Deck 4: Staying Focused in Sport: Concentration in Sport Performers

Question 1

Cognitive sport psychology is concerned with the study of:

A) The history of sport psychology
B) How the mind works in athletic situations
C) Psychological problems in athletes
D) Teams and groups

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The cognitive system that facilitates the selection of some information for further processing, while inhibiting the selection of other information for processing, is called:

A) Attention
B) Mental imagery
C) Sensation
D) Perception

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Divided attention refers to the:

A) Ability to focus on one thing while ignoring something else
B) Ability to maintain concentration over a long period of time
C) Ability to perform two or more concurrent actions equally well
D) Inability to concentrate on any one thing for more than 30 seconds

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Research on flow states was pioneered by a Hungarian psychologist named:

A) Puskas
B) Csikszentmihalyi
C) Von Bekesy
D) Von Neumann

Question 5

The proposal that flow has nine separate dimensions comes from a theoretical model developed by:

A) Tversky and Kahneman
B) Deci and Ryan
C) Martin and Jackson
D) Guillot and Collet

Question 6

From her review of research on attentional processes in skill-learning, Wulf (2007)
Concluded that:

A) An internal focus of attention is more effective than an external one
B) Attentional focus is irrelevant to skill-learning
C) An external focus of attention is more effective than an internal one
D) The idea of attentional focus is a myth

Question 7

Associative attentional techniques require people to focus on:

A) External objects and events
B) Bodily signals/processes
C) The goal of winning
D) Previous successes

Question 8

Mindfulness is an attentional strategy that trains people to:

A) Challenge and suppress distracting thoughts
B) Focus completely on future events
C) Develop a present-centred focus and a non-judgmental awareness
D) Control unwanted emotions

Question 9

The Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) was developed by:

A) Nisbett
B) Nideffer
C) Niland
D) Nakamura

Question 10

In neuroscience, the acronym PET stands for:

A) Proactive Emission Technique
B) Primary Eliciting Topography
C) Potential Elicitation Tool
D) Positron Emission Tomography

Question 11

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a neuroscientific technique in which the functioning of a specific area of the brain is:

A) Investigated by taking a blood sample from that region
B) Improved by increasing blood supplies to that region
C) Temporarily disrupted through the application of magnetic fields to the skull
D) Analysed through infra-red photography

Question 12

The dual-task paradigm is an experimental method for studying divided attention in which people are required to perform:

A) One task after another
B) Two tasks at the same time
C) A series of tasks while wearing a blindfold
D) A single task with alternate hands

Question 13

The ironic processes model was developed by a psychologist named:

A) Wegner
B) Wagner
C) Wenger
D) Wertheimer

Question 14

The tendency for a suppressed thought to come to mind more readily than a thought that is the focus of intentional concentration is called:

A) Hypervigilance
B) Hyperkinesia
C) Hyperaccessibility
D) Hypoxia

Question 15

Performance goals may be defined as:

A) End-products of competition, such as winning a match
B) The reasons athletes give for taking part in sport
C) Awards that players receive for performing well
D) Specific actions that lie within the performer's control

Question 16

In sport psychology, preferred sequences of preparatory thoughts and actions that athletes follow before they execute key skills, are known as:

A) Result goals
B) Pre-performance routines
C) Achievement goals
D) Arousal modifiers

Question 17

In sport psychology, short and vivid verbal reminders to think or do something are known as:

A) Temporal markers
B) Ironic cues
C) Trigger words
D) Verbal inhibitors

Question 18

Mental practice describes the systematic use of:

A) Mental imagery to rehearse physical actions
B) Psychology to upset or intimidate opponents
C) Hypnosis to overcome pain or fatigue
D) Repetition on the training ground

Question 19

People's knowledge about, and control over, their own attentional processes is known as:

A) Meta-analysis
B) Meta-attention
C) Meta-myopia
D) Meta-morphing