Anxiety, Attention and Performance Variability in Visuo-motor Skills

The aims of the current program of research were to examine the impact of anxiety on performance and attentional control during the execution of two far aiming tasks, and to examine the efficacy of gaze training interventions in mediating these effects. Attentional control theory (ACT), which suggests that anxious individuals have impaired goal-directed attentional control, was adopted as a theoretical framework, and the Quiet Eye, characterised by long final fixations on relevant locations, was adopted as an objective measure of overt attentional control. In Studies 1 and 2 increased pressure impaired goal directed attentional control (QE) at the expense of stimulus-driven control (more fixations of shorter duration to various targets). The aim of studies 3 and 4 was therefore to examine the efficacy of an intervention designed to train effective visual attentional control (QE training) for novices, and determine whether such training protected against attentional disruptions associated with performing under pressure. In both studies the QE trained group maintained more effective visual attentional control and performed significantly better in a subsequent pressure test compared to the Control group, providing support for the efficacy of attentional training for visuo-motor skills. The aim of study 5 was to examine the effectiveness of a brief QE training intervention for elite golfers and to examine if potential benefits shown for novices in studies 3 and 4 transferred to competitive play. The QE-trained group maintained their optimal QE and performance under pressure conditions, whereas the control group experienced reductions in QE and performance. Importantly, these advantages transferred to the golf course, where QE-trained golfers reduced their putts per round by 1.9 putts, compared to pre-training, whereas the control group showed no change in their putting statistics. This series of studies has therefore implicated the role of attention in the breakdown of performance under pressure, but has also suggested that visual attentional training regimes may be a useful technique for alleviating this problem

Time-domain concatenative text-to-speech synthesis.

A concatenation framework for time-domain concatenative speech synthesis (TDCSS) is presented and evaluated. In this framework, speech segments are extracted from CV, VC, CVC and CC waveforms, and abutted. Speech rhythm is controlled via a single duration parameter, which specifies the initial portion of each stored waveform to be output. An appropriate choice of segmental durations reduces spectral discontinuity problems at points of concatenation, thus reducing reliance upon smoothing procedures. For text-to-speech considerations, a segmental timing system is described, which predicts segmental durations at the word level, using a timing database and a pattern matching look-up algorithm. The timing database contains segmented words with associated duration values, and is specific to an actual inventory of concatenative units. Segmental duration prediction accuracy improves as the timing database size increases. The problem of incomplete timing data has been addressed by using `default duration' entries in the database, which are created by re-categorising existing timing data according to articulation manner. If segmental duration data are incomplete, a default duration procedure automatically categorises the missing speech segments according to segment class. The look-up algorithm then searches the timing database for duration data corresponding to these re-categorised segments. The timing database is constructed using an iterative synthesis/adjustment technique, in which a `judge' listens to synthetic speech and adjusts segmental durations to improve naturalness. This manual technique for constructing the timing database has been evaluated. Since the timing data is linked to an expert judge's perception, an investigation examined whether the expert judge's perception of speech naturalness is representative of people in general. Listening experiments revealed marked similarities between an expert judge's perception of naturalness and that of the experimental subjects. It was also found that the expert judge's perception remains stable over time. A synthesis/adjustment experiment found a positive linear correlation between segmental durations chosen by an experienced expert judge and duration values chosen by subjects acting as expert judges. A listening test confirmed that between 70% and 100% intelligibility can be achieved with words synthesised using TDCSS. In a further test, a TDCSS synthesiser was compared with five well-known text-to-speech synthesisers, and was ranked fifth most natural out of six. An alternative concatenation framework (TDCSS2) was also evaluated, in which duration parameters specify both the start point and the end point of the speech to be extracted from a stored waveform and concatenated. In a similar listening experiment, TDCSS2 stimuli were compared with five well-known text-tospeech synthesisers, and were ranked fifth most natural out of six

The influence of anxiety on visual attentional control in basketball free throw shooting.

addresses: School of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, St. Luke's Campus, Exeter, U.K.types: Journal Article© 2009 Human Kinetics, IncThe aim of this study was to test the predictions of attentional control theory using the quiet eye period as an objective measure of attentional control. Ten basketball players took free throws in two counterbalanced experimental conditions designed to manipulate the anxiety they experienced. Point of gaze was measured using an ASL Mobile Eye tracker and fixations including the quiet eye were determined using frame-by-frame analysis. The manipulation of anxiety resulted in significant reductions in the duration of the quiet eye period and free throw success rate, thus supporting the predictions of attentional control theory. Anxiety impaired goal-directed attentional control (quiet eye period) at the expense of stimulus-driven control (more fixations of shorter duration to various targets). The findings suggest that attentional control theory may be a useful theoretical framework for examining the relationship between anxiety and performance in visuomotor sport skills

In-task auditory performance-related feedback promotes cardiovascular markers of a challenge state during a pressurized task

