Anxiety, arousal and visual attention: a mechanistic account of performance variability

Despite extensive research devoted to determining the nature of the relationship between stress and performance, there has been little systematic examination of the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Recently, researchers have begun to empirically address the attentional mechanisms underlying theoretical accounts of how stress, anxiety and arousal influence performance. Given the critical role of visual attention to sport expertise, this paper focuses primarily on literature dealing with how visual cues are differentially identified and processed when performers are anxious. Emerging evidence indicates that gaze behaviour tendencies are reliably altered when performers are anxious, leading to inefficient and often ineffective search strategies. Alterations of these visual search indices are addressed in the context of both self-paced and externally paced sports events. Recommendations concerning the utility of perceptual training programmes and how these training programmes might be used as anxiety regulation interventions are discussed. The theoretical implications and directions for future research are also addressed.     

From processing efficiency to attentional control: a mechanistic account of the anxiety–performance relationship

The aim of this paper is to outline the development of Eysenck and Calvo's (1992) processing efficiency theory (PET) and to summarise research testing its predictions in the sporting domain. PET provides a mechanistic explanation for how anxiety may influence performance through its impact on attentional resources. The central tenet of PET is that as well as pre-empting resources in working memory, increased anxiety provides a motivational function, leading to the allocation of additional effort to attempt to maintain task performance. Research in sport settings has been supportive of the predictions of PET, adopting a range of measures of processing efficiency; including self-reported effort, secondary task performance and psychophysiological indices. Furthermore, cognitive sport psychologists have recently examined direct influences of anxiety on the efficiency of information processing via gaze behaviour analyses. These findings are particularly relevant in the light of a recent update and development of PET; attentional control theory (ACT; Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007). ACT purports that anxiety reduces attentional control by increasing the influence of the stimulus-driven attentional system at the cost of goal directed control. It is evident that ACT may provide a useful framework for examining the relationship between anxiety, attention and performance in sport skills.     

The acute effects of resistance exercise on affect,anxiety, and mood – practical implications for designing resistance training programs

ABSTRACT

Research in aerobic exercise has linked the affective responses (pleasure–displeasure) experienced during exercise to future exercise participation. While this is yet to be confirmed in anaerobic activities, it can be inferred that making resistance exercise (RE) more psychologically rewarding is an important consideration. The purpose of this article is to review the acute effects of RE on affect, anxiety, and mood and to draw conclusions on how to maximize feelings of pleasure in an effort to increase rates of participation. This review provides evidence to support lower training volumes performed at low to moderate intensities (50–70% 1RM) with long inter-set rest intervals (90–150 s). Additional recommendations are provided based on physiological and theoretical support, but there is a strong need for more research on the affective experience of RE.     

赛前情绪的因素结构、自陈评定及注意特征

根据中国集体主义文化的特征,建立了赛前情绪５因素模型,它包括特质自信,躯体特质焦虑,个体失败特质焦虑和社会期待特质焦虑４个一级因素和赛前情绪１个二级因素。对１１８８名运动员的４项问卷调查结果支持了这一５因素模型,发展出的“赛前情绪量表－Ｔ及其相应的简表具有较好的信度与效度。     

An exploration of pre-performance routines,self-efficacy,anxiety and performance in semi-professional soccer

Abstract

Whilst much research has suggested a positive link between pre-performance routines (PPRs) and performance, the specific mechanisms of the process have yet to be understood fully. It has been suggested that the PPR may influence performance through lowering the athlete's anxiety, and/or increasing their self-efficacy, but to date this has not specifically been explored in detail. As a result the aim of the current study was to explore the impact of specific individualised PPRs on performance, anxiety and self-efficacy in semi-professional soccer players. Participants were 20 male semi-professional soccer players (M = 19.45, SD = 2.81) recruited from clubs in England. Adopting a repeated measure design, players were tested on performance, anxiety, and self-efficacy pre- and post a 7-day intervention period in which the participants learnt a new PPR. The data were analysed using factorial mixed measures analysis of variance (ANOVAs), with the results revealing a significant difference in somatic anxiety for the experimental group and a decrease in performance for the control group. The study provides further support for the suggestion that the PPR can enhance performance by reducing experiences of anxiety prior to performance.     

