To focus or not to focus: Is attention on the core components of action beneficial for cycling performance?

Bertollo, Maurizio, di Fronso, Selenia, Filho, Edson orcid iconORCID: 0000-0002-8548-4651, Lamberti, Vito, Ripari, Patrizio, Machado Reis, Victor, Comani, Silvia, Bortoli, Laura and Robazza, Claudio (2015) To focus or not to focus: Is attention on the core components of action beneficial for cycling performance? The Sport Psychologist, 29 (2). pp. 110-119. ISSN 0888-4781

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2014-0046

Abstract

We conducted a counterbalanced repeated measure trial to investigate the effect of different internal and external associative strategies on endurance performance. Seventeen college-aged students were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions to test the notion that different attention-performance types (optimal Type 1, functional Type 2, and dysfunctional Type 3) would influence endurance time on a cycling task. Specifically, Type 1 represented an effortless and automatic, “flow-feeling” attentional mode. Type 2 referred to an associative focus directed at core components of the task. Type 3 represented an attentional focus directed at irrelevant components of the task. Participants completed three time-to-exhaustion-tests while reporting their perceived exertion and affective states (arousal and hedonic tone). Results revealed that Type 1 and Type 2 attentional strategies, compared to Type 3 strategy, exerted functional effects on performance, whereas a Type 3 strategy was linked to lower performance, and lower levels of arousal and pleasantness. Applied implications are discussed.


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