This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordBackground and Objectives: Individuals evaluate the demands and resources associated with a pressurized situation, which leads to distinct patterns of cardiovascular responses. While it is accepted that cognitive evaluations are updated throughout a pressurized situation, to date, cardiovascular markers have only been recorded immediately before, or averaged across, these situations. Thus, this study examined the influence of in-task performance-related feedback on cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat to explore fluctuations in these markers.Methods and Design: Forty participants completed a pressurized visual search task while cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat were recorded. During the task, participants received either positive or negative feedback via distinct auditory tones to induce a challenge or threat state. Following task completion, cardiovascular markers were recorded during a recovery phase.Results: Participants' cardiovascular responses changed across the experimental protocol. Specifically, while participants displayed a cardiovascular response more reflective of a challenge state following in-task performance-related feedback, participants exhibited a response more akin to a threat state later during the recovery phase.Conclusions: In-task auditory performance-related feedback promoted cardiovascular markers of a challenge state. These markers fluctuated over the experiment, suggesting that they, and presumably underlying demand and resource evaluations, are relatively dynamic in nature.Experimental Psychology Societ

Examining the effect of challenge and threat states on endurance exercise capabilities

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThis paper presents the first two studies to explore the effect of challenge and threat states on endurance exercise capabilities. In study one, relationships between cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat states, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and exercise tolerance were explored during moderate- and severe-intensity cycling. Cardiovascular reactivity more reflective of a challenge state (i.e., relatively higher cardiac output and/or lower total peripheral resistance reactivity) predicted lower RPE throughout moderate- but not severe-intensity cycling. Building on these findings, study two experimentally manipulated participants into challenge, threat, and neutral groups, and compared 16.1 km time-trial performances, where pacing is self-regulated by RPE. Participants completed familiarisation, control, and experimental visits while physiological (oxygen uptake), perceptual (RPE), and performance-based (time to completion [TTC] and power output [PO]) variables were assessed. When compared to the threat group, the challenge group demonstrated cardiovascular responses more indicative of a challenge state, and delivered faster early-race pacing (PO) at similar RPE. Although there were no significant differences in TTC, results revealed that augmentations in PO for the challenge group were facilitated by tempered perceptions of fatigue. The findings suggest that an individual's pre-exercise psychophysiological state might influence perceived exertion and endurance exercise capabilities

An integrative framework of stress, attention, and visuomotor performance

The aim of this article is to present an integrative conceptual framework that depicts the effect of acute stress on the performance of visually guided motor skills. We draw upon seminal theories highlighting the importance of subjective interpretations of stress on subsequent performance and outline how models of disrupted attentional control might explain this effect through impairments in visuomotor control. We first synthesize and critically discuss empirical support for theories examining these relationships in isolation. We then outline our integrative framework that seeks to provide a more complete picture of the interacting influences of stress responses (challenge and threat) and attention in explaining how elevated stress may lead to different visuomotor performance outcomes. We propose a number of mechanisms that explain why evaluations of stress are related to attentional control, and highlight the emotion of anxiety as the most likely candidate to explain why negative reactions to stress lead to disrupted attention and poor visuomotor skill performance. Finally, we propose a number of feedback loops that explain why stress responses are often self-perpetuating, as well as a number of proposed interventions that are designed to help improve or maintain performance in real world performance environments (e.g., sport, surgery, military, and aviation)

Champ or chump? Challenge and threat states during pressurized competition

Copyright © 2013 Human Kinetics, IncThe present research examined the immediate impact of challenge and threat states on golf performance in both real competition and a laboratory-based task. In Study 1, 199 experienced golfers reported their evaluations of competition demands and personal coping resources before a golf competition. Evaluating the competition as a challenge (i.e., sufficient resources to cope with demands) was associated with superior performance. In Study 2, 60 experienced golfers randomly received challenge or threat manipulation instructions and then performed a competitive golf-putting task. Challenge and threat states were successfully manipulated and the challenge group outperformed the threat group. Furthermore, the challenge group reported less anxiety, more facilitative interpretations of anxiety, less conscious processing, and displayed longer quiet eye durations. However, these variables failed to mediate the group-performance relationship. These studies demonstrate the importance of considering preperformance psychophysiological states when examining the influence of competitive pressure on motor performance

Quiet eye training improves small arms maritime marksmanship

Quiet eye training—teaching task-specific gaze control—has been consistently shown to optimize the acquisition of motor skills. The present study aimed to examine the potential benefits of a quiet eye training intervention in a simulated maritime marksmanship task that involved shooting fast approaching moving targets with a decommissioned general-purpose machine gun. Twenty participants were randomly assigned to a quiet eye trained (QET) or technical trained (TT) group and completed 2 baseline, 20 training, and 2 retention trials on the moving-target task. Compared to their TT counterparts, the QET group displayed more effective gaze control (longer quiet eye durations and greater target locking) and more accurate performance (smaller radial error of both the initial shot and average of all shots) at retention. These findings highlight the potential for quiet eye training to be used to support the training of marksmanship skills in military settings