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Abstract

The term ‘‘attention’’ refers to people’s ability to focus on information derived either from the external world or from internal sources such as memory and imagination. In sport psychology, attentional processes such as ‘‘concentration,’’ or the ability to focus mental effort on the task at hand while ignoring distractions, are regarded as vital determinants of successful athletic performance. Given this importance of attention in sport, a variety of psychological exercises and techniques have been postulated to enhance athletes’ concentration skills. Although none of these interventions has been validated adequately so far, some theoretical support exists for the use of the following strategies: simulation training, performance goal setting, preperformance routines, trigger words, and mental practice. Following an explanation of each of these concentration interventions, this research paper considers some unresolved issues along with potentially fruitful new directions for research in this field.

Outline

‘‘Attention’’ and ‘‘Concentration’’ in Sport
Training Attentional Skills in Athletes: Concentration Exercises and Techniques
Unresolved Issues in Training Attentional Skills in Sport
New Directions in Research on Concentration Skills Training

1. ‘‘Attention’’ And ‘‘Concentration’’ In Sport

Cognitive sport psychology is concerned with the scientific study of how the mind works in athletic settings. Within this field, the term ‘‘attention’’ refers to people’s ability to focus on information derived either from the external world or from internal sources such as memory and imagination. This ability is regarded as a multidimensional construct that has at least three key components that can be explained as follows. First, when an athlete is asked to ‘‘pay attention’’ to an instruction provided by a coach at a training session, the athlete is required to concentrate on, or to exert mental effort in absorbing, the information presented. The second component of attention involves selective perception and occurs when sport performers ‘‘zoom in’’ on task relevant information while blocking out distractions. To illustrate, a soccer goalkeeper who is preparing to catch a corner kick must focus only on the flight of the ball while ignoring the potentially distracting movements of other players in the penalty area. Finally, attention involves ‘‘multitasking,’’ that is, the coordination of simultaneous skilled actions. For example, when a basketball player dribbles with the ball while scanning the court for a teammate to pass the ball to, the player is engaging in a form of mental time sharing called

‘‘divided attention.’’ In summary, the construct of attention refers to three distinct cognitive processes: concentration or effortful awareness, selectivity of perception, and the ability to coordinate two or more concurrent actions successfully.

Since the 1950s, two main theoretical models of selective attention have been postulated in cognitive psychology. First, the ‘‘spotlight’’ metaphor suggests that selective attention resembles a mental beam of light that illuminates targets located either in the external world around us (sensory information) or in the subjective domain of our own thoughts and feelings (mental events). Another popular theoretical approach is the ‘‘resource’’ model of divided attention. This metaphor suggests that attention is analogous to a pool of mental energy that is allocated to fulfill processing demands according to certain strategic principles. To illustrate, the principle of ‘‘automaticity’’ suggests that the more practiced a task is, the more automatic it becomes and the less attentional resources it requires. Based on this principle, it may be predicted that expert athletes are especially vulnerable to distractions because they have ‘‘spare’’ mental resources due to the automated nature of many of their perceptual motor skills. The issue of how to refocus the minds of such performers is addressed later in this research paper.

Athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists regard attentional skills such as concentration, or the ability to focus effectively on the task at hand while ignoring distractions, as essential prerequisites of success in sport. This claim is supported by both descriptive and experimental evidence. First of all, surveys of expert sport performers such as U.S. Olympic athletes indicate that concentration is consistently rated among the most important mental skills required for sporting excellence. Next, qualitative studies suggest that total absorption in the task at hand is a key feature of ‘‘flow’’ or ‘‘peak performance’’ experiences in sport, that is, those coveted yet elusive moments during which athletes perform at the best of their abilities. Finally, there is growing experimental evidence that athletes (e.g., sprinters) who have been trained to use certain concentration strategies (e.g., deliberately focusing on task-relevant cues) tend to perform better than their counterparts who are assigned to nonfocusing control conditions. Taken together, these sources of evidence converge on the conclusion that the ability to pay attention to the task at hand is a vital determinant of success in sport.

