Concentration

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

The concentration of mental effort on sensory or mental events.

Question 2

Concentration

Answer 2

The mental effort placed on sensory or mental events. It is the person’s ability to exert deliberate mental effort on what is most important in a given situation.

Question 3

Four Components of Concentration

Answer 3

•Focusing on relevant environment
cues (selective attention: selecting
what cues to attend to and disregard)
•Maintaining attentional focus
•Situation awareness: the ability to
understand what is going on around oneself (to size up a situation)
•Shifting attentional focus when
necessary

Question 4

An external focus of attention has been found to be?

Answer 4

Beneficial to performance in a variety of tasks, such as those that focus on balance, accuracy, speed and endurance, and maximum force production.

Question 5

An external focus results in?

Answer 5

Increases in performance outcomes, movement efficiency, and movement kinematics.

Question 6

Associative attentional strategy

Answer 6

Monitoring bodily functions and feelings, such as heart rate, breathing, and muscle tension
◦ Internal sensory monitoring (e.g., muscle soreness, breathing, fatigue, thirst)
◦ Active self-regulation (e.g., technique, cadence, strategy)

Question 7

Dissociative attentional strategy

Answer 7

Not monitoring bodily functions; distraction and tuning out

Question 8

Associative strategies are generally correlated with?

Answer 8

Faster running performances, although runners use both associative and dissociative strategies.

Question 9

Situation awareness

Answer 9

The ability that allows players to size up game situations, opponents, and competitions to make appropriate
decisions based on the situation, often under acute pressure and time demands.

Question 10

Attentional flexibility

Answer 10

The ability to alter the scope and focus of attention as demanded by the situation.

Question 11

Single-channel theory

Answer 11

Information is processed through a single

and fixed-capacity channel.

Question 12

Variable-allocation theory

Answer 12

Individuals are flexible and can choose

where to focus their attention, allocating it on more than one task at a time.

Question 13

Multiple-resource pool

Answer 13

Attention is distributed throughout the
nervous system (like microprocessors), and each microprocessor has its own unique capabilities and resource–performance relationship. This is the most accepted view today.

Question 14

Explaining Attentional Focus:

Three Processes

Answer 14

Attentional selectivity
Attentional capacity
Attentional alertness

Question 15

Attentional selectivity refers to?

Answer 15

Letting some information into the processing system while other information is screened or ignored, akin to using a searchlight to focus on certain things.

Question 16

Common attentional selectivity errors:

Answer 16

◦ 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

Question 17

Attentional Capacity

Answer 17

Attention is limited in the amount of information that can be processed at
one time

Question 18

Controlled processing

Answer 18

Is mental processing that involves conscious attention and awareness of what you are doing when you perform a sport
skill.

Question 19

Automatic processing

Answer 19

Mental processing without conscious attention.

Question 20

Attentional capacity is compromised (ego-depleted) by?

Answer 20

Having to perform the cognitive secondary task before the primary task, demonstrating our limited processing capacity.

Question 21

Attentional Alertness

Answer 21

Increases in emotional arousal narrow the attentional field.

Question 22

Example of arousal attentional narrowing

Answer 22

Losing sensitivity to cues in the peripheral visual field with increased emotional arousal

Question 23

Concentration and Optimal Performance

Answer 23

Focus on only the relevant cues in the athletic environment and eliminate distractions.
The ability to automatically process or execute movements is critical in performance environments.

Question 24

Types of Attentional Focus

Answer 24

◦ Broad attentional focus
◦ Narrow attentional focus
◦ External attentional focus
◦Internal attentional focus

Question 25

Internal Distracters

Answer 25

Attending to past events (what was?)
Attending to future events (what if?)
Choking under pressure
Overanalysis of body mechanics
Fatigue
Inadequate motivation

Question 26

Choking as an Attentional Problem

Answer 26

Choking is an attentional process that
leads to impaired performance and the
inability to retain control over performance without outside assistance

Question 27

Choking is characterised by?

Answer 27

Performers’ exhibiting conscious step-by-step execution of skills and a breakdown of
automated movement patterns

Question 28

Conscious processing hypothesis

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

Interventions to Help Alleviate Choking Under Pressure

Answer 29

•Imagery builds athletes’ confidence.
•Preshot routines help keep athletes task focused and relaxed.
•Secondary task focus helps athletes focus on one task-relevant cue.
•Exposure to stressful situations allows
athletes to feel more comfortable.

