Switching attentional focus across internal and external cues improves performance in a rowing task in novices

Performance in skill-based and endurance sports can be enhanced when an individual directs attention toward internal or external cues. However, there might be advantages in attending to specific cues at different times during a continuous sport task. The present study examined the effects of switching attention between internal and external cues when rowing. Novice rowers (N = 27) completed three 2000 m rows while focusing attention on internal cues only, external cues only, or switching between internal and external cues. Overall performance, as measured by time and power output, was best in the switching condition. Measurements of heart rate and perceived exertion were not significantly different between switching and external conditions, suggesting that these performance improvements occurred without producing significant subjective or objective physiologic change. However, a focus on external cues resulted in lower ratings of perceived exertion relative to a focus on internal cues. Self-reported motivation did not differ between conditions. Although instructions to focus internally or externally can influence performance on aerobic tasks, switching attention between these cues may enhance performance. Athletes should consider attending to various cues in rowing and, by extension, in other endurance sports.     

The effects of the presence of others during a rowing exercise in a virtual reality environment

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to test the performance, motivational, and affective impact of aerobic exercise within an immersive virtual reality environment experienced alone or with another individual.DesignSixty female participants aged 18–30 years were assigned to one of three conditions: no virtual reality (NVR), individual virtual reality (IVR), or companion virtual reality (CVR).MethodParticipants completed 9 min of self-paced rowing on an ergometer without any visual input or performance feedback (NVR), individually within a virtual reality environment (IVR), or within a virtual reality environment that included a companion depicted as an avatar (CVR).ResultsThe two virtual reality groups rowed a further distance and at a higher power output than the NVR group. Furthermore, the CVR group outperformed the IVR group in distance and had a higher heart rate. Participants in the virtual reality groups did not perceive themselves to be exerting more physical effort and rated the task as more enjoyable than participants in the NVR group.ConclusionsVirtual reality improves performance and the affective response to aerobic exercise, and performance effects are further enhanced by the presence of others in the virtual environment.     

Age effects on attentional blink performance in meditation

Here we explore whether mental training in the form of meditation can help to overcome age-related attentional decline. We compared performance on the attentional blink task between three populations: A group of long-term meditation practitioners within an older population, a control group of age-matched participants and a control group of young participants. Members of both control groups had never practiced meditation. Our results show that long-term meditation practice leads to a reduction of the attentional blink. Meditation practitioners taken from an older population showed a reduction in blink as compared to a control group taken from a younger population, whereas, the control group age-matched to the meditators’ group revealed a blink that was comparatively larger and broader. Our results support the hypothesis that meditation practice can: (i) alter the efficiency with which attentional resources are distributed and (ii) help to overcome age-related attentional deficits in the temporal domain.     

The influence of attentional focus on the development of skill representation in a complex action

ObjectivesRecent research has indicated that performers' mental representation of a motor skill changes over the course of learning. In the present study, we sought to ascertain whether the type of instructions (instructions that emphasize either an internal or external focus of attention) influences the development of skill representation during motor learning.DesignParticipants without golf experience were recruited to practice a golf putting task over the course of three training days. Participants were randomly assigned to either an internal focus (focus on the swing of the arms; n = 10) or external focus (focus on the speed of the ball roll; n = 10) learning group. Changes in putting performance and mental representation structure were assessed over the course of learning, as well as during a follow-up retention test two days after practice.MethodsMental representation structure was measured employing the structural dimensional analysis of mental representations (SDA-M), which provided psychometric data on the structure of the mental representation in long-term memory. Additionally, the change in putting accuracy and consistency was recorded over the course of learning.ResultsFindings indicated that the external focus group performed with greater accuracy and consistency during training, and revealed a larger degree of development in their mental representation of the putting task.ConclusionsOverall, our findings suggest that facilitating the link between an action and its effect by means of an external focus is crucial for motor performance as well as the development of skill representation.     

