peripheral info comes in from senses, extremities –> RAS routes signals to right place in the brain

Question 9

How does the Autonomic NS act as a neurophysiological mechanism? Examples?

Answer 9

• Body reactions to environmental stressors

- Ex) change in body temp, respiration rate, heart rate, blood pressure

Question 10

Define state anxiety.

Answer 10

A transitory form of apprehension that varies in intensity, in proportion to the strength of the fear-inducing cue

Question 11

Define trait anxiety.

Answer 11

Relatively stable individual differences in anxiety proneness and disposition to perceive a wide range of stimulus situations as dangerous/threatening, and to respond to such threats w/ a disproportionate amount of fear

Question 12

Explain the Drive Theory of Arousal & Performance. Who developed it? Define its parts. Describe graph.

Answer 12

• Clarke Hull
• Performance is a multiplicative function of the drive state and habit strength
• P = D x H
• Drive state = arousal/activation level
• Habit strength = how well-learned the task is
• Linear = performance increases w/ arousal level

Question 13

Explain the Inverted U Hypothesis of Arousal & Performance. Describe graph.

Answer 13

• Optimal level of performance and arousal level
• Performance increases w/ increased arousal until optimal level
• Performance decreases w/ increased arousal past optimal level

Question 14

Describe the Optimal Levels theory of performance and arousal level.

Answer 14

Diff inverted U’s & corresponding optimal levels for diff sports, movements, skills

Question 15

Describe the Task Complexity theory of performance and arousal level. What areas of life can this be applied to?

Answer 15

• Diff inverted U’s & corresponding optimal levels for difficult/complex (low arousal), moderate, and relatively simple skills (high arousal)
• Graph is for skills that are well-learned
• Can be applied to any domain of optimal performance

Question 16

Define activation response.

Answer 16

General energy mobilizing response that provides the conditions for a high performance, both physically and psychologically

Question 17

What is the significance of the Zone of Optimal Performance?

Answer 17

Outside of zone, you won’t perform your best due to being over/under aroused

Question 18

What is the flow state? When does it occur? How do you get out of it?

Answer 18

• Out of body experience where pain/problems aren’t really relevant
• Skill is so well-learned, it’s almost effortless
• Quickest way to get out of it is to realize you’re in one

Question 19

Define attention.

Answer 19

The ability to process info about the environment

Question 20

What are the characteristics of attention?

Answer 20

• Serial, shifting from source to source
• Limited in capacity
• Effortful
• Related to arousal
• Limits the capacity to do certain parts of tasks together

Question 21

List the stage models of info processing.

Answer 21

• Selective attention

- Pertinence model

Question 22

Describe the Selective Attention stage model of info processing.

Answer 22

• Blocking out info that isn’t important at the time

- Info still coming in, but not paying attention to it

Question 23

Describe the Pertinence Model of info processing. Examples?

Answer 23

• Only paying attention to what is pertinent at the moment

- Ex) hungry, thirsty, unsafe –> not able to focus on things that aren’t more important than these

Question 24

What is the Stroop Effect?

Answer 24

• Color word not depicted in same color –> participants tasked w/ saying color of word instead of reading the word
• When ink color and form conflict, reaction time is slowed

Question 25

What are the conclusions of the Stroop Effect?

Answer 25

• We can expand this effect to other sensations
• Reading interferes w/ color identification
• Central processing capacity is allocated in a learned fashion between tasks
• Affects response selection in sports

Question 26

Why study reaction time?

Answer 26

External way to measure internal processes (in the brain) that are usually difficult to access

Question 27

How does practice affect reaction time?

Answer 27

• Once a skill is learned, simple reaction time can’t be improved w/ practice
• Choice reaction time can be improved w/ practice

Question 28

How does anticipation affect reaction time?

Answer 28

Changes how we process info

Question 29

What is Hick’s Law?

Answer 29

Choice reaction time is linearly related to the Log of a number of stimulus alternatives

Question 30

Explain cue utilization.

Answer 30

• As arousal increases, attention narrows (tunnel vision)
• Start ignoring relevant cues
• Optimal performance level w/o under-inclusion of task relevant cues or over-inclusion of task irrelevant cues