Self-regulation in endurance sports: theory,research, and practice

ABSTRACT

There is considerable research interest in psychological aspects of endurance performance. Until recently, research typically lacked a theoretical underpinning, and contemporary research is particularly informed by the psychobiological model of endurance performance. In this critical review, we propose that psychological theories relating to self-regulation, particularly self-efficacy theory and the process model of emotion regulation, could shed more light on how endurance performance is determined and lead to additional understanding of how psychological interventions can be used. We argue that people encounter fewer stressors in most experimental studies than are encountered before and during real-life events. In addition, we argue that most research conducted to date has focused on the forethought and performance phases of self-regulation, rather than the self-reflection phase, and research has not considered the cyclical nature of self-regulation. We also argue that if research participants are not endurance athletes, then their motivation may not be self-determined, and self-regulatory learning may not take place. Recommendations are given for future research, and evidence-based guidance is offered on enhancing performance and improving the quality of experience for endurance athletes.     

Emotions correlate with perceived mental effort and concentration disruption in adult sport performers

Abstract

Two studies explored the relationship between emotions, perceived mental effort and concentration disruption in adult sport performers. In Study 1, semi-professional association football players completed questionnaire measures before and after a competitive match. In Study 2, student athletes completed questionnaire measures for two performance scenarios: one in which they were performing above their normal level and one in which they were performing below their normal level. Findings demonstrated that cognitive trait anxiety was associated with greater disruptions in concentration but was unrelated to mental effort. For state measures, athletes reported greater levels of concentration disruption when experiencing high levels of anxiety or high levels of happiness, and fewer disruptions in concentration when experiencing high levels of excitement. Findings also showed that excitement was associated with low levels of mental effort during good performances and high levels of mental effort during poor performances; anxiety and happiness were associated with high levels of mental effort during good performances and low levels of mental effort during poor performances. Taken together, these studies point towards potential benefits accompanying high levels of excitement and potential disadvantages accompanying high levels of anxiety and happiness.     

竞赛特质焦虑干扰优势反应抑制的神经准备过程:ERP的证据

竞赛焦虑对操作表现的影响是运动心理学的重要研究领域,注意控制理论对二者关系从执行功能的角度进行了新的阐释,认为焦虑干扰执 行功能中的抑制功能。近年来,运动心理学对抑制功能探讨较多,对优势反应和任务无关刺激的抑制是抑制功能的2个重要成分,但以往研究大多 集中于抑制无关刺激,对优势反应抑制的探讨相对欠缺,而后者却是竞技场上运动员时常需要面对的问题。已有行为学研究发现,竞赛特质焦虑对 优势反应抑制功能有干扰效应,但其神经机理尚待探讨。本研究采用ERP技术探讨竞赛特质焦虑干扰优势反应抑制的神经基础,假设竞赛特质焦 虑干扰前脑区域（额区和中央区）优势反应抑制的神经准备过程。招募26名研究参与者,根据《赛前情绪量表32×6》测试得分,二分法划分竞赛特质 焦虑高分组和低分组。2组均完成代表优势反应抑制功能的反向眼跳任务,分析抑制“线索”出现前-100~0 ms时程的ERP成分,发现反向眼跳的准 备期在额区和中央区诱发出一负成分,竞赛特质焦虑高分组的波幅小于低分组。以上结果部分支持了假设,竞赛特质焦虑对优势反应抑制的神经 准备期有干扰效应,且主要由前脑区域控制,此结果为注意控制理论在竞赛焦虑领域的适用性提供了神经生理学的部分证据。     

Reviewing the Variability-Overuse Injury Hypothesis: Does Movement Variability Relate to Landing Injuries?

Purpose: Overuse injuries are common in sport, but complete understanding of injury risk factors remains incomplete. Although biomechanical studies frequently examine musculoskeletal injury mechanisms, human movement variability studies aim to better understand neuromotor functioning, with proposed connections between overuse injury mechanisms and changes in motor variability. Method: In a narrative review, we discuss the variability-overuse injury hypothesis, which suggests repeated load application leads to mechanical tissue breakdown and subsequent injury when exceeding the rate of physiological adaptation. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this hypothesis, we incorporate concepts from motor control, neurophysiology, biomechanics, as well as research design and data analysis. We therefore summarize multiple perspectives while proposing theoretical relationships between movement variability and lower extremity overuse injuries. Results: Experimental data are presented and summarized from published experiments examining interactions between experimental task demands and movement variability in the context of drop landing movements, along with comparisons to previous movement variability studies. Conclusion: We provide a conceptual framework for sports medicine researchers interested in predicting and preventing sports injuries. Under performance conditions with greater task demands, we predict reduced trial-to-trial movement variability that could increase the likelihood of overuse injuries.     

