Concentration Flashcards
Attention
The concentration of mental effort on sensory or mental events.
Concentration
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.
Four Components of Concentration
•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
An external focus of attention has been found to be?
Beneficial to performance in a variety of tasks, such as those that focus on balance, accuracy, speed and endurance, and maximum force production.
An external focus results in?
Increases in performance outcomes, movement efficiency, and movement kinematics.
Associative attentional strategy
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)
Dissociative attentional strategy
Not monitoring bodily functions; distraction and tuning out
Associative strategies are generally correlated with?
Faster running performances, although runners use both associative and dissociative strategies.
Situation awareness
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.
Attentional flexibility
The ability to alter the scope and focus of attention as demanded by the situation.
Single-channel theory
Information is processed through a single
and fixed-capacity channel.
Variable-allocation theory
Individuals are flexible and can choose
where to focus their attention, allocating it on more than one task at a time.
Multiple-resource pool
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.
Explaining Attentional Focus:
Three Processes
Attentional selectivity
Attentional capacity
Attentional alertness
Attentional selectivity refers to?
Letting some information into the processing system while other information is screened or ignored, akin to using a searchlight to focus on certain things.
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
Attentional Capacity
Attention is limited in the amount of information that can be processed at
one time
Controlled processing
Is mental processing that involves conscious attention and awareness of what you are doing when you perform a sport
skill.
Automatic processing
Mental processing without conscious attention.
Attentional capacity is compromised (ego-depleted) by?
Having to perform the cognitive secondary task before the primary task, demonstrating our limited processing capacity.
Attentional Alertness
Increases in emotional arousal narrow the attentional field.
Example of arousal attentional narrowing
Losing sensitivity to cues in the peripheral visual field with increased emotional arousal
Concentration and Optimal Performance
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.
Types of Attentional Focus
◦ Broad attentional focus
◦ Narrow attentional focus
◦ External attentional focus
◦Internal attentional focus
Internal Distracters
Attending to past events (what was?) Attending to future events (what if?) Choking under pressure Overanalysis of body mechanics Fatigue Inadequate motivation
Choking as an Attentional Problem
Choking is an attentional process that
leads to impaired performance and the
inability to retain control over performance without outside assistance
Choking is characterised by?
Performers’ exhibiting conscious step-by-step execution of skills and a breakdown of
automated movement patterns
Conscious 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.
Interventions to Help Alleviate Choking Under Pressure
•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.
Mindfulness is:
“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)
Recognising Attentional Problems: External Distracters
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)
Types of self-talk:
◦ Positive (motivational) ◦ Instructional ◦ Negative ◦ Spontaneous ◦ Goal-directed
Categories of positive self-talk
◦ Psych-up (power)
◦ Confidence (I can make it)
◦ Instruction (focus on technique)
◦ Anxiety control (calm down)
Categories of negative self-talk
◦Worry (I’m wrong again)
◦ Disengagement (I can’t keep going)
◦ Somatic fatigue (I’m tired)
How Self-Talk Works
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
Ironic processing occurs
Trying not to perform a negative action inadvertently causes that event to occur (e.g., driving into the water hazard in golf).
Coaching Behaviours and Self Talk
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.
Uses of Self-Talk
Motivational Initiating action Sustaining effort Instructional Skill acquisition Breaking bad habits
Techniques for Improving Self-Talk
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
Six Rules for Creating Effective Self-Talk
•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.
The 5 Ps of Self-Talk
Personalised Practiced Purpose Positive phrasing Position
Combine Self-Talk With Self Feedback
Research has found that adding self-feedback to instructional self-talk can enhance both concentration and performance.
Rational Emotive Behavior
Therapy (REBT)
Proposes that it is individuals’ beliefs (i.e., self-talk) about adversity that determine whether their emotional and behavioral
reactions are adaptive or maladaptive.
Irrational beliefs lead to?
Dysfunctional emotions (e.g., unhealthy anxiety, depression).
Research suggests that irrational beliefs are?
Prevalent in athletes and that these often cause dysfunctional emotions that disrupt
performance.
Intervention research shows that through RMBT interventions, individuals can?
Reduce irrational thoughts and increase rational thoughts.
Test of Attention and Interpersonal Style (TAIS).
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.
Test of Attention and Interpersonal Style (TAIS).- Psychophysiological and neurological measures include
◦ 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
Improving Concentration
A focused state of mind requires deliberate mental effort and intentionality.
Effective Concentration
During peak performance states, athletes’ minds are so focused that there is no difference between what they are thinking and what they are doing.
On-Site Techniques
- 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.
Five-Step Approach to Developing
Preperformance Routines
- Recording performance on video (both competition and practice)
- Clarifying behaviour meaning
- Developing focus and function for each behavioural component
- Routine construction and agreement
- Practice
Exercises for Improving Concentration
Exercise 1: Learning to shift attention
Exercise 2: Learning to maintain focus
Exercise 3: Searching for relevant cues
