Attention and Concentration Flashcards
Define concentration
The mental effort placed on sensory or mental events.
Define attention
The cognitive process allowing you to focus/concentrate.
What are 4 components of concentration
- Focusing on relevant environment cues.
- Maintaining attentional focus
- Situation awareness
- Shifting attentional focus when necessary
What are the 4 attentional processes
- Breadth of attention
- Scanning behaviours
- Distractibility
- Selective attention bias
Give 3 comparisons of elite vs non elite athletes (concentration)
– make faster decisions and better anticipate future events
– attend more to movement patterns
– search more systematically for cues
– selectively attend to the structure inherent in sport
– are more skilful in predicting ball flight patterns
Define attentional selectivity
Letting some information into the processing system while other information is screened or ignored,
What are some common attentional selectivity errors
- Being too broad in one’s focus
- Being distracted from relevant information by irrelevant information
- Inability to shift focus rapidly enough among all relevant cues
Describe the idea of attentional capacity
Attention is limited in the amount of information that can be processed at one time. A bucket.
Describe controlled processing
mental processing that involves conscious attention and awareness of what you are doing when you perform a sport skill.
Describe automatic processing
mental processing without conscious attention.
Are athletes considered more or less proficient if they can switch change from controlled processing to automatic processing
More proficient
Describe the idea of attentional alertness
Increases in emotional arousal narrow the attentional field. When you’re nervous or anxious, your attention is narrowed.
Which psychologist came up with the idea of attentional styles
Nideffer
What are the 4 continuum of attentional styles
Broad
Narrow
Internal
External
Describe ‘broad’ as an attentional style
Attending to a wide range of cues
Describe ‘narrow’ as an attentional style
Focusing on specific cues
Describe ‘Internal’ as an attentional style
Focusing on internal feelings/your body
Describe ‘External’ as an attentional style
Focusing on cues in the environment
A lacrosse player passing of the ball is an example of a combination which attentional styles?
Broad External
A tennis serve is an example of a combination which attentional styles?
Narrow External
Developing a race strategy is an example of a combination which attentional styles?
Broad Internal
Taking a breath to relax is an example of a combination which attentional styles?
Narrow Internal
Describe the association strategy
Monitoring bodily functions and feelings, such as heart rate, breathing, and muscle tension
Describe the dissociation strategy
Not monitoring bodily functions; distraction and tuning out.
Should the associative or dissociative strategy be used to increase adherence to exercise?
Dissociation
Give 3 internal distractions associated with attentional problems
o Attending to past events (what was?) o Attending to future events (what if?) o Choking under pressure o Overanalysis of body mechanics o Fatigue o Inadequate motivation
Give 2 internal distractions associated with attentional problems
o Visual distractions
o Auditory distractions
Describe choking (attention)
An attentional process that leads to impaired performance and the inability to retain control over performance without outside assistance.
What characterises choking (attention)
Performers’ exhibiting conscious step-by-step execution of skills and a breakdown of automated movement patterns.
List 3 attentional changes caused as a result of anxiety, which could lead to choking
Having an internal focus
Having a narrow focus
Reduced flexibility
Describe concious processing hypothesis
Choking occurs when skilled performers focus too much of their conscious attention to the task, much as they would do if they were a novice at the task. Performance decreases only with increased focus on several task-relevant cues.
Give 2 ways to assess attentional skills
Test of Attention and Interpersonal Style (TAIS)
Psychophysiological and neurological measures:
Describe an effective attender
They can attend to several stimuli without getting overloaded and can narrow attentional focus without leaving out important information
Describe an ineffective attender
They are easily confused with multiple stimuli.
Give one method to measure attention itself
Gaze behaviour (eye tracking)
Give the three subheadings of fixation metrics
Number of fixations
Fixation duration
Scan Path
Describe the results of number of fixations
a concentration of a large number of fixations in a certain area may be related to a user’s interest in the object or detail presented in that area when viewing a scene
What are 2 components of exceptional performance
- Being absorbed in the present
- Being mentally relaxed
- Complete awareness of the body/environment