Basic psychological skills usage and competitive anxiety responses: perceived underlying mechanisms

This study examined the relationship between basic psychological skills usage (i.e., goal-setting, imagery, self-talk, and relaxation) and the intensity and directional dimensions of competitive anxiety. Semistructured interviews were used on a sample of 15 elite athletes (M age = 24.3 years, SD = 4.2) from a variety of team and individual sports. Findings revealed that the participants maintained the intensity of their anxiety response prior to competition and could deploy goal-setting, imagery, or self-talk to enable facilitative interpretations of anxiety-related symptoms to performance. Higher levels of self-confidence and an optimistic outlook toward forthcoming competition were also expressed. The underlying mechanisms perceived to be responsible for these effects included effort and motivation, attentional focus, and perceived control over the anxiety response.     

Physical Fitness and Cardiac Risk Factors of Professional Firefighters across the Career Span

This study examined the relationship between basic psychological skills usage (i.e., goal-setting, imagery, self-talk, and relaxation) and the intensity and directional dimensions of competitive anxiety. Semistructured interviews were used on a sample of 15 elite athletes (M age = 24.3 years, SD = 4.2) from a variety of team and individual sports. Findings revealed that the participants maintained the intensity of their anxiety response prior to competition and could deploy goal-setting, imagery, or self-talk to enable facilitative interpretations of anxiety-related symptoms to performance. Higher levels of self-confidence and an optimistic outlook toward forthcoming competition were also expressed. The underlying mechanisms perceived to be responsible for these effects included effort and motivation, attentional focus, and perceived control over the anxiety response.     

Experiences of amateur athletes’ non-participating entourage at participatory sport events

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of participatory sport events is attracting scholarly attention, with extant research primarily focusing on profiling participants, and understanding participants’ experiences. The experiences and perspectives of those who travel to participatory sport events to support competing athletes, the ‘non-participating entourage’ (NPE), have largely been overlooked. This stakeholder group is arguably under-recognised by those staging participatory sport events. The purpose of this study was to explore NPE experiences at participatory sport events, adopting a phenomenological approach and employing stakeholder theory as an interpretive lens. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 NPE of amateur athletes in Australia. Findings highlighted that NPE provide emotional and logistical support to their athlete at events. However, while providing support, NPE also experienced positive and negative emotions arising from contextual factors including their relationship to the athlete, group composition, athlete performance, and event design and conditions. This research highlights a vexed, though crucial stakeholder relationship between NPE and event management organisations, requiring unique stakeholder management strategies.     

Look into my eyes:What can eye-based measures tell us about the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance?

Background:There is a growing interest to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that drive the positive associations of physical activity and fitness with measures of cognitive performance.To better understand those mechanisms,several studies have employed eye-based measures(e.g., eye movement measures such as saccades,pupillary measures such as pupil dilation,and vascular measures such as retinal vessel diameter)deemed to be proxies for specific neurobiological mechanisms.However,there is c...     

Emotion regulation and motor performance: an integrated review and proposal of the Temporal Influence Model of Emotion Regulation (TIMER)

ABSTRACT

Adaptive regulation of emotions is imperative for successful sport performance. However, the lion’s share of mainstream emotion regulation (ER) literature is founded on perspectives prioritising mental health, not performance. Consequently, ER strategies are predominantly classified as adaptive or maladaptive based on effectiveness in achieving targeted mental health outcomes. These conventional mental health classifications can catalyse misapplication of ER strategies within sport and other motor performance contexts when (1) ER motives are instrumentally directed towards performance enhancement and (2) Minimal consideration is given to the consequences of ER on the coordination and execution of motor actions. Herein, we review the current state of relevant ER research within and outside of sport contexts. We also present a novel conceptual framework, the Temporal Influence Model of Emotion Regulation (TIMER). TIMER proposes that ER strategies exert distinct, temporally dependent demands upon perceptual-cognitive and motoric resources. These unique regulatory profiles influence subsequent motor performance outcomes. Critically, the degree to which regulatory strategies are appropriate or ideal varies given environmental constraints along with performers’ affective and performance goals. The model includes testable hypotheses to guide theoretical and applied research in the domain of ER within sport and other motor performance contexts.     

