The effects of psychological pressure on attention to related and unrelated attentional sources of vertical jump performance

Background & Purpose:

Psychological pressure while performing motor skills can be result in focus of attention on various sources. Identification of these sources would be useful in applying appropriate instructions.The aim of this study was to examine the effects of psychological pressure on attention to related and unrelated attentional sources of vertical jump performance.

The research method was quasi-experimental design. 63 male physical education from Urmia Islamic Azad University students performed vertical jump task in two different psychological pressure situations. Social comparison, contextual and reward incentives were used to create the psychological pressure. Competitive state anxiety, attentional focus on task related (internal, external) and unrelated (performance worries and environmental factors), and vertical jump performance were assessed.

The paired-samples t test results showed that psychological pressure resulted in decrease of vertical jump performance (M1=43.52±02/6, M2=42.33±37/6), more orientation of attentional focus on task related sources rather than unrelated sources (MD1 =5.96, MD2= -2.48), and more orientation of attentional focus on internal sources rather than external sources (MD1 =3.41, MD2= -2.54), (P>0.05).

At whole, the findings are in line with skill-focused theory and suggest that the attention focus leads to attentional changes to task-related sources, especially internal task related sources.