{"title":"Mental Effort in Elite and Nonelite Rowers.","authors":"Henrik Herrebrøden, Thomas Espeseth, Laura Bishop","doi":"10.1123/jsep.2022-0164","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mental effort (intensity of attention) in elite sports has remained a debated topic and a challenging phenomenon to measure. Thus, a quasi-ecological laboratory study was conducted to investigate mental effort in elite rowers as compared with a group of nonelites. Findings suggest that eye-tracking measures-specifically, blink rates and pupil size-can serve as valid indicators of mental effort in physically demanding sport tasks. Furthermore, findings contradict the notion that elite athletes spend less cognitive effort than their lower-level peers. Specifically, elites displayed similar levels of self-reported effort and performance decrement with increasing mental load and significantly more mental effort overall as measured by pupil-size increase (relative to baseline) during rowing trials as compared with the nonelites in the sample. Future studies on eye tracking in sports may include investigations of mental effort in addition to selective attention during physically demanding tasks.</p>","PeriodicalId":51094,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2022-0164","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Mental effort (intensity of attention) in elite sports has remained a debated topic and a challenging phenomenon to measure. Thus, a quasi-ecological laboratory study was conducted to investigate mental effort in elite rowers as compared with a group of nonelites. Findings suggest that eye-tracking measures-specifically, blink rates and pupil size-can serve as valid indicators of mental effort in physically demanding sport tasks. Furthermore, findings contradict the notion that elite athletes spend less cognitive effort than their lower-level peers. Specifically, elites displayed similar levels of self-reported effort and performance decrement with increasing mental load and significantly more mental effort overall as measured by pupil-size increase (relative to baseline) during rowing trials as compared with the nonelites in the sample. Future studies on eye tracking in sports may include investigations of mental effort in addition to selective attention during physically demanding tasks.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology (JSEP) is a peer-reviewed publication designed to stimulate and communicate research theory in all areas of sport and exercise psychology. JSEP emphasizes original research reports that advance our understanding of human behavior as it relates to sport and exercise. Comprehensive reviews employing both qualitative and quantitative methods are also encouraged, as well as brief reports of soundly designed research studies that are of special interest or importance. Areas of interest include research in social, clinical, developmental, and experimental psychology, as well as psychobiology and personality. Moreover, the terms sport and exercise may pertain to either the independent or dependent variables. Generally speaking, work on motor control processes, studies of sport as a social institution, or broader social issues are beyond the scope of JSEP. A wide variety of methods are acceptable for studying sport and exercise psychology topics.