Attentional focus in endurance activity: new paradigms and future directions

After more than 35 years of investigation, research on attentional focus in endurance activity is still mired by a lack of consensus. Specific challenges relate to the conceptualisation of association and dissociation, and discrepancies in methodology, research design, and data collection techniques. This review addresses previously unresolved issues that may limit research findings in this field. Initial concerns include how the endpoint of exercise tasks is defined, how pace is controlled, and the subjects employed within research investigations. An additional objective is to provide direction for future investigations. Traditional views of attentional focus may be limited in their explanatory value. We present a new working model of attentional focus in endurance activity that may more precisely categorise cognitive processes. Finally, research on this topic needs to be grounded in a recognised framework that captures the dynamic nature of human cognition. We propose that existing perspectives are recognised, such as the parallel processing model of pain and the mindfulness approach, and in addition we propose a metacognitive perspective be explored. Means of integrating these conceptual frameworks are suggested to further enhance the understanding of attentional processes in endurance activity.     

Choking under pressure: Illuminating the role of distraction and self-focus

ABSTRACT

Two dominant explanations of choking under pressure – self-focus and distraction – have been enduringly presented as competing mechanisms of motor skill failure under performance stress. Dual-task experiments designed to simultaneously assess both mechanisms have often favoured self-focus, whereas qualitative research and examinations of gaze behaviour suggest that distraction plays a role. Though both mechanisms remain plausible, several reviews of the choking literature have side-stepped how autonomous motor skill failure would play out under a distraction-based model or a dual-mechanism model. In this discussion, we contend that persistent experimental focus on the brief moments of motor execution, without adequate consideration of diverse preparatory cognitive activities that also characterise sporting expertise, has delayed understanding of distraction’s involvement. With an expanded scope in mind, we critically review the evidence for both mechanisms and describe how distraction alone or distraction in combination with self-focus might derail an expert motor skill under pressure. Different suggestions are made for self-paced and externally paced sports given their different attentional challenges.     

The role of effort in moderating the anxiety – performance relationship: Testing the prediction of processing efficiency theory in simulated rally driving

Abstract

We tested some of the key predictions of processing efficiency theory using a simulated rally driving task. Two groups of participants were classified as either dispositionally high or low anxious based on trait anxiety scores and trained on a simulated driving task. Participants then raced individually on two similar courses under counterbalanced experimental conditions designed to manipulate the level of anxiety experienced. The effort exerted on the driving tasks was assessed though self-report (RSME), psychophysiological measures (pupil dilation) and visual gaze data. Efficiency was measured in terms of efficiency of visual processing (search rate) and driving control (variability of wheel and accelerator pedal) indices. Driving performance was measured as the time taken to complete the course. As predicted, increased anxiety had a negative effect on processing efficiency as indexed by the self-report, pupillary response and variability of gaze data. Predicted differences due to dispositional levels of anxiety were also found in the driving control and effort data. Although both groups of drivers performed worse under the threatening condition, the performance of the high trait anxious individuals was affected to a greater extent by the anxiety manipulation than the performance of the low trait anxious drivers. The findings suggest that processing efficiency theory holds promise as a theoretical framework for examining the relationship between anxiety and performance in sport.     

External-Focus Feedback Benefits Free-Throw Learning in Children

Purpose: Considerable research supports the motor-learning advantage associated with an external focus of attention; however, very few studies have attempted to generalize these findings to children especially with attentional focus feedback. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of attentional focus feedback on motor learning in children. Method: Boys (n = 14) and girls (n = 14) aged 9 to 11 years old were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 gender-stratified groups: (a) internal-focus feedback or (b) external-focus feedback. Following initial instructions and task demonstration, participants performed 100 modified free throws over 2 days while receiving feedback statements respective to their attentional focus condition. Approximately 24 hr later, participants performed a retention test consisting of 20 additional free throws. Participants were also asked to respond to a retrospective verbal report at the end of each day to serve as a manipulation check. Results: Results of the analysis revealed a statistically significant learning advantage for participants receiving external-focus feedback, and retrospective verbal reports provide support for the self-invoking trigger and constrained action hypotheses. Conclusions: Future research should continue to incorporate retrospective verbal reports and explore potential causal links between internal attentional focus and self-evaluation.     

The Arousal-Performance Relationship Revisited

Abstract

William P. Morgan reviews the arguments associated with trait psychology, in particular in the field of sport psychology. He describes the existing research including several models and their ability to predict behavior, emphasizing the viability of a mental health model. In addition, Morgan discusses a role of perception and cognition in sports and physical activity. Finally, trait theory is placed in a realistic perspective, to be applied in a multidimensional framework in studying prediction of behavior. The article by Daniel M. Landers involves a reexamination of the arousal-performance relationship. The role of attention in performing most sports skills is discussed, with particular emphasis on the attentional narrowing phenomenon. In addition, Landers discusses the measurement of anxiety, recommending that it be viewed as a multidimensional construct consisting of physical, behavioral, and cognitive components.