Adaptive Working Memory Training Reduces
the Negative Impact on Anxiety on
Competitive Motor Performance
E. Wilson, T. Smith and D
Nazanin (2017)
Journal of Sport and
Exercise Psychology
Athletes performance not only technical or
physical abilities
Importance of
Cognitive
Aspects in
Sport
Performance
Cognitive aspects to a successful
performance: Complicated and intricate
motor skills when under pressure
Performance breakdowns in are not
uncommon when athletes are under
perceived pressure of competitions
What is happening?
Attentional control is required to prepare for and carryout
complex movements
Attentional
Control / WM
Capacity
Attentional Control and Working Memory capacity can be
thought of as being the same thing
Executive functions of Inhibition (the ability to resist
distractions) Shifting (switching attention through different
aspects of the task) and Updating (micro-adjustments of
control)
Impairment in attentional control can result in
performance breakdowns
Anxiety has been found to reduce
Working Memory capacity (Berggren &
Derakshan, 2013)
Anxiety on
Attentional
Control
Increases bottom up processing
In line with the Attentional Control
Theory of Anxiety (‘ACT’) – Eysenck et al.,
2007
Anxiety impairs goal directed behaviour –
reduces processing efficiency (both
cognitive and sporting tasks)
What is it? - Index of attentional control in sports
“The final fixation or tracking gaze towards a relevant target prior
to the critical phase of a goal-directed movement”
How does it support task performance?
Quiet Eye ‘QE’
Promotes top down motor preparation and online control
functions
Differences in QE over level of expertise - across a range of tasks
Studies have shown reduction in QE is associated with reduction
in performance under pressure
Interventions to reduce performance breakdowns
due to pressure - through increasing and
maintaining QE in pressurised situations
Increasing
and
Maintaining
QE
Based on expert models, the interventions are
therefore specific to the task
This means it is hard to distinguish the specific
cognitive mechanisms targeted by QE training
Difficult to draw firm conclusions on the role of
executive functions and efficiency in sports.
Previous
Study Ducrocq et al.
(2016)
Aim was to reduce negative
impact of competitive
anxiety in tennis players
Training paradigm which
targeted specific executive
function of WM – Inhibitory
control
Training improved inhibitory control which led to:
Previous
Study Continued
Enhanced tennis specific attentional control - Return of
serve task
Improved performance and visual attention control Tennis volleying task under pressure
Reduction in % of volleys that missed a target in a
pressure condition.
Greater task specific inhibitory control: Fixated for longer
resisted moving gaze to check the outcome of shots
Experiment was specifically for inhibitory control
Mechanisms involved in QE likely to rely on combined
processes of executive functions
Combined
WM Training?
QE = Maintaining a steady gaze for long periods of time in
high pressure situations not only inhibition
Also efficient at shifting and updating
This is inline with the ACT – under pressure fundamental
executive functions of WM affected by anxiety
Further to the findings that adaptive WM
training can enhance attentional control and
performance outcomes:
Aims of the
Study
Aim of this study was to examine the effects of
adaptive WM training on tennis volley
performance under pressure
Through the use of an online adaptive dual nback training task shown to increase WM
capacity and processing efficiency (and reduce
emotional vulnerability-related impairements)
Participants who received adaptive WM
training would
Predictions
1: Perform better in a near transfer test of
WM Capacity
2: Have more efficient attentional control
(extended QE durations) and superior
performance under pressure in a far transfer
tennis volleying task