Sport Psychology: Attentional Focus

A comprehensive set of flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on attentional focus in sport psychology.

What is attentional focus commonly misunderstood as in sports psychology?

Staring at a golf ball for 15 minutes does not improve one's game.

What are the components of attentional focus?

Thoughts, emotions, physical responses, sights, and sounds.

What can strong attentional focus help with during competition?

It can help performance by allowing the ability to adjust focus on performance-relevant cues.

What are some examples of performance-relevant cues?

Technique, strategies, the opponent, the score, and the time remaining.

What can poor attentional focus lead to in sports?

It can hurt performance by concentrating on performance-irrelevant cues.

What are examples of performance-irrelevant cues?

Negative thoughts, anxiety, worry over future events, and distracting thoughts.

What are the two types of attentional focus styles in athletes?

Internal focus style and external focus style.

Describe the internal focus style.

Focuses on the sport, has total and constant focus, is narrow, and can be easily distracted.

Describe the external focus style.

Focuses only on the sport right before a drill or competition, has broad focus, and may lead to overthinking.

What did research find about internal focus?

It leads to slower motor movements.

What was the objective of the dart throwing research?

To determine the interaction and effect on performance using focus of attention instructions.

How many novice dart players participated in the dart throwing study?

20 novice dart players.

What was one result of the externals focus group in the tennis performance study?

They improved significantly in decision making.

What was the subject pool for the tennis performance study?

60 young tennis players, ages 8-9.

What were the conditions tested on trained swimmers in the swimming performance research?

Control (no instructions), external focus, and internal focus.

What did the manipulation check in the swimming performance study assess?

What the swimmers focused on when given no instructions.

What were the control and focus times for swimming performance results?

Control: 13.23 seconds, External focus: 13.33 seconds, Internal focus: 13.51 seconds.

Who were the authors of the study on internal focus leading to longer quiet eye durations?

Querfurth, Schuker, de Lussanet, & Zentgraf.