Superior Performance in Skilled Golfers Characterized by Dynamic Neuromotor Processes Related to Attentional Focus

Wang, Kuo-Pin; Frank, Cornelia; Tsai, Yen Yu; Lin, Kuo‐Hung; Chen, Tai Ting; Cheng, Ming-Yang; Huang, Chung Ju; Hung, Tsung Min; Schack, Thomas

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633228

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…6 WANG, CHENG, CHEN, LIN, HUANG, SCHACK, AND HUNG (Lo et al, 2019). As the left temporal region (i.e., T7) is associated with verbal-analytical processes (Haufler et al, 2000), these studies suggest that reduced cortico-cortical communication between the verbal-analytical (i.e., T7) and motor planning regions (i.e., Fz) indicates a decrease in the explicit monitoring of movement during motor preparation (Cheng et al, 2017;Deeny et al, 2003Deeny et al, , 2009Gallicchio et al, 2016Gallicchio et al, , 2017Hatfield, 2018;Lo et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020Wang et al, , 2021. Lower α coherence at Fz-T7 may therefore be associated with the inhibition of non-essential cognitive processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…These findings are also concordant with other studies that demonstrate lower levels of cortico-cortical communication between T7 and Fz in highly skilled performers than in less skilled performers (Deeny et al, 2003(Deeny et al, , 2009; in the best performing than in the worst performing skilled pistol shooters (Cheng et al, 2017); and in non-stressful than in stressful conditions in terms of dart throwing performance (Lo et al, 2019). As the left temporal region (i.e., T7) is associated with verbal-analytical processes (Haufler et al, 2000), these studies suggest that reduced cortico-cortical communication between the verbal-analytical (i.e., T7) and motor planning regions (i.e., Fz) indicates a decrease in the explicit monitoring of movement during motor preparation (Cheng et al, 2017;Deeny et al, 2003Deeny et al, , 2009Gallicchio et al, 2016Gallicchio et al, , 2017Hatfield, 2018;Lo et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020Wang et al, , 2021. Lower α coherence at Fz-T7 may therefore be associated with the inhibition of non-essential cognitive processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Each block comprised 10 putts and the participants were allowed to rest for 2 min during the inter-block intervals. The entire procedure lasted approximately 90 min; the number of putts per participant was designed to control for any fatigue effects on the EEG reading (Kao et al, 2013; Wang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Successful motor performance of a difficult task: Reduced cognitive-motor coupling.

Wang¹,

Cheng²,

Chen³

et al. 2022

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

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This study characterized the adaptive attentional allocation that occurs during motor preparation. The specifications of task-relevant and task-irrelevant neural processes are key processes that facilitate successful performances by skilled athletes under difficult task conditions. Previous sport psychophysiology studies have used event-related desynchronization/synchronization analysis and electroencephalography (EEG) power analysis to distinguish the types of neuroelectric activity that occur during effortful but functional performance and effortful but dysfunctional performance. However, the dynamics of cortico-cortical communication in both performance states remain unclear. This study linked the simple model of attention allocation and the psychomotor efficiency hypothesis with EEG coherence analysis to specify the dynamics of cortico-cortical communication during successful performance. A within-subjects design was used. Intersite phase coherence (ISPC) and imaginary ISPC were used to compute 8-13 Hz EEG connectivity from EEG recordings obtained before successful and unsuccessful performances (i.e., 40 skilled golfers; 40%-60% putting success rate as individual task difficulty). Successful performance was characterized by (a) lower 8-13 Hz ISPC and imaginary ISPC (imISPC) at T7-Fz in the −2,000 to −1,000 ms time window and (b) lower 8-13 Hz imISPC at T7-Cz in the −1,000 to 0 ms time window. This study suggests that successful performance is characterized by reduced communication This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Successful motor performance of a difficult task: Reduced cognitive-motor coupling.

Wang¹,

Cheng²,

Chen³

et al. 2022

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…In addition, the reason for the null result might be attributed to the attention conditions we compared. Previous studies found a stronger T7-Fz connection for internal focus compared to external focus (Ellmers et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2021). It is possible that an external focus condition is necessary to observe weaker T7-Fz connectivity.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 82%

The Effects of Internal Focus of Attention and Interoceptive Abilities on Golf Putting Performance

Mizuno,

Masaki

2023

Jpn Psychol Res

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An internal focus on movement interferes with automated movement execution, but physical sensations may not diminish performance. We hypothesized that interoception—a perception of the inner workings of the body—is associated with maintaining performance under internal focus. Eighteen competitive swimmers with high interoceptive ability and nine controls with no sports experience executed a golf putting task under pressure and no‐pressure tests, while the direction of attentional focus was manipulated. We recorded electroencephalograms and electrocardiograms during the task in three attentional conditions (i.e., sensation‐focus, movement‐focus, and no‐focus instruction). Interoceptive accuracy was evaluated by a heartbeat counting task and interoceptive sensibility was obtained using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness questionnaire. Results showed that internal focus on movement led to lower performance compared to the no‐focus instruction in both groups, whereas focusing on physical sensations did not change performance. Higher interoceptive sensibility predicted better performance when focusing on movement. These results suggest that higher interoceptive ability may prevent performance deterioration due to an internal focus toward movement.

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“…Such manipulation checks ensure that participants read the instructions, but they do not ensure that they use the assigned attentional focus. To examine the latter, it is suggested to implement a dual-task paradigm when applicable and/or an electroencephalogram (EEG; see Wang et al, 2021 for an example of the relationships between EEG and attentional focus).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional Focus Instructions Do Not Affect Choice Reaction Time

Ziv

Lidor

2021

Front. Psychol.

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The majority of the studies on attentional focus have shown that participants who were instructed to focus externally performed better than those who were taught to focus internally. However, in most of these studies the participants performed complex motor tasks. Due to the scarcity of data on the effects of attentional focus specifically on simple motor tasks, our purpose in the current study was to examine these effects on two simple reaction time (RT) tasks. The study was conducted on a cloud-based experimental software. Participants were allocated to three experimental groups: an external focus group (n = 44), an internal focus group (n = 46), and a control group (no attentional instructions; n = 47). The participants performed two tasks: a choice-RT task and a Simon task. Participants in all three groups practiced eight blocks of 20 trials from each task in a counterbalanced order – a total of 180 trials for each task. The sole difference between the three groups was the administered attentional focus instructions. The findings suggest that attentional focus instructions do not affect the performance of a choice-RT task or a Simon-task in a computerized online study. It is possible that the simple RT-based tasks in the current study were not sensitive to the attentional focus manipulation, since in such simple tasks there are not many actions that internal focus can disrupt. Although we asked the participants to what extent they followed the instructions, we cannot say whether their responses represent their actual attentional focus when performing the tasks.

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Superior Performance in Skilled Golfers Characterized by Dynamic Neuromotor Processes Related to Attentional Focus

Cited by 13 publications

References 48 publications

Successful motor performance of a difficult task: Reduced cognitive-motor coupling.

Successful motor performance of a difficult task: Reduced cognitive-motor coupling.

The Effects of Internal Focus of Attention and Interoceptive Abilities on Golf Putting Performance

Attentional Focus Instructions Do Not Affect Choice Reaction Time

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