Question 30

Mindfulness is:

Answer 30

“the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p. 145)

Question 31

Recognising Attentional Problems: External Distracters

Answer 31

External distracters may be defined as stimuli from the environment that divert people’s attention from the cues relevant to their performance.
Visual distracters (e.g. spectators in sport) Auditory distracters (e.g., plane flying over, loud or unexpected noises)

Question 32

Types of self-talk:

Answer 32

◦ Positive (motivational)
◦ Instructional
◦ Negative
◦ Spontaneous
◦ Goal-directed

Question 33

Categories of positive self-talk

Answer 33

◦ Psych-up (power)
◦ Confidence (I can make it)
◦ Instruction (focus on technique)
◦ Anxiety control (calm down)

Question 34

Categories of negative self-talk

Answer 34

◦Worry (I’m wrong again)
◦ Disengagement (I can’t keep going)
◦ Somatic fatigue (I’m tired)

Question 35

How Self-Talk Works

Answer 35

Event: Missing an important shot in a tennis
match
Self-talk: “Keep your eye on the ball—this
match isn’t over.”
Response: Better concentration, optimism,
calm

Question 36

Ironic processing occurs

Answer 36

Trying not to perform a negative action inadvertently causes that event to occur (e.g., driving into the water hazard in golf).

Question 37

Coaching Behaviours and Self Talk

Answer 37

Supportive coaching behaviors help produce more positive and less negative self-talk.

Negative punishment coaching behaviors help produce more negative self-talk and less positive self-talk.

Question 38

Uses of Self-Talk

Answer 38

Motivational
Initiating action
Sustaining effort
Instructional
Skill acquisition
Breaking bad habits

Question 39

Techniques for Improving Self-Talk

Answer 39

Thought stopping
◦ Identify negative thoughts.
◦ Stop the thoughts.
◦ Focus on task-relevant thoughts.

Changing negative self-talk to positive self-talk

Combining self-talk with selffeedback

Question 40

Six Rules for Creating Effective Self-Talk

Answer 40

•Keep phrases short and specific.
•Use the first person and present tense.
•Construct positive phrases.
•Say your phrases with meaning and
attention.
•Speak kindly to yourself.
•Repeat phrases often.

Question 41

The 5 Ps of Self-Talk

Answer 41

Personalised
Practiced
Purpose
Positive phrasing
Position

Question 42

Combine Self-Talk With Self Feedback

Answer 42

Research has found that adding self-feedback to instructional self-talk can enhance both concentration and performance.

Question 43

Rational Emotive Behavior

Therapy (REBT)

Answer 43

Proposes that it is individuals’ beliefs (i.e., self-talk) about adversity that determine whether their emotional and behavioral
reactions are adaptive or maladaptive.

Question 44

Irrational beliefs lead to?

Answer 44

Dysfunctional emotions (e.g., unhealthy
anxiety, depression).

Question 45

Research suggests that irrational beliefs are?

Answer 45

Prevalent in athletes and that these often cause dysfunctional emotions that disrupt
performance.

Question 46

Intervention research shows that through RMBT interventions, individuals can?

Answer 46

Reduce irrational thoughts and increase rational thoughts.

Question 47

Test of Attention and Interpersonal Style (TAIS).

Answer 47

Effective attenders can attend to several stimuli without getting overloaded and
can narrow attentional focus without leaving out important information.

Ineffective attenders are easily confused with multiple stimuli.

Question 48

Test of Attention and Interpersonal Style (TAIS).- Psychophysiological and neurological measures include

Answer 48

◦ EEG (brain activity). Elite shooters can voluntarily reduce cognitive activity and enhance performance.

◦ Neurological heart rate measures. Elite shooters have cardiac decelerations just before performance

Question 49

Improving Concentration

Answer 49

A focused state of mind requires deliberate mental effort and intentionality.

Question 50

Effective Concentration

Answer 50

During peak performance states, athletes’ minds are so focused that there is no difference between what they are thinking and what they are doing.

Question 51

On-Site Techniques

Answer 51

• Use simulations in practice (practice with distractions present).
• Use cue words to focus (instructional and motivational words).
• Employ nonjudgmental thinking.
• Establish routines (before or during the event).
• Develop competition plans.
• Overlearn skills.

Question 52

Five-Step Approach to Developing

Preperformance Routines

Answer 52

1. Recording performance on video (both competition and practice)
2. Clarifying behaviour meaning
3. Developing focus and function for each behavioural component
4. Routine construction and agreement
5. Practice

Question 53

Exercises for Improving Concentration

Answer 53

Exercise 1: Learning to shift attention
Exercise 2: Learning to maintain focus
Exercise 3: Searching for relevant cues