ConcentrationVille Lehtinen, Anastasiia Dorokhova, Georgii Iosava, Klavdia Bukina

Table of contents

• What is it?• Parts of concentration• Concentration -> optimal performance• Types of attentional focus• Attentional problems• Self-talk• Types of self-talk• Test of Attentional and Intentional Style (TAIS)• Improving concentration

What is it?• Concentration = person’s ability to exert deliberate mental

effort on what is most important in any given situation

Parts of concentration

a) Focusing on relevant cues (selective attention)• Eliminating environmental cues• For example, athlete focuses on his performance and tries not

to pay attention to disturbing environment (crowd etc.)

b) Maintaining attentional focus over time• Can be difficult -> median length of time during which thought

content remains on target is approximately 5 seconds• For example, long periods of focus are needed in golf and

shooting• Athletes exercise focus maintaining

Parts of concentration

c) Having awareness of the situation• Athlete´s ability to understand what is going around him• This ability allows players to size up game situations,

opponents and competitions -> making appropriate decisions (often under acute pressure and time demands)

d) Shifting attentional focus• Ability to alter the scope and focus of attention as demanded

by the situation• For example, ice hockey player sitting on a penalty box must

focus on happenings on ice, the coach and the clock as well. After he gets to ice he shifts his focus on game itself.

Concentration->Optimal Performance• 3 out of 8 physical and mental capacities are associated with

concentration:a) Being absorbed in the process (no past or future)b) Being mentally relaxed and having a high degree of

concentration and controlc) Being in a state of extraordinary awareness of both their

bodies and the external environment

Garfield & Bennett, 1984; Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999

Types of Attentional Focus (AF)

• Broad AF (several occurrences simultaneously)• Narrow AF (only 1-2 cues)• External AF (attention directed outward)• Internal AF (attention directed inward)

Attentional problemsInternal Distracters• attending to past events• attending to future

events• choking under pressure• overanalyzing body

mechanics• fatigue• inadequate motivation

External Distracters• visual distracters• auditory distracters• gamesmanship

Self-talk• Self talk is another potential internal

distracter( although it can also be a way to deal with distractions).• Uses of self-talk:1. Enhancing concentration2. Breaks bad habits3. Initiating action4. Sustaining effort

Types of self-talk

1. Positive self-talk (increases efforts, energy and makes positive attitude.)

2. Instructional self-talk( helps to focus on the technical or task related aspects of the performance)

3. Negative self-talk( critical and self-demeaning, also counterproductive and produce anxiety

Test of Attentional and Intentional Style as a Trait Measure ( TAIS)

• TAIS is a trait measure of a person’s generalized way of attending to the environment• It helps to identify particular attentional weaknesses

for the athletes and coaches to work on• But TAIS does not consider situational factors, that’s

why it was criticized by other researchers

Improving concentration• Why we should do it? -To be able to maintain a

focus on relevant environmental cues.

• How we can do it to make it more effective?- Using imagery, controlling arousal levels and setting performance and process goals.

Use simulations in practiceSimulation training• You can prepare yourself to cope with

distractions and the environmental conditions by systematically practicing.• You can change/mirror the potential conditions

of the competition by including climatic conditions, tournament rules, crowd bias, opponent styles of play.• You will prepare yourself mentally. • Simulation practicing with distractions can help

you to develop focus.

Cue words, nonjudgmental thinking, competition plans

• Cue words are used to trigger a particular response and are really a form of self-talk. They must be familiar and well learned before being used in competition.

• They can be: instructional, motivational and emotional.

• Learn how to look at your actions nonjudgmentally.• You should not ignore errors and mistakes but

you should see your performance as it is, without adding judgments.

• Competition plans are helping to prepare yourself for what you would do in different circumstances, and also to develop “what if” approach-prepare a plan for the different situations. • Plans can help to focus and maintain attention

throughout the competition.

Eye control, overlearn skills• The key to eye control is to make sure your eyes

do not wander to irrelevant cues.• Looking at the opposition can result in a loss of

concentration.

• Overlearning helps make the performance of a skill automatic.• It helps to keep concentrations in the

competitive situation and to establish automatic attentional processes.