Attention Flashcards
Theoretical Importance of Attention
Attention underlies the process of memory and learning
Practical Importance of Attention
Attention has a central role in almost all facets of motor skill execution
Defining Attention
Attention has elusive definitions, there are several perspectives for defining attention
Attention as Consciousness
- Attention is an internal and external awareness of the environment
- There are conscious and unconscious neural processes
Attention as Effort or Arousal
- Attention requires mental effort
- Attention can be measured through physiological measures
Attention as a Limited Resource
- People have a limited capacity for processing information from the environment
- Because of this limitation, we have selective attention
Single-Channel/Bottleneck Theories
- Cognitive processes occur in serial order
- There are stages in processing, narrowing what we can pay attention to
Broadbent’s Filter Model
Central-Resource Theories
- We can pay attention to multiple tasks or situations at one time
- First proposed by Daniel Kahneman
- Basic Assumption of Theory
- There’s a central reserve of attentional resources
- There’s a flexible attentional capacity
Factors affecting availability of attentional resources
- Arousal
- Anxiety
Effect of arousal on attentional resources
Positive effect on attention
Effect of anxiety on attentional resources
Negative effect on attention
Competiton for Attention
We have selective attention based upon learning, interests, habits, and needs
Incidental Competition Factors
Sudden capturing of our attention
Intentional Competition Factors
Purposeful direction of attention
Stroop Effect
- Evidence for central-resource theories
- A mental experiment showing that humans are able to process 2 stimuli in parallel during the stimulus-identification stage
Cocktail Party Effect
- The ability to be in a noisy room and listen to the person next to us
- We are able to attend to a stimulus even if we don’t draw attention to it
- Happens when we hear our name
Change Blindness
- We only take in the meaning of what’s going on
- We easily miss lots of possibly important stuff
Psychological Refractory Period
- Evidence for bottleneck theories
- The period of time during which the response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because a first stimulus is still being processed
- EX: A juke in football
Styles of Attentional Focus
- Width
- Broad
- Narrow
- Direction
- External
- Internal
External Focus
- Attending to cues or information in the environment
- Focussing attention on the goal, net, where to kick the ball, etc
Internal Focus
- Attending to internal processes
- Thoughts, feelings, biomechanics, etc
- Important during learning
Broad Focus
- Attending to as much information as possible
- Ex: court vision
Narrow Focus
- Paying attention to single items at a time
- Ex: Focusing on the person you are defending
Broad-External Attentional Focus
- Assessing broad amounts of information external to the person
- Ex: Assessing the defense as a point guard
Narrow-External Attentional Focus
- Assessing broad amounts of information external to the person
- Ex: A point guard focusing on the player defending him
Broad-Internal Attentional Focus
- Assesing broad areas of attention, focusing inward
- Assessing fatigue, organizing complex serial responses
Narrow-Internal Attentional Focus
- Assessing a singular area of attention, focusing inward
- Ex: finger tips during a basketball shot
Internal vs External Focus and Learning
Internal focus is most appropriate at early stages of learning, but harmful at later stages
Reinvestment Theory
- Motor skills that have been learned to an advanced level are interrupted when individuals revert back to a conscious form of movement control
- Moving from external to internal focus
- THINKING TOO MUCH
Anxiety and Decision Making/Performance
- A person’s interpretation of a particular situation
- Perception of a threat
Arousal and Decision Making/Performance
The level of excitement of a person’s CNS
Inverted U
- Performance is degraded when arousal levels are too high
- Moderate arousal levels result in the best performance compared to low and high levels of arousal
- Graph shifts to the left for fine and complex skills
- Graph shifts to the right for gross and simple skills
Cue Utilization and Low Arousal
- Attentional focus is wide
- A great deal of information is picked up
Cue Utilization and High Arousal
- Attentional focus narrows to the most relevant cues
- Performance improves up to a point
Cue Utilization Hypothesis
- There is an optimal level of arousal
- Narrow enough to exclude irrelevant cues
- Wide enough to gather the most important cues
Muscle-to-Mind Skills
- Techniques that regulate arousal
- They involve somatic activities such as breathing exercises, progressive relaxation, and contraction-relaxation techniques
Mind-to-Muscle Skills
- Techniques that regulate arousal
- They involve cognitive activities such as relaxation, meditation, and visualization (creating a mental picture)
Quiet Eye
- Attention frequently follows vision
- Expert performers are able to perform certain tasks better than novices:
- Fixate gaze on target, with little to no deviation from target
- Initiates fixed gaze sooner
- Duration of fixed gaze is longer
- Length of quiet eye period is longer
- Queting the eye frees up the rest of the system to perform the task
Guidance
Guidance procedures direct learners through a task by providing temporary assistance during early rehearsal
Forms of Guidance
- Physical
- Verbal
- Visual
Physical Potential Problems with Guidance
- Physical guidance could change the feel of the task OR
- Deprive the learner of the opportunity to correct errors
Movement professional’s role in guidance
Make sure that guidance does not interfere with the learner’s ability to perform in the target context
Active Guidance
- The practitioner manipulates the environment so that the learner assumes control of the movement in an otherwise independent fashion
- Promotes the development of the desired coordination pattern without the assistance of guidance
- Ex: spotting in gymnastics
Benefits of Physical Guidance
Beneficial in learning situations that contain an element of fear or place people at risk of injury
Passive Guidance
- More subtle than active guidance
- May modify the feel of the movement compared to when the movement is independent
- Decision-making process may be different when learners are not required to control their movements
- May diminish the learner’s experience of being able to feel and correct performance errors