Based on peak performance research, three key principles of effective concentration can be identified. First, a focused state of mind requires intentionality and a willingness to expend deliberate mental effort on the part of the athlete concerned. Put simply, one must prepare to concentrate effectively rather than merely hope that it will happen fortuitously. Second, although skilled athletes might be able to divide their attention efficiently between two or more concurrent actions, they can focus consciously on only one thought at a time. This principle stems from the fact that ‘‘working memory,’’ or the cognitive system that regulates people’s attentional deployment, is limited in its capacity and duration. Accordingly, it can be overloaded easily when several thoughts and/or behavioral intentions compete for conscious attention. Interestingly, this danger of cognitive overload is increased when athletes become preoccupied with winning a competitive encounter. In this situation, they may find themselves torn between trying to focus on performing an action and worrying about the likely outcome of the encounter in which they are participating. Finally, as mentioned earlier, research on flow states indicates that athletes’ minds are focused optimally when they are totally absorbed in the task at hand. In such a state of mind, there is no difference between what they are thinking about and what they are doing. In summary, athletes tend to concentrate most effectively when they prepare to exert mental effort and can aim their attentional spotlight at actions that are specific, relevant, and under their own control.

2. Training Attentional Skills In Athletes: Concentration Exercises And Techniques

Given the importance of attentional processes in sport, a wide range of strategies has been promulgated by applied sport psychologists in an effort to enhance athletes’ focusing skills. In general, these interventions fall into two types of activities: concentration training exercises and concentration techniques. Theoretically, the main distinction between these activities is that the former are designed for use during athletes’ training sessions, whereas the latter tend to be practiced most frequently in actual competitive situations. Not surprisingly, however, this distinction is blurred by the fact that athletes are increasingly aware of the value of replicating competitive situations in their training regimes. Accordingly, there may be an overlap between the concentration exercises and techniques they employ in training and in competition.

2.1. Concentration Exercises

One of the most popular focusing exercises recommended by sport psychologists is a visual search task called the ‘‘concentration grid.’’ In this task, participants are presented with a random array of two-digit numbers (from 00 to 99) on a page and are required to scan and ‘‘tick off’’ as many digits as possible in a given sequence (e.g., beginning with 00 and increasing consecutively) within the specified time limit of 1 minute. The number of digits marked in the correct sequence within this duration serves as an alleged index of the athletes’ concentration skills. Unfortunately, although the concentration grid may have some intuitive plausibility, it has not been validated as a concentration exercise either theoretically or empirically. Therefore, its conceptual rationale and practical utility remain unresolved.

In contrast to the grid, a more recent concentration exercise known as ‘‘simulation training’’ seems to have some merit. Briefly, this exercise is based on the proposition that athletes can learn to improve their concentration skills if they simulate real-life competitive situations in practice. Anecdotal testimonials to the value of this practice in various sports have emerged during recent years. For example, some leading soccer coaches have prepared their players for the pressure of penalty ‘‘shoot-outs’’ by requiring them to practice walking from the center circle of the pitch to the penalty area—as happens in actual match conditions. Unfortunately, despite its apparent face validity, simulation training has received little or no empirical scrutiny as a concentration strategy. Nonetheless, some support for its theoretical rationale may be found within the field of cognitive psychology. For example, research on the ‘‘encoding specificity’’ principle of learning shows that people’s recall of information is facilitated by conditions that resemble those in which the original encoding occurred. Applying this principle to simulation training, it may be argued that replication of real-life conditions in practice inoculates athletes against anticipated pressures and distractions. By this reasoning, it is conceivable that simulation training could enhance athletes’ concentration skills.

2.2. Concentration Techniques

The second category of concentration strategies recommended for use by athletes in competitive situations involves the use of psychological techniques such as (a) performance goal setting, (b) preperformance routines, (c) trigger words, and (d) mental practice. These techniques are explained in what follows.

2.2.1. Performance Goal Setting

In psychology, a ‘‘goal’’ is a target or an objective that people strive to attain such as sinking a putt, winning a match, or being selected for a given team. Therefore, ‘‘goal setting’’ is the process by which people establish desirable objectives for their actions. Typically, sport psychologists distinguish between ‘‘result goals’’ (e.g., the outcome of a competition) and ‘‘performance goals’’ (i.e., specific actions that are under the athlete’s control). Using this distinction, some psychologists have speculated that the process of setting performance goals can improve athletes’ concentration skills. For example, a golfer could improve his or her concentration on the course by focusing on specific ‘‘controllable’’ goals such as keeping his her head steady and/or maintaining a slow rhythmic swing. Empirical support for this conjecture springs from studies on the correlates of people’s ‘‘best’’ and ‘‘worst’’ athletic performances.

