Attention and performance

KINESIOL 2MC3

Mike Carter, Ph.D.
cartem11@email.com

Department of Kinesiology | McMaster University

September 16 2025

Last class

Lecture objectives

  • Describe stimulus-response compatibility and how it affects reaction time

  • Explain the spatial and anatomical accounts for stimulus-response compatibility effects

  • Discuss how an irrelevant stimulus feature can influence reaction time

  • Understand the role of anticipation in minimizing processing delays

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Although reaction time is one of the simplest performance measures, its use has had a profound influence on the development of motor behaviour research.

Lecture objectives

  • Understand properties of attention

  • Explain how researchers can assess the attentional demands of a motor skill

  • Describe how attention can limit information-processing activities

  • Explain how attention influences the capability to perform actions

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Many factors influence how attention and arousal impact skilled motor performance.

What is attention?

Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness, is of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.
- James (1890)

What is attention?

  • limited capacity to engage in multiple cognitive and/or motor activities simultaneously

  • selective attention to specific environmental features when we perform motor skills

    • this can happen either through intentional or incidental processes

Activity

What is attention?

  • in multi-task situations, performance can suffer for two broad reasons:
    1. structural interference occurs when physical or neurological structures are the cause of the reduced performance (e.g., eyes, limbs, etc)
    2. capacity interference occurs when required attentional resources exceeds some attentional limit
  • examples
    • distracted driving, inattention blindness, change blindness

We can leverage interference as an indirect measure of attention

  • two common secondary task methods are used by researchers
    • DUAL-TASK METHOD: the secondary task is performed for the duration of the primary task
      • e.g., walking and performing an n-back task
    • PROBE-TASK METHOD: the secondary task is required at some unexpected point while the person performs the primary task
      • e.g., respond to an auditory beep as quickly as possible with a manual or vocal response

Attentional demands during an action

Primary task: Reach to a small or large target

Secondary task: Probe reaction time task to an auditory tone with a manual button response as rapidly as possible

  • Auditory probe could be presented at 6 possible positions in the movement: 0, 15, 45, 75, 105, or 135 degrees
  • Position was randomized

Approximate data based on Posner and Keele (1969) through plot digitization of Schmidt and Lee (2011).

Activity

The time between the presentation of two stimuli can have a strong influence on performance

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj0GLq3Q64M

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaaK36mX_Pk

The psychological refractory period (PRP)

  • Perform task 1 alone; perform task 2 alone
  • Perform task 1 then task 2 sequentially but manipulate the time between the auditory and visual cues

The psychological refractory period (PRP)

Approximate data based on Davis (1959) through plot digitization of Schmidt and Lee (2011)

  • PSYCHOLOGICAL REFRACTORY PERIOD: The delay in responding to the second of two closely spaced stimuli

The psychological refractory period (PRP)

Adapted from Maslovat et al. (2013)

  • provides evidence of a response preparation bottleneck

Focus of attention

  • refers to the information that a performer’s attention (or consciousness) is directed at before or during an action

  • INTERNAL FOCUS OF ATTENTION: focus on information associated with the performer’s body

    • e.g., “Think about the timing of your hip rotation”

  • EXTERNAL FOCUS OF ATTENTION: focus on information that is external to the performer’s body

    • e.g., “Think about the tennis racquet hitting the ball”

it is NOT a visual focus…it is a MENTAL FOCUS

The evidential value of the attentional focus literature has been questioned (McKay et al. 2024), which we will revisit in the motor learning metascience lecture

Focus of attention

Task: Stabilometer

Groups:

  • internal = feet
  • external = markers on platform
  • control = no instructions

Approximate data based on Wulf et al. (2003) through plot digitization

Focus of attention

Task: Golf pitch shot

Groups:

  • internal focus = arm swing
  • external focus = club swing

Approximate data based on Wulf et al. (1999) through plot digitization

Attentional focus - Explanations

  • CONSTRAINED ACTION HYPOTHESIS: an internal focus produces conscious, moment-to-moment movement control that constrains the sensorimotor system and interferes with automatic control processes whereas an external focus allows the sensorimotor system to more naturally self-organize (McNevin et al. 2003; Wulf et al. 2001)

