Attentional Focus and Arousal in Performance

Attentional Capacity

• An individual can only pay attention to a limited number of activities.

• This limitation is referred to as limited attentional capacity.

• Exceeding this limited capacity can inhibit performance.

Factors Influencing Attentional Demands

• Attentional demands of tasks are not constant and can be influenced by several factors:

  • Environmental complexity

  • Task complexity

  • Performer’s skill level

  • Number of cues present

Environment and Task Complexity

• As the environmental complexity increases, attentional demands also increase.

• This increase in attentional demand reduces the amount of attentional space available to the performer.

Skill Level and Number of Cues

• Beginners often struggle to attend to more than one task simultaneously when learning a new skill.

• Highly complex skills can be overwhelming for beginners.

• Breaking these complex skills into smaller parts for initial practice is essential.

• Attentional limitations are exceeded when a performer tries to consider too many aspects while learning a new skill.

• Focus should be placed only on a limited number of meaningful cues.

• Providing only one or two cues for feedback is crucial, as more cues can overwhelm the learner.

• Learners should be taught to selectively attend to relevant cues and ignore irrelevant ones.

Kahneman's Model of Attention

• Consists of several components:

  • Enduring dispositions

  • Momentary intentions

  • Miscellaneous determinants

  • Arousal

  • Available capacity

  • Allocation policy

• This model outlines how individuals evaluate demands on their attentional capacity.

Attentional Focus

• The process of selectively attending to or concentrating on specific environmental information.

• Two dimensions of attentional focus:

  • Width:

  • Refers to the amount of information and size of the perceptual field.

  • Ranges from broad (involving a large quantity of cues) to narrow (focusing on one or two cues).

  • Direction:

  • Refers to the focus being internal (regarding thoughts and bodily movements) or external (pertaining to the environment).

Attentional Styles

• Broad External:

  • Used to assess the external environment or situation, e.g., a bicycle courier maneuvering in traffic.

• Narrow External:

  • Used to focus exclusively on one or two external cues for the motor response, e.g., a volleyball player executing a set.

• Broad Internal:

  • Used to analyze and plan strategies or impending motor responses, e.g., a billiards player taking a shot.

• Narrow Internal:

  • Used to monitor internal cues and mentally rehearse an impending performance, e.g., a high jumper visualizing their performance prior to execution.

Attentional Focus — Practical Implications

• Do not assume that learners can disregard irrelevant information.

• Ironic Effects:

  • Example: “Don’t think about falling.”

  • Disrupting attentional focus may serve a purpose in distracting opponents.

Attentional Focus and Instruction

• Learners should focus on either:

  • Their body’s movements (internal attentional focus) or

  • The effects of their movements (external focus).

• An external focus of attention has been shown to enhance learning and performance, e.g., “Reach closer toward the cup” rather than “Straighten your elbow as you reach.”

Arousal

• A critical factor that influences the available attentional resources of an individual.

• Defined as:

  • “a general physiological and psychological activation of the organism that varies on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement.”

• Differs from anxiety, which is an emotional reaction to a perceived threat.

• Changes in anxiety levels significantly affect arousal levels.

• MYTH: Higher levels of arousal always lead to better performance.

Arousal and Performance

• The relationship between arousal and performance is described by the inverted U principle.

• There exists an optimal level of arousal for achieving peak performance.

• This optimal level is not fixed and may depend on:

  • Task Characteristics:

  • As task complexity increases, lower arousal levels may be optimal.

  • Higher arousal levels tend to be optimal for simpler tasks.

  • Performer Characteristics:

  • Different individuals have varying natural arousal levels.

  • Trait anxiety affects how a situation is perceived — whether as threatening (increasing arousal) or non-threatening (decreasing arousal).

Inverted-U Principle

• Graphical representation indicating performance varies with arousal:

  • Performance plotted against Arousal:

  • Low Arousal: Poor performance

  • Moderate Arousal: Optimal performance

  • High Arousal: Poor performance

Arousal and Performance Influences

• Factors affecting arousal and performance include:

  • Predictability of outcomes

  • Success vs. Failure experiences

  • Perceived control over the situation

  • Physical stress conditions

  • Competitive environments

Why Does Arousal Influence Performance?

• Muscle Tension:

  • Higher muscle tension can interfere with coordination, resulting in a loss of fluidity in movement.

  • E.g., in sports like golf or basketball.

• Attentional Changes:

  • Can lead to loss of concentration, attentional narrowing, and altered awareness of movements.

  • Task-irrelevant thoughts consume cognitive resources, impairing performance.

Arousal and Movement Preparation

• Easterbrooks’ Cue-Utilization Theory:

  • Changes in attentional focus occur with varying levels of arousal.

  • Low arousal results in a broader attentional focus, which can lead to attending both relevant and irrelevant cues.

  • The optimal arousal level allows the performer to focus on relevant cues while ignoring irrelevant ones — this constitutes the zone of optimal functioning.

  • High arousal causes a narrow attentional focus, which may lead to overlooking relevant cues.

• Different attentional styles:

  • Associative: Attention directed towards relevant task cues.

  • Dissociative: Attention diverted away from the task, focusing instead on unrelated stimuli.

• Automaticity: Referring to the performance of a skill without requiring attentional focus.

Arousal – Practical Implications

• To increase arousal:

  • Increase breathing rate

  • Listen to music

  • Engage in physical activity

  • Foster motivation

• To decrease arousal:

  • Encourage slow, controlled breathing

  • Contract and relax muscles

  • Replace negative thoughts with positive visualization

  • Focus on performance rather than outcome.

How are Eye Movements Measured?

• Utilization of ASL Eye tracking system, which measures:

  • Fixation Duration

  • Fixation Location

  • Search Rate

  • Saccade Latency

Selective Visual Search

• Discusses the role of vision in directing attention to environmental information.

• Individuals select cues based on action intentions or goals, distinctiveness, or meaningfulness.

• This process aids in locating relevant cues during the preparation stage of movement.

• Gaze Fixation: Refers to where the gaze lands on objects during active scanning.

How to Select Visual Cues

• Feature Integration Theory:

  • Suggests the visual system has a movement filter allowing attention to focus on essential information needed for skilled performance.

Visual Search Strategies

• Quiet Eye:

  • Represents the final fixation on a specific target or object before initiating a movement.

• Expert vs. Novice:

  • Variations in visual search strategies observed in different skill levels, illustrated through golfing scenarios.

• Targeting Skills:

  • Involves accurately propelling an object towards a target (e.g., foul shots, putting).

• Interceptive Skills:

  • Require tracking a moving stimulus, determining trajectory, and timing for interaction (tau).

• Tactical Skills:

  • Involve making quick, accurate situational decisions requiring selective attention to cues and pattern recognition.

Visual Searching Related to Motor Skills

• In Badminton: Experts utilize time before shuttle contact to prepare.

• In Baseball Hitting: Experts focus on the release point of the pitcher to optimize performance.

• In Tennis Serve: Experts’ strategies differ significantly, often focusing on crucial features.

• In Soccer: Experts differ in visual scanning patterns compared to novices, fixating more on the positions and movements of others.

• In Driving a Car: Eye fixations differ between expert and novice drivers, where experts tend to look closer in front and fixate longer on relevant points.

• In Prehension While Walking: Proper fixation is necessary to determine the location and distance of objects and to successfully avoid them.

Visual Search – Practical Implications

• General vision training has not shown substantial support.

• Sport-specific perceptual and decision training programs have demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing performance.

• Instruction and feedback must help learners attend to critical cues, and training should contain task-relevant cues and variability in practice.