In particular, research shows that collegiate athletes performed worst when they were preoccupied with result goals. Conversely, their best performances tended to occur when they adopted explicit performance goals. In summary, there is a legitimate theoretical rationale for the use of performance goals as a concentration technique by athletes.

2.2.2. Preperformance Routines

It has long been apparent that many athletes display distinctive idiosyncratic sequences of preparatory actions before they perform key skills, especially in individual sports. For example, top tennis players tend to bounce the ball a consistent and characteristic number of times before their first serve and a different yet equally consistent number of times before their second serve. These bounce patterns help the player to focus on the first step in his or her pre-serve preparatory sequence. Similarly, expert golfers tend to adhere to a preferred number of practice swings and

‘‘waggles’’ of the club before they strike the ball. These distinctive action sequences and/or repetitive behaviors are called ‘‘preperformance routines’’ and are especially prevalent prior to the execution of ‘‘self-paced’’ skills (i.e., actions that are carried out largely without interference from other people).

Three main types of routines are evident in sport. First, ‘‘pre-event’’ routines are general patterns of preparation that athletes display on the days preceding competitive action. Included here are preferences with regard to food and sleeping arrangements. Second, ‘‘preperformance’’ routines are characteristic sequences of thoughts and actions that athletes adhere to prior to skill execution. Finally, ‘‘postmistake’’ routines are action sequences that may help performers to put errors behind them so that they can refocus on the task at hand. For example, a tennis player may ‘‘shadow’’ the correct movement of a volley that led to an error.

Support for the value of preperformance routines as concentration techniques comes from both theoretical and empirical sources. Theoretically, preperformance routines may improve concentration for at least two reasons. First, they may enable athletes to concentrate on the current moment rather than on past events or on possible future outcomes. In addition, they may prevent athletes from devoting too much attention to the mechanics of their well-learned skills. This habit, which is also known as ‘‘paralysis by analysis,’’ can ‘‘unravel’’ automaticity and lead to a deterioration in performance. In other words, routines may help to suppress the type of inappropriate conscious control that often occurs in pressure situations. Empirically, there is some evidence from case studies that routines can improve athletes’ concentration skills and performance. For example, research suggests that more proficient golfers benefited more from using routines than did less skilled golfers.

Unfortunately, advocacy of preperformance routines gives rise to two practical issues that need to be addressed. First, routines may lead to superstitious rituals on the part of the performer. Thus, certain athletes feel compelled to wear ‘‘lucky’’ clothes (e.g., Tiger Woods likes to wear something red on the final day of a golf tournament) or to listen to ‘‘lucky’’ songs before important competitive events. Indeed, athletes’ precompetitive behavior is often a mixture of routines and superstitions. A second problem with routines is that they need to be revised regularly as a precaution against the possibility that they will become automated through frequent practice. In other words, if athletes maintain the same preperformance behavior indefinitely, their minds may begin to wander as they proceed through the various steps of the routine. Because of this problem, applied sport psychologists face the challenge of helping athletes to develop consistent but not automated preparatory actions.

2.2.3. Trigger Words

Most athletes talk to themselves covertly as they train or compete. For example, gymnasts may use words such as ‘‘forward’’ to remind themselves to push their bodies upward as they attempt to master a floor routine. Similarly, tennis players may try to trigger a smooth service action by telling themselves to ‘‘reach and hit.’’ In general, this internal speech (or ‘‘self-talk’’) may involve praise (e.g., ‘‘well done—that’s good’’), criticism (‘‘you idiot—that’s a stupid mistake’’), or instruction (‘‘swing slowly’’).

Typically, the purpose of instructional verbal triggers is to help athletes refocus their minds on task-relevant cues just before skill execution. For example, when standing over a putt, golfers may use phrases such as ‘‘steady head’’ to prevent themselves from looking up to see whether or not the ball has gone into the hole.