The effects of different instructions for preparatory muscle tension on simple reaction time

The effects of preparatory weak muscular contraction (pre-tension) have been investigated in a number of previous studies using tasks with either simple or choice responses to measure the reaction time (RT). These studies suggested that optimal pre-tension performed prior to a motor response tends to shorten the RTs. Using a simple RT task in which participants performed a grip response to a visual stimulus, the present study compared the RTs between two pre-tension conditions (self-selection and constraint) to investigate the effects of different instructions for pre-tension. Under the self-selection condition, participants were asked to determine their optimal pre-tension levels while attempting to give responses as fast as possible. Under the constraint condition, the participants developed a pre-tension at a target force determined by the experimenter. The target force was set at the same level as the pre-tension level maintained under the self-selection. Despite the fact that the pre-tension level manipulated was the same for both conditions, the RTs were significantly shorter under self-selection than under constraint. Moreover, the present study showed a positive correlation coefficient between the proportion of shortening in RT and the variation of pre-tension level. This indicated a performance trade-off between the stability of pre-tension and RTs. The result suggests that shorter RTs that occur under self-selection are primarily mediated by mental factors, such as attention allocation, rather than by the effects of peripheral muscular preparation.     

Distance is relative: Inattentional blindness critically depends on the breadth of the attentional focus

Inattentional blindness – the phenomenon that we sometimes miss salient stimuli in our direct view when they appear unexpectedly and attention is focused on something else - is modulated by various parameters, including distance of the unexpected stimulus from the attentional focus. In two experiments, we expanded the existing literature on spatial factors influencing inattentional blindness as well as theories on the spatial distribution of attention. Noticing rates of unexpected objects were significantly higher when they appeared outside instead of inside the bounds of primary task stimuli. Thus, our results do neither support the account that spatial attention is tuned as a spotlight that includes relevant targets and everything in between nor an account of purely object-based attentional orientation. Instead, the results speak in favor of an inhibitory area between two attended targets. Experiment 2 replicated these surprising findings and additionally demonstrated that they were not confounded by task.     

Reciprocal influences of attentional focus on postural and suprapostural task performance

The authors examined the influence that attentional focus on either a postural or a suprapostural task had on the performance of each task. Participants (N = 32) stood on an inflated rubber disk and held a pole horizontally. All participants performed under 4 attentional focus conditions: external (disk) or internal (feet) focus on the postural task, and external (pole) or internal (hands) focus on the suprapostural task. Compared with internal focuses, external focuses on either task resulted in similar and reduced postural sway. Response frequency on each task increased when participants focused on the respective task. Finally, an external focus on either task produced higher frequencies of responding on the suprapostural task. The authors conclude that suprapostural task goals have a stronger influence on postural control than vice versa, reflecting the propensity of the motor system to optimize control processes on the basis of the desired movement effect.     

On the link between mind wandering and task performance over time

Here we test the hypothesis that fluctuations in subjective reports of mind wandering over time-on-task are associated with fluctuations in performance over time-on-task. In Study 1, we employed a singleton search task and found that performance did not differ prior to on- and off-task reports, nor did individual differences in mind wandering predict differences in performance (so-called standard analytic methods). Importantly however, we find that fluctuations in mind wandering over time are strongly associated with fluctuations in behavior. In Study 2, we provide a replication of the relation between mind wandering and performance over time found in Study 1, using a Flanker interference task. These data indicate (1) a tight coupling between mind wandering and performance over time and (2) that a temporal-analytic approach can reveal effects of mind wandering on performance in tasks where standard analyses fail to do so. The theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.     

Interacting effects of worry and anxiety on attentional disengagement from threat

Recent work suggests that the ability to disengage attention from threatening information is impaired in people who suffer from anxiety and dysphoria. It has been suggested that this impaired ability to disengage from threat might specifically be associated with the tendency to perseverate about threat (i.e., worry), which is a main characteristic of anxiety disorders and a wide range of other psychopathologies. However, no studies have yet addressed this issue. The present study examined whether trait worry as well as worry intensity after experimental worry induction are associated with impaired ability to disengage attention from threatening cues (angry faces), independently from or in conjunction with anxiety. Sixty-one participants performed a visual cueing experiment that required detection of a target stimulus at one of two possible locations. Prior to the target neutral, happy or angry facial cues appeared at one of these two locations; when there is a relatively long period between the cue and the target (>300 ms), an overall faster responding to invalidly cued trials relative to validly cued trials is believed to indicate inhibition of return (IOR) to a recently attended location. A reduced IOR for angry faces was only found when both trait worry and anxiety were high. When anxiety was kept constant, both trait worry and state worry were associated with enhanced IOR for neutral faces instead. The results seem to suggest that specific threat-related deficiencies in IOR may be a function of the co-occurrence of worry and anxiety.     

Experience level influences the effect of attentional focus on sprint performance

Two experiments evaluated the influence of attentional focus on 10-meter sprint time and start kinetics in a group of collegiate soccer players and highly experienced sprinters. In Experiment 1, the collegiate soccer players were asked to perform 10-meter sprints under an external focus condition, an internal focus condition and a control condition. For the 10-meter sprint time, the results showed that both the external focus and control conditions resulted in significantly faster sprint times than the internal focus condition. There were no significant differences observed between the external focus and control conditions. There were also no significant differences observed across any of the conditions for a select set of kinetic variables. In Experiment 2, the highly experienced sprinters performed the same 10-meter sprint task using the same instructional conditions as in Experiment 1. For the 10-meter sprint time and kinetic variables, there were no significant differences observed across any of the conditions. These results provide new evidence that experience level mediates the influence of attentional focus on sprint performance.     

Anchoring effects on performance judgments

Three studies were conducted investigating the effects of irrelevant anchors on performance judgments. Both a lab and field study demonstrated that an alternative anchoring manipulation that did not involve an explicit comparative question had effects on performance judgments similar to a traditional anchoring manipulation. The final study examined whether the anchoring effects were more likely when the anchor was highly applicable to the final judgment. The results indicated that both highly applicable and low applicable anchors produced an anchoring effect, but the highly applicable anchors had a larger effect on performance judgments. Evidence was also found for asymmetrical anchoring effects. In two of the three studies, high anchors increased performance judgments relative to the control group, whereas low anchors were not significantly different from the control group.     

Affective influences on within-person changes in work performance as mediated by attentional focus

A great deal of research has investigated the performance consequences of affective experiences at work, but the mediating mechanisms that explain these consequences remain understudied. In this study, we used experience sampling method to examine within-person relationships between changes in affective states and episodic performance, as mediated by attentional allocation and regulation. Our findings show that within-person changes in negative affective states have a concurrent association with episodic performance as mediated by reduced attentional allocation and regulation, while positive affective states are associated with better performance, as mediated by enhanced attentional allocation and regulation. Our results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the performance and attentional consequences of affective states at work.     

Differential effects of stress-inducing instructions on anxiety, learning and performance

Marton, F. I., Fransson, A., Jonsson, B., Klenell, A.-Ch. & Roos, B. Differential effects of stress-inducing instructions on anxiety, learning and performance. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 213–219.-In an attempt to investigate the effects of induced stress on anxiety, learning and performance, the separate effects on the learning and performance phases were obtained by varying the timing of the introduction and the removal of stressinducing instructions. Stess-inducing instructions had a positive effect on learning but were not significantly related to the level of anxiety in the learning phase. In the performance phase the results were reversed, i.e. the stress-inducing instructions had a significantly positive effect on the level of anxiety but none on performance. The apparent paradox stemming from the significant negative relationship between anxiety and achievement within conditions could be resolved by considering the common confusion concerning statistical vs. causal relationship.     

Differential effects of instructions and consequences on human conditional discrimination performance

Two studies evaluated the differential behavioral effects of instructions and feedback in matching-to-sample procedures. In Experiment 1, 20 college students received true or false instructions and trial-by-trial or delayed feedback in three phases. In a fourth, final phase the instructions remained the same, but feedback changed from trial-by-trial to delayed, or from delayed to trial-by-trial. In Experiment 2, half of another 20 participants received true instructions during three phases, followed by false instruction in a fourth phase; the other half of the participants received false instructions during three phases, followed by true instructions in the fourth phase. Feedback sequences were as in Experiment 1. The results of both experiments revealed historical effects of instructions and feedback. Most participants demonstrated strong instructional control, overriding the control by contingencies. These results suggest that the present procedure offers optimal possibilities to make the differential effects of instructions and feedback on human behavior clearly identifiable when conditional discrimination tasks are used.     

Thinking about muscles: the neuromuscular effects of attentional focus on accuracy and fatigue

Although the effects of attention on movement execution are well documented behaviorally, much less research has been done on the neurophysiological changes that underlie attentional focus effects. This study presents two experiments exploring effects of attention during an isometric plantar-flexion task using surface electromyography (sEMG). Participants' attention was directed either externally (towards the force plate they were pushing against) or internally (towards their own leg, specifically the agonist muscle). Experiment 1 tested the effects of attention on accuracy and efficiency of force produced at three target forces (30, 60, and 100% of the maximum voluntary contraction; MVC). An internal focus of attention reduced the accuracy of force being produced and increased cocontraction of the antagonist muscle. Error on a given trial was positively correlated with the magnitude of cocontraction on that trial. Experiment 2 tested the effects of attention on muscular fatigue at 30, 60 and 100%MVC. An internal focus of attention led to less efficient intermuscular coordination, especially early in the contraction. These results suggest that an internal focus of attention disrupts efficient motor control in force production resulting in increased cocontraction, which potentially explains other neuromechanical findings (e.g. reduced functional variability with an internal focus).     

Effects of an expert-modeled attentional focus cue structure on skilled jump rope performance and learning

Instructions that direct attention externally have been shown to enhance motor performance. However, research on skilled performers and on learning effects has produced some distinct findings. Further, many studies have presented an overly simplistic view of attention and learning, such that all-internal focus protocols are contrasted with all-external focus protocols. Contrary to this approach, skilled performers have reported adopting combined focus strategies, revealing the need to test more realistic instructional protocols. The current study provided an experimental test of focus instructions that were modeled after the strategies of elite jump rope athletes. Four groups of skilled jump rope athletes practiced novel skills under various focus instructions. The internal focus (IF) and external focus (EF) groups were given traditional internal and external focus instructions, respectively. The expert modeled (EM) group was given a set of instructions that were based on experts' reported focus strategies. The expert modeled-autonomous (EM-A) group was allowed to choose how they used each of the expert-modeled instructions. All groups completed a baseline assessment, four practice sessions, and a learning assessment. Results of a chi-square test of independence revealed no relationship between group assignment and performance during baseline or practice. There was a significant relationship between group assignment and performance during the learning assessment (p < .05). Specifically, the IF group performed below expected values while the EM group performed better than expected. Findings support previous research showing learning detriments associated with internal focus instructions and also provide new insight into the advantages of using instructional approaches that are modeled after experts' strategies. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Larger IOR effects following forget than following remember instructions depend on exogenous attentional withdrawal and target localization

When words are onset in the visual periphery, inhibition of return (IOR) for a subsequent target is larger when those words receive an intervening forget instruction than when they receive a remember instruction Taylor (Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 613-629, 2005). The present study manipulated the allocation of endogenous and exogenous attention to assess the source of the forget > remember IOR difference. We determined that the forget > remember IOR difference likely arises from the differential withdrawal of exogenous-rather than endogenous-attention. Furthermore, this forget > remember IOR difference occurs only when a spatially compatible localization response is required; it does not occur when a simple detection response or a perceptual discrimination is required. This suggests that the forget > remember difference in the magnitude of IOR is not due to differences in perceptual/attentional processing. Instead, an instruction to remember or forget biases spatial responses in accordance with whether a location has previously contained relevant or irrelevant information. We suggest that directed forgetting in an item-method paradigm is not accomplished by changes in attention; rather, the changes in attention are coincident with changes in memory and may serve to bias later responses away from a source of unreliable information.     

Age-related effects of attentional and oculomotor capture by onsets and color singletons as a function of experience

The present experiment examined the degree to which experience with different stimulus characteristics affects attentional capture, particularly as related to aging. Participants were presented with onset target/color singleton distractor or color singleton target/onset distractor pairs across three experimental sessions. The target/distractor pairs were reversed in the second session such that the target in the first session became the distractor in the second and third sessions. For both young and old adults previous experience with color as a target defining feature influenced oculomotor capture with task-irrelevant color distractors. Experience with sudden onsets had the same effect for younger and older adults, although capture effects were substantially larger for onset than for color distractors. Experience-based capture effects diminished relatively rapidly after target and distractor-defining properties were reversed. The results are discussed in terms of top-down and stimulus-driven effects on age-related differences in attentional control.     

The effects of focus of attention on attributional bias in patients experiencing auditory hallucinations

Cognitive models suggest that auditory hallucinations occur as the result of internal events attributed to an external source. The present study represents an attempt to evaluate the source monitoring performance of people who experience auditory hallucinations, specifically in terms of the suggested links between source monitoring, emotionality of stimuli and self-focused attention. The source monitoring performance of a group of 30 patients with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder who experience auditory hallucinations was compared following successful experimental manipulation of their attention, designed to increase and decrease their levels of self-focused attention. The inclusion of words previously rated as emotionally salient by schizophrenic patients assessed the effect of emotionality on source monitoring performance. This study demonstrated that participants' ratings of both internality and control of their responses to the word association task were lower in the external focus condition than the internal focus condition. Furthermore, it was found that ratings of internality and control were lower for responses to both positive and negative stimuli compared to responses to neutral stimuli, and the magnitude of these differences was amplified in the internal focus condition relative to the external focus condition. Focus of attention has a significant effect on source monitoring performance in people experiencing auditory hallucinations. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.