Lecture 6: Attention and concentration

Question 1

concentration

Answer 1

• Concentration = attention
  
  • “A person’s ability to exert deliberate mental effort on what is most important in any given situation” (Moran, 2004)
  • Ability to maintain focus on relevant environmental cues

Question 2

4 components of concentration

Answer 2

1. focussing on relevant environmental cues
2. maintaining attentional focus
3. maintaining situation awareness
4. shifting attentional focus

Question 3

focussing on relevant cues

Answer 3

1. Focussing on relevant environmental cues
   § Selective attention
   § Eliminate or disregard irrelevant cues
   § Learning and practice - build selective attention
   § External focus vs internal focus
   § Focusing on externally instead or internally (Bell and Hardy, 2009; Wulf, 2013).

Question 4

maintaining attentional focus

Answer 4

§ Maintain focus over a long period of time

§ Regain concentration after breaks in the action

Question 5

maintaining situation awareness

Answer 5

§ Understand what is going on around oneself
§ To size up game situations, opponents, and competitions to make appropriate decisions (under pressure and time demands)

Question 6

shifting attentional focus

Answer 6

§ Ability to alter the scope and focus of attention

§ Necessary to shift attentional focus during an event

Question 7

types of attentional focus

Answer 7

broad-external focus
broad-internal focus
narrow-internal focus
narrow-external focus

Question 8

broad-external focus

Answer 8

assess the external environment

e.g. direction of the wind, length of fairway etc.

Question 9

broad-internal focus

Answer 9

• recall previous experience
• select a particular club to use
• determine how to hit the ball

Question 10

narrow- internal focus

Answer 10

• monitor tension
• image a perfect shot
• take a deep, relaxing breath as part of pre-shot routine

Question 11

narrow-external focus

Answer 11

• address the ball
• focus is directly on the ball
• disregard other internal cues and thoughts

Question 12

Differences between experts to novice performers in attentional processing:

Answer 12

Differences between experts to novice performers in attentional processing:
- Experts as compared to novice performers in attentional processing
○ Make faster decisions and better anticipate future events by using advance visual information (e.g., Abernethy & Russell, 1984; Jones & Miles, 1978; Savelsbergh, Williams, van der Kamp, & Ward, 2002, Williams & Burwitz, 1993)
○ Attend more to movement patterns (e.g., Abernethy, Gill, Parks, & Packer, 2001; Abernethy, Zawi, & Jackson, 2008)
○ Search more systematically for critical information cues (e.g., Abernethy, 1990; Williams, Davids, Burwitz, & Williams, 1994)
○ Selectively attend to the structure of offensive and defensive pattern
○ More successful in predicting the flight pattern of a ball (e.g., Allard & Starkes, 1980, Muller, Abernethy, Farrow, 2006

Question 13

main theories of concentration

Answer 13

• Information processing approach
  
  • Single-channel approach (fixed capacity)
  • Variable (flexible) approach
  • Multiple pools theory approach

Question 14

information processing model

Answer 14

explain the role of attention in performance

Question 15

single-channel approach (fixed capacity)

Answer 15

a single and fixed capacity channel

Question 16

variable (flexible) approach

Answer 16

flexible and can choose where to focus their attention

Question 17

multiple pools theory approach

Answer 17

attention like multiprocessors

Question 18

3 types of attentional focus

Answer 18

attentional selectivity
attentional capacity
attentional alertness

Question 19

attentional selectivity

Answer 19

○ Selective attention
○ “Letting some information into the information-processing system whereas other information is screened or ignored” (see Abernethy, 2001)
○ “Spotlight” (Perry, 2005)
○ More proficient in a given skill – more automatic control
§ When learning a skill – attention to all aspects of performing the skill itself
When become more proficient – attention can move to others

Question 20

attentional capacity

Answer 20

○ Limited in the amount of information that can be processed at one time
○ Controlled processing to automatic processing
○ Controlled processing
§ Mental processing including conscious attention and awareness
○ Automatic processing
§ Mental processing without conscious attention

Question 21

attentional alertness

Answer 21

○ Increases in emotional arousal – narrow the attentional field
○ Reduction in the range of cues that a performer considers in executing a skill
○ In stressful situations, performance on central vision task decreases ability to respond peripheral stimuli (Land & Tenenbaum, 2012)
○ Losses sensitivity to cues in the peripheral visual field with increased arousal

Question 22

attentional control theory

Answer 22

• Attentional control theory (Eysenck et al., 2007)
  ○ Top-down (goal-directed) processing
  § Current goals and expectations
  ○ Bottom-up (stimulus-driven) processing
  § Salient stimuli
  ○ Anxiety
  § Impairs goal-directed attentional system, so influenced more by stimulus driven system
  ○ Threatening stimuli (e.g., the crowd or an opponent)

Question 23

concentration and optimal performance

Answer 23

• Importance of proper attentional focus (high levels of performance)
  
  • Attentional control (an important discriminating factor)
    ○ Less likely to become distracted by irrelevant stimuli
    ○ Exceptional concentration abilities
    ○ Optimal performance - the ability to focus, a special state of involvement, awareness of the task at hand.
    ○ Focus on only the relevant cues in the environment by eliminating distractions
  • Different eye movement patterns (focus of attention)
    ○ Expert player have a different focus of attention when compared to novices.

Question 24

broad

Answer 24

• Broad: attentional focus can perceive several situations at the same time

Question 25

narrow

Answer 25

• Narrow: respond to only one or two cues

Question 26

external

Answer 26

• External: direct attention outwards

Question 27

internal

Answer 27

• Internal: direct attention inwards to self and feeling

Question 28

recognising attentional problems

Answer 28

○ Inappropriate attentional focus

○ Distracted by thoughts, other events, and emotions (Jackson, 1995; Jones, 2012)

Question 29

internal distractors

Answer 29

○ Come from within (Jackson, 1995)
○ Attending to past events (e.g. what was?)
○ Attending to future events (e.g. what if?)

Question 30

choking under pressure

Answer 30

○ An attentional process that leads to impaired performance

Inability to retain control over performance without outside assistance

Question 31

conditions leading to choking

Answer 31

important competition
critical plays in a competition
evaluation by others

Question 32

physical changes in choking process

Answer 32

increased muscle tension
increased breathing rate
increased HR

Question 33

attentional changes in choking process

Answer 33

internal focus
narrow focus
reduced flexibility

Question 34

performance impairment due to choking process

Answer 34

timing an coordination breakdown
muscle tightness and fatigue
rushing
inability to attend to task-relevant cues

Question 35

internal distractors include:

Answer 35

choking
overanalysing body mechanics
skill-focused attention
fatigue
inadequate motivation

Question 36

overanalysing body mechanics

Answer 36

○ Focusing too much on body mechanics and movement
○ When learning a new skill - internal focus
○ Once skill is learned - automatic
○ Attention on the task (Beilock and Carr, 2001)
§ Learners - helpful learning the skill
§ Skilled performers - decrease in performance

Question 37

fatigue

Answer 37

○ Concentration can be lost simply through fatigue

○ Reduces the amount of processing resources

Question 38

inadequate motivation

Answer 38

lack of motivation

Question 39

external distractors include:

Answer 39

• Stimuli from the environments
  
  • Divert people’s attention from the cues
  • Visual distracters
    ○ Spectators
    ○ Leader board in golf
    ○ Scoreboard
  • Auditory distracters
    ○ Crowd noise
    ○ Mobile telephones
    ○ Announcements

Question 40

ways of assessing attentional skills

Answer 40

Test of attentional and interpersonal style (TAIS) (Nideffer, 1967)

psychological and neurological measures

Question 41

Test of attentional and interpersonal style (TAIS) (Nideffer, 1967)

Answer 41

○ External vs internal, broad vs narrow?

	○ Effective attenders: concentrate on several stimuli without getting overloaded (broad-external, broad-internal, narrow focus)
	○ Ineffective attenders: easily confused by multiple stimuli (external overload, reduced focus, internal overload)
	○ A trait measure
	○ Situational factors?
	○ Other measures to assess attentional capacity?

Question 42

psychological and neurological measures to assess attentional skills

Answer 42

○ Psychophysiological assessments (Abernethy, Summers and Ford, 1998)
§ Brain waves - EEG (electroencephalography - electrical activity in the head measurement)
□ Close skills - golf, pistol shooting and archery (self-paced)
□ Accuracy of shooting performance - alpha frequencies
○ Heart rate
§ Deceleration in HR in shooting (Lacey, 1967)
□ Directing attention to outward
□ Target and stabilise and align the gun
§ Deceleration just before performance in self-paced activities (Hatfield and Hillman, 2001)
□ E.g., archery, pistol shooting, rifle shooting

Question 43

how to improve attention

Answer 43

use simulations in practice
use cue words
use non-judgemental thinking
establish routine
develop plans
overlain skills

Question 44

how can simulations in practice be used to improve attention?

Answer 44

§ Training does not equal competition
§ Distractions and environmental conditions - systematically practicing in training session (Schmid, Peper and Wilson, 2011)
§ Simulation training - all the situations to be similar in the competition

Question 45

how can cue words be used to improve attention?

Answer 45

§ Trigger a particular response
§ A form of self-talk
§ Instructional or motivational

Question 46

how can non-judgemental thinking be used to improve attention?

Answer 46

§ Evaluate performance and classify it
§ Learn to look at your actions nonjudgmentally
§ See your performance as it is!

Question 47

how can establishing routine be used to improve attention?

Answer 47

§ Mental preparation for an upcoming performance
			§ Attention to task-relevant thoughts
			§ Before or during an event
				□ Focus attention
				□ Reduce anxiety
				□ Eliminate distractions
				□ Enhance confidence

Question 48

how can developing competition plans be used to improve attention?

Answer 48

§ Prepare events and prepare what they would do in different situations
§ Facilitate attentional focus on the process of performance
‘what if’ approach

Question 49

how can over learning skills be used to improve attention?

Answer 49

§ Helps to concentrate
§ Make the performance of a skill automatic
Frees up attention to concentrate on others

Question 50

exercises for improving concentration

Answer 50

learning to shift attention - shifting focus across external-internal and broad-narrow dimensions

learning to maintain focus - focusing on objects

searching for relevant cues - focus attention and scan environment for relevant cues