Chapter 17 - Concentration

attention

the concentration of mental effort on sensory or mental events

concentration

the mental effort placed on sensory or mental events

four components of concentration

focusing, maintaining, situational awareness, shifting

focusing

focusing on relevant environmental cues

selective attention

selecting what cues to attend to and disregard

maintaining

maintaining attentional focus

situational awareness

the ability to understand what is going on around oneself

shifting

shifting attentional focus when necessary

associative attentional strategy

monitoring bodily functions and feelings

internal sensory monitoring

muscle soreness, breathing, fatigue, thirst

active self-regulation

technique, cadence, strategy

dissociative attentional strategy

not monitoring bodily functions, distraction and tuning out

information-processing based theories

single-channel, variable-allocation, multiple-resource

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 and each microprocessor has its own unique capabilities and resource-performance relationship

three processes of attentional focus

attentional selectivity, capacity, and alertness

conscious processing hypothesis

choking occurs when skilled performers focus too much of their conscious attention to the task

external distracters

stimuli from the environment that divert people’s attention from the cues relevant to their performance

five ps of self-talk

personalized, practiced, purpose, positive phrasing, position

rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

individuals’ beliefs about adversity determine whether their emotional and behavioral reactions are adaptive or maladaptive

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