Attentional focus - Explanations

Task: Stabilometer

Secondary task: Simple RT button press

  • randomly 8x in a trial

Groups:

  • internal = feet
  • external = markers on platform

Approximate data from Wulf et al. (2001) through plot digitization

Attentional focus - Explanations

Task: Basketball free throw

Groups:

  • internal = feet
  • external = markers on platform

EMG: Flexor carpi radialis (FCR), Biceps brachii (BB), Triceps brachii (TB), and Deltoid (D)

Approximate data from Zachry et al. (2005) through plot digitization

Attentional focus - Explanations

  • CONSTRAINED ACTION HYPOTHESIS: an internal focus produces conscious, moment-to-moment movement control that constrains the sensorimotor system and interferes with automatic control processes whereas an external focus allows the sensorimotor system to more naturally self-organize (McNevin et al. 2003; Wulf et al. 2001)
  • TASK-RELEVANT INFORMATION ATTUNEMENT: attentional focus enhances performance by prioritizing task-relevant information that is most critical for achieving a task goal whether external or internal (Herrebrøden 2023)

Decision-making under stress

  • AROUSAL: the level of excitement produced under stress

  • one’s level of arousal is an important determinant of performance in tasks where the speed and/or accuracy of motor decisions is important

  • INVERTED-U PRINCIPLE: The relationship between arousal level and performance

  • Why do some people succeed under pressure and others “choke” (Beilock 2011)?

Lecture objectives

  • Understand properties of attention

  • Explain how researchers can assess the attentional demands of a motor skill

  • Describe how attention can limit information-processing activities

  • Explain how attention influences the capability to perform actions

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Many factors influence how attention and arousal impact skilled motor performance.

What questions do you have?

Next class: Sensory contributions I

References

Beilock S. Choke: What the secrets of the brain reveal about getting it right when you have to. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2011.
Davis R. The role of "attention" in the psychological refractory period. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 11: 211–220, 1959.
Herrebrøden H. Motor performers need task-relevant information: Proposing an alternative mechanism for the attentional focus effect. Journal of Motor Behavior 55: 125–134, 2023.
James W. The principles of psychology (volume i). New York, NY: Henry Holt; Company, 1890.
Maslovat D, Chua R, Spencer HC, Forgaard CJ, Carlsen AN, Franks IM. Evidence for a response preparation bottleneck during dual-task performance: Effect of a startling acoustic stimulus on the psychological refractory period. Acta Psychologica 144: 481–487, 2013.
McKay B, Corson AE, Seedu J, De Faveri CS, Hasan H, Arnold K, Adams FC, Carter MJ. Reporting bias, not external focus: A robust bayesian meta-analysis and systematic review of the external focus of attention literature. Psychological Bulletin 150: 1347, 2024.
McNevin NH, Shea CH, Wulf G. Increasing the distance of an external focus of attention enhances learning. Psychological Eesearch 67: 22–29, 2003.
Posner MI, Keele SW. Attentional demands of movement. In: Proceedings of the 16th congress of applied psychology. Swets; Zeitlinger, 1969, p. 418–422.
Schmidt RA, Lee TD. Motor control and learning: A behavioral emphasis. Human Kinetics, 2011.
Wulf G, Lauterbach B, Toole T. The learning advantages of an external focus of attention in golf. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 70: 120–126, 1999.
Wulf G, McNevin N, Shea CH. The automaticity of complex motor skill learning as a function of attentional focus. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A 54: 1143–1154, 2001.
Wulf G, Weigelt M, Poulter D, McNevin N. Attentional focus on suprapostural tasks affects balance learning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A 56: 1191–1211, 2003.
Zachry T, Wulf G, Mercer J, Bezodis N. Increased movement accuracy and reduced EMG activity as the result of adopting an external focus of attention. Brain Research Bulletin 67: 304–309, 2005.