Semester 1 lecture 3 Attention Flashcards
What is Attention?
Focus
Concentration
Being switched on (or off) at the right times
Processing information
Not being distracted or distracting self from irrelevant information
“Deliberate mental effort” – Moran (2004)
What does Moran 2004 suggest about attention
ability to concentrate generally
the ability to zoom in on specific tasks as required
What is SELECTIVE ATTENTION
We choose to focus on what we want. Other things are lost
What are the four main parts of attention
Selective attention
Maintaining focus over time
Awareness of situation and self
Shifting focus when needed
Explain selective attention
Focus on task-relevant cues
Specific to athlete/sport
E.g., Tennis serve vs. saving a penalty
External vs. internal
Explain internal v external attention
For some skills it is better to pick an external focus of attention
Internal focus in these instances can lead to skill breakdown
Paralysis by analysis (Masters, 1992)
Conscious processing hypothesis
What is Awareness of situation and self
Making appropriate decisions based on the situation and what is going on around him/her.
Processing information using the range of senses
Hearing
Touch
Vision
What is Shifting focus when needed
The ability to broaden and narrow attentional focus can actually be an advantage in some sports.
“In pentathlon you need to be able to broaden your focus and then bring it back to a very narrow focus for different events. You need to be able to change your range of focus and concentration span, depending on which event you are doing.”
– Stephanie Cook
What are the four quadrants of Attentional style model (Nideffer & Segal, 2001)
Broad Internal, Broad external, Narrow internal, Narrow external
Explain Broad internal analyse
Dealing with lots of things at the same time.
Mistakes due to over analysis
Explain Broad external assess
Quickly assessing a situation
Mistakes due to focusing on irrelevant cues
Explain Narrow Internal thought focus
Locking in on a single thought e.g., Body awareness.
Mistakes due to choking
Explain Narrow external object focus
One or two primary targets – block out distractions
Mistakes due to missing vital cues
Give an example of each
BI- novice thinking about all elements of golf swing. NI- GYMNAST thinking about specific skill, NE- golf- BE concentrate on wrong things golfer - NE- missing vital cues