Theoretically, self-talk could enhance concentration skills by reminding athletes about the most important cues in any given situation. Interestingly, this strategy was used by Serena Williams during the 2002 Wimbledon women’s singles tennis final in which she defeated her sister Venus. During this match, Serena read notes to herself during the ‘‘change-over’’ time between games. Afterward, she explained that these notes had contained trigger words to remind her to ‘‘hit in front of you’’ or to ‘‘stay low.’’

Despite such anecdotal testimonials to the value of trigger words, few studies have tested the validity of self-talk as a concentration technique. However, it is generally believed that for optimal efficacy, instructional self-statements must be short, vivid, and positively phrased.

2.2.4. Mental Practice

The term ‘‘mental practice’’ or ‘‘visualization’’ refers to the systematic use of mental imagery to rehearse physical actions. Put simply, it involves ‘‘seeing’’ and ‘‘feeling’’ a skill in one’s imagination prior to its actual execution. This strategy is used by golfers such as Tiger Woods when preparing to play a shot. Although there is considerable experimental evidence that mental practice facilitates skill learning and performance, few studies have been conducted on imagery as a concentration technique. Anecdotally, however, many athletes report using imagery to prepare for anticipated scenarios, thereby reducing the likelihood of being distracted by unexpected events.

3. Unresolved Issues In Training Attentional Skills In Sport

At least five issues need to be addressed before attentional and/or concentration training techniques can be used effectively with athletes in applied settings. First, before they attempt to train concentration skills, sport psychologists should try to find out why athletes lose their focus in the first place. Unfortunately, until recently, little research was available on the causes of distractibility in sport performers, especially distractibility that arises from ‘‘internal’’ sources such as athletes’ own thoughts and feelings. However, some recent theoretical models have examined the role of unconscious factors in this regard. Augmenting this research, self-report scales have been developed by sport psychologists to assess athletes’ susceptibility to self-generated cognitive interference. Second, sport psychologists have much to learn about the attentional demands of various sports. For example, whereas some activities (e.g., weightlifting) may require short periods of intense concentration, others (e.g., cycling) appear to demand sustained alertness for longer periods of time. Intuitively, it seems unreasonable to expect that the same toolbox of concentration interventions will work equally well in all sports. Third, some researchers have raised the question of whether or not sport performers know exactly what they should be concentrating on in various athletic situations. For example, should a tennis player focus only on the ball during a rally, or should the player use cues from his or her opponent’s behavior (e.g., position of feet) in an effort to anticipate the likely target of a subsequent shot? Unfortunately, this question has been largely neglected by sport psychologists in their enthusiasm to provide practical mental skills training programs for athletes. Fourth, what is the best way in which to measure concentration skills in athletes? Until this question has been answered empirically, it is difficult to evaluate whether or not concentration skills interventions are effective. Finally, no explicit criteria currently exist for evaluating the maintenance of attentional skills improvements over time. In the absence of such criteria, researchers have not yet ruled out the possibility that athletes’ concentration patterns may return to preintervention levels despite athletes’ participation in mental skills training programs.

4. New Directions In Research On Concentration Skills Training

At least four potentially fruitful new directions in research on concentration skills training in athletes may be identified. First, further research is required on the ‘‘meta-attentional’’ processes of athletes, that is, their theories on how their own concentration systems work. It may be argued that the entire program of concentration skills training in sport psychology is really an exercise in meta-attentional training, whereby athletes are empowered psychologically by gaining an understanding of, and control over, their own concentration processes. As yet, however, little is known about the nature, accuracy, and/ or modifiability of athletes’ meta-cognitive theories. Second, additional research is required on the relationship between the structure of various athletic activities and their attentional demands. For example, do untimed activities such as golf place different cognitive demands on athletes’ concentration systems compared with those imposed by timed competitions such as soccer? If so, what theoretical mechanisms could account for such differences? Third, more research is needed to establish how emotional factors (e.g., anxiety) affect athletes’ concentration processes. This task could be achieved by exploring the effects of anxiety on the visual search behavior of athletes tackling laboratory simulations of sport-relevant tasks. Finally, research is required to evaluate the efficacy of simulation training and the various concentration techniques described earlier in improving athletes’ focusing skills in competitive sport situations.

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