Attentional Focus, Dispositional Reinvestment, and Skilled Motor Performance under Pressure

By Robin C. Jackson, Kelly J. Ashford, Glen Norsworthy. 2006

260 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Attentional processes governing skilled motor behavior were examined in two studies. In Experiment 1, fi eld hockey players performed a dribbling task under single-task, dual-task, and skill-focused conditions under both low and high pressure situations. In Experiment 2, skilled soccer players performed a dribbling task under single-task, skill-focused, and process-goal conditions, again under low and high pressure situations. Results replicated recent fi regarding the detrimental effect of skill-focused attention and the facilitative effect of dual-task conditions on skilled performance. In addition, focusing on movement related process goals was found to adversely affect performance. Support for the predictive validity of the Reinvestment Scale was also found, with high reinvesters displaying greater susceptibility to skill failure under pressure. Results were consistent with explicit monitoring theories of choking and are further discussed in light of the conceptual distinction between explicit monitoring and reinvestment of conscious control.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental and Educational Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8d8a72f8a0818f50fd3f1c6e0d07663820a61b29

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

Citations in the corpus

The theory of reinvestment (2008, background): “Recently, other studies have replicated the Masters et al. (1993) study (e.g., soccer, Chell, Graydon, Crowley, & Child, 2003; golf, Maxwell, Masters, & Poolton, 2006; and hockey, Jackson et al., 2006), providing increased confidence in the predictive validity of the Reinvestment Scale.”
Choking interventions in sports: A systematic review (2017, background): “Experimental evidence supports the primary tenets of self-focus explanations (Beilock & Carr, 2001; Gucciardi & Dimmock, 2008; Jackson et al., 2006; Mesagno et al., 2009), however, recent qualitative choking investigations (e.g., Hill et al., 2010b; Oudejans et al., 2011) question the ubiquity of…”
A Pre-Performance Routine to Alleviate Choking in “Choking-Susceptible” Athletes (2008, background): “Researchers (e.g., Jackson et al., 2006; Wang, Marchant, Morris, & Gibbs, 2004) have found that S-A is a maladaptive state when performing under pressure.”
Choking in sport: a review (2010, background): “…elsewhere in the literature through similar experimental designs which have attempted to induce distraction and self-focus (e.g., Beilock & Carr, 2001; Gucciardi & Dimmock, 2008; Hardy, Mullen, & Martin, 2001; Jackson et al., 2006), but four concerns have arisen with regard to this protocol.”
Choking under pressure in sensorimotor skills: Conscious processing or depleted attentional resources? (2008, unknown): “It is commonly assumed that an increase in pressure is reflected in an increase in anxiety, with increases in state anxiety commonly used as an indicator of perceived pressure (e.g., Hardy, Mullen, & Jones, 1996; Jackson, Ashford, & Norsworthy, 2006; Masters, 1992; Mullen & Hardy, 2000).”
Reinvestment, task complexity and decision making under pressure in basketball (2015, background): “…tasks, such as golf putting, basketball free throw, baseball batting, and soccer and field-hockey dribbling (e.g., Hill, Hanton, Matthews, & Fleming, 2010; Jackson et al., 2006; Masters et al., 1993; Otten, 2009), training for which is typically associated with substantial technical instruction.”
A Comparison of Different Pre-Performance Routines as Possible Choking Interventions (2010, background): “Jackson et al. (2006) extended Beilock and Carr’s explicit monitoring hypothesis by explaining that explicit monitoring may have a detrimental effect on performance when performers attempt to both consciously monitor and control movements.”
A re-examination of choking in sport (2009, unknown): “, 2006 ), idiographic (Clark, 2002 ), and qualitative methodology (Gucciardi & Dimmock, 2008 ).”
Alleviating Choking: The Sounds of Distraction (2009, background): “A number of researchers (eg, Beilock & Carr, 2001 ; Jackson, Ashford, & Norsworthy, 2006 ; Lewis & Linder, 1997 ; Masters, 1992 ) have adopted Baumeister's (1984) self-focus model where choking is explained by an increase in anxiety and self-awareness (S-A) about performing correctly.”
Skilled Performers Show Right Parietal Lateralization during Anticipation of Volleyball Attacks (2023, background): “Performers may have reinvested attention into their perceptual performance akin to how anxious performers might detrimentally reinvest attention on their movements [63,71,72].”