Keeping the goal in sight and in mind: The association between visual attention and motivational mindsets among runners

Individuals rely on a multitude of tools, including visual attention-based strategies, to self-regulate. We ask if attention itself serves as the regulatory strategy, or whether shifts in attentional scope shift the reliance on implemental and deliberative motivational mindsets. Runners self-reported how frequently they actually use or believe they should use narrow and wide attentional scope, as well as implemental and deliberative mindset, across progressive stages of runs. As runs progress, runners increasingly narrow their attentional scope but do not increasingly use implemental motivational mindset; they also decreasingly widen their attentional scope but do not decreasingly use deliberative mindset (Exploratory Study, Study 1, Study 2, Study 3). Attentional scope and motivational mindset changes diverged over time suggesting an independence between them. Moreover, experimentally induced changes in attentional scope failed to cause corresponding changes in motivational mindset (Study 4). Task difficulty, as assessed by arousal, differentially related to changes in attentional scope and motivational mindset, suggesting scope and mindset are not governed by the same underlying system (Study 3). Finally, faster and slower runners showed distinct patterns of prioritizing narrow attentional scope (