CHAPTER 8 – Thinking and Athletic Performance Flashcards
How might stimulus generalization have been involved in the application with basketball players described at the beginning of this chapter?
• Stimulus generalization - “The tendency of a subject to respond to a stimulus or group of stimuli similar but not identical to the original CS”. Stimulus generalization was involved in the application with the basketball players because each player would visualize themselves, practicing a successfully executing the “cutting off the baseline strategy” against imaginary opponents. Eventually, this should result in the player executing the correct behavior when facing any offensive player.
What is “conditioning sensing”? Describe an example other than conditioning seeing that is not in this chapter.
• Conditioned sensing: bringing some physiological activity associated with one or more of our sense under the control of a previous neutral stimulus. o Example (in textbook): Fred experienced numerous passionate sexual encounters with a partner who consistently used a very distinctive perfume. Then one day someone walked past Fred in a department store wearing the same perfume. Fred immediately imaged seeing the partner (conditioned seeing), hearing the partner’s voice (conditioned hearing), and Fred felt “tingly” all over (conditioned feeling).
In a sentence or two, describe what is meant by “mental rehearsal”?
• Mental rehearsal or mental practice refers to the process of imaging and feeling oneself performing an activity.
Distinguish between internal vs. external imagery.
- Internal imagery: encouraging athletes to feel themselves performing
- External imagery: encouraging athletes to image that they are watching themselves performing
List five ways that athletes might use mental imagery to enhance practice performance.
a. Imagery to energize before practices
b. Instant mental replays to learn the feelings of correct-performed skills.
c. Imagery practice sessions away from the sport environment
d. Imagery at practices before performing previously-learned skills to increase the likelihood of performing successfully.
e. Visualization to stimulate the competitive environment (to promote generalization to competition).
Describe an example (that was not in this chapter) to illustrate how an athlete might use visualization at practices to promote generalization of a skill to competitions.
• An example illustrates how an athlete might use visualization at practices to promote generalization of a skill to competitions:
o During scrimmages at basketball practice, players imagine the crowd booing and cheering them and the pressure they would feel because of the sounds. When they go to play at an actual game and the crowd begins to boo the team, the players are unaffected because of their visualization at practice.
List four ways that athletes might use mental imagery and/or visualization to enhance competitive performance.
• 4 ways those athletes might use mental imagery and/or visualization to enhance competitive performance:
a. Imagery for emotional control
b. Imagery for mental toughness
c. Mental rehearsal of a skill(s) just before performing
d. Imagery to help tune out distractors.
What is meant by the term “key word”? Describe a sport example that is not in this chapter.
• Term “key word”: If you want to help an athlete improve the quality and consistency of skills at practices and competitions, then you might recommend technique words or key words that would serve as SDs to prompt particular body positions or focus of attention. Such as a golfer thinking, “shoulder turn” to prompt a full shoulder turn on the back swing (textbook example).
Describe an example that is not in this chapter, to illustrate how an athlete might use key words to transfer a skill from practices to a competition.
• How an athlete might use key words to transfer a skill from practices to a competition: An example of how an athlete might use key words to transfer skill from practices to a competition is as follows: a baseball player who in practice gets perfect hits every time, but in competition he can hardly hit. In practice, he begins to do the same self-talk for every time he hits the ball, he continues this self-talk in practice for many weeks. Once the player applies this self-talk to the competition setting he begins to hit the ball in a similar way to practice and his numbers go up (example taken from quizlet).
What is meant by the term “desired mood words”? Illustrate a sport example that is not in this chapter.
• Desired Mood Words - words that elicit emotional feelings, which have been associated with past successful performance.
o Example: When a football player before a game might say “breath”, “kick hard”, “fast”, and “be aggressive”.
Briefly describe each of Nideffer’s four major categories of stimulus control of athletic performance and illustrate each with sport example that is not in this chapter.
• Broad External Stimulus Control - indicates that in some athletic situations, the athlete must attend to a number of different external cues in a short period of time
• A quarterback in football trying to pick out a receiver while at the same time being aware of onrushing opposing linemen.
• Narrow External Stimulus Control - athletic skill under the stimulus control of a specific external stimulus & the ability of the athlete to ignore a variety of potential distracting cues
o A batter focusing on the baseball from the point where it leaves the pitcher’s hand until it arrives at the plate.
• Broad Internal Stimulus Control - instances of thinking about complex problems in the absence of any obvious external SD
o A badminton coach thinking of strategies for the badminton player during a break between the second and third set of a finals game.
• Narrow Internal Stimulus Control - situations where an athletic skill is under the control of a specific internal cue
o A figure skater might focus on the feeling of being directly over the take-off foot at the beginning of a jump.
List three components of strategy used with professional hockey players to help them to “stay in the game” when sitting on the bench between shifts on the ice. Describe examples of self-talk for the last two components.
a) Relax: they relaxed during the first 30 seconds or so after the shift
b) Regroup: they rehearsed general self-talk to put the last shift behind them and get ready for the next shift (e.g. “That one’s gone forever”, “The rest of my game starts now”).
c) Refocus: they reviewed some key words to help them be properly focused for the next shift (e.g. “I’ll jump on loose pucks”, “I’ll shoot quick”).
List five ways that athletes might use self-talk to enhance their performance in competitions.
i. Use of key words for a skill to transfer that skill from practices to competitions
ii. Mood words to control feelings of desired emotions
iii. Self-talk for shifting attention to different cues
iv. Self-talk for refocusing during a break in the action
v. Self-talk to stop negative thoughts and emotions
