This quasi-experimental intervention study investigated the impact of mindfulness training on attention and performance in swimmers. Following an 8-week intervention with six national-level university swimmers (M = 20 years), single case analysis of pre- and post- measurements for three of six participants showed large improvements in mindfulness and attention efficiency. Two participants showed a small increase in one of mindfulness or attention efficiency, and one showed no changes. Four participants improved performance times compared with season-best, and five participants improved self-rated performance. Athletes and coach positively evaluated mindfulness training. This study, with strong ecological validity, shows improvements in mindfulness, attention, and performance, consistent with theory that proposes attention as a mechanism for mindfulness based performance changes. Mindfulness training can be an effective and practical intervention. Further applied research is required utilizing designs to determine causality and further test the proposed mechanisms through which mindfulness may influence performance.
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Nick Mardon, Hugh Richards, and Amanda Martindale
Joy Khayat, Stéphane Champely, Ahmad Diab, Ahmad Rifai Sarraj, and Patrick Fargier
The present study aimed at examining the effect of mental calculation and number comparison on motor performance measured as the movement time of a fast manual-pointing movement. Three experiments, involving a total number of 65 undergraduate subjects, examined the effect of mental subtraction (complex) and, respectively, of (a) mental addition (simple or complex), (b) mental multiplication (simple or complex), and (c) the comparison of dot sets and number comparison. Each number was written in Arabic. The movement times were analyzed by using a multilevel linear mixed-effect model. The results showed significant improvement of manual-pointing movement performance only after the complex calculations and after number comparison. Possible implication of attentional mechanisms specific to this arithmetical activity is further discussed.
Stephen R. Van Schoyck and Anthony F. Grasha
Cognitive attentional processes in tennis players of varying skill levels were investigated. A tennis-specific version of Nideffer's Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (T-TAIS) was constructed using a rationale approach to test construction and compared with the parent TAIS. Tennis players (N=90) judged to be either beginning, intermediate, or advanced sewed as subjects. The T-TAIS had higher test-retest and internal consistency reliability coefficients, indicating it was a more accurate indicator of attentional style than the TAIS. Correlational and factor analysis data from the T-TAIS partially supported Nideffer's attentional dimension of bandwidth (narrow to broad attention) but did not support the direction dimension (internal to external). Instead, bandwidth was viewed as multidimensional, consisting of a scanning and focusing component. The T-TAIS showed a much more consistent relationship to tennis ability than the TAIS. This was particularly evident in the increments in the scanning factor subscale scores as a function of increases in tennis skill. T-TAIS subscale scores also were better predictors of match play than TAIS subscales. Results were consistent with current theories of attentional mechanisms and knowledge of skills required to play tennis. Data also indicated that sports-specific measures of attention are more precise estimates of attentional processes than is a general assessment instrument.
Stefanie Hüttermann, Werner F. Helsen, Koen Put, and Daniel Memmert
attention in decision-making tasks would be to conduct a training study in future research. Under time pressure, performance breakdown can result from loss of control to the attentional mechanisms that underlie the ARs’ decision making. Understanding the impact of time pressure on performance requires
James Hardy, Nikos Comoutos, and Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis
gained some empirical understanding of the mechanisms through which self-talk facilitates performance. Data from these subsequent studies provided support for the presence of an attentional mechanism, that is, the reduction of interfering thoughts during task execution ( Hatzigeorgiadis, Theodorakis
Francisco Tomás González-Fernández, Hugo Sarmento, Sixto González-Víllora, Juan Carlos Pastor-Vicedo, Luis Manuel Martínez-Aranda, and Filipe Manuel Clemente
during task performance, typically increasing over time ( Helton & Warm, 2008 ). Furthermore, it appears that an adequate vigilance level has a significant influence on the functioning of higher-level attentional mechanisms such as cognitive control ( Langner & Eickhoff, 2013 ). The psychomotor vigilance
Maxime Mastagli, Aurélie Van Hoye, Jean-Philippe Hainaut, and Benoît Bolmont
movement skills learning have been identified, encompassing positive affect (e.g., Standage, Duda, & Ntoumanis, 2005 ) and attentional mechanisms ( Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016 ). The theoretical tenets of self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2020 ) and Achievement Goal Theory (AGT; Ames, 1992
Luiz Fernado Biazus-Sehn, Rafael Reimann Baptista, Régis Gemerasca Mestriner, Bianca Pacheco Loss, Daniela Aldabe, and Felipe de Souza Stigger
). Attentional mechanisms contributing to balance constraints during gait: The effects of balance impairments . Brain Research, 1248, 59 – 67 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2008.10.078 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.10.078 Smith , E. , Cusack , T. , & Blake , C. ( 2016 ). The effect of a dual task on
differentially affect attentional mechanisms and behavioral performance. Future work will further analyze EEG and in particular its spectral content to further understand the cortical dynamics underlying the changes in performance and mental workload under various levels of cognitive and motor demands. The
