Lecture 8 - Concentration and Attention Flashcards
What is the definition of attention?
A person’s ability to exert deliberate mental effort on what is most important in any given situation
What is attention?
Process of the brain - the ability to focus on important things
What is concentration?
More about an individual’s ability to concentrate on a specific thing or two
What is focus?
Purely focused on one thing
What are the key characteristics of attention?
Selective attention - focusing on relevant environmental cues, internal vs external
Maintaining alertness - being able to switch on and off to be alert to cues can be tiring
Situational awareness - aware of what’s going on around you while executing a skill
Shifting attention - Shifting the scope and focus of attention narrow/broad - internal/ external
Outline the differences between internal and external cues?
Internal - within, from the mind - a thought, feeling or goal e.g. fatigue
External - External sources e.g. a team mate shouting at you
How does the theoretical lens see attention and concentration?
Information processing approach
Considers human thinking in steps
What are the three processes of attention?
- Attentional selectivity
- Attentional capacity
- Attentional alertness
Outline the process of selectivity
A spotlight is used to focus on what is most important
However, fail to pinpoint spotlight, spotlight may be too small and need to focus on multiple things at once
Outline the process of capacity
Attention is limited - finite
To mitigate this we have two types of attentional processing
Controlled - specific - attention on something
Automatic - Process something without conscious thought
Outline the process of alertness
Connected to our levels of emotional arousal
Too much emotion = narrow field of attention
Causing you to miss cues in other areas
What is attentional control theory ?
Eysenck et al. (2007)
Top down (goal directed) processing
Bottom up (stimulus driven) processing
Anxiety impairs goal directed attentional system so is more influenced by stimulus driven system
Clear with threatening stimuli
Outline Wilson et al. (2009)
Low and high threat penalty kicks
Measured gaze fixations on GK and goal area (threatening stimuli)
High threat group - fixate faster, more often and for longer on the keeper - decreased performance and more centralised kicks
Outline the theory of Attentional focus
Nideffer, 1976 - Suggests focus is on 2 dimensions
Width - broad vs narrow
Direction - internal vs external
Helps to bring awareness to attention
Can highlight attentional issues
Outline the width dimension of Nideffer’s model
Broad focus - when athletes are aware of different stimuli at once
Narrow focus - when athletes can exclude irrelevant info
Outline the direction dimension of Nideffer’s model
External - Relates to an athlete focusing on stimuli external to them
Internal - relates to concentration on internal factors
Outline when each attentional dimension is used
Broad/external - Rapidly to assess a situation perceive several situations at the same time
Broad/internal - Used to analyse and plan (game plans)
Narrow/external - Used to direct attention outward to one or two external cues
Narrow/ internal - Used to mentally rehearse upcoming performance or control emotional state
How can an athlete be distracted?
Internal - choking under pressure
External - Visual/auditory
What is choking under pressure and the process?
Hill et al. (2010), Weinberg and Gould (2024)
Conditions - competition, evaluation, critical plays
Physical changes - increased hr, br and muscle tension
Attentional changes - narrow/internal focus, reduced flexibility
Performance impairment - timing and coordination breakdown, fatigue, rushing, inability to attend to task relevant cues
How can we improve attention?
Self talk
Mindfulness
Pre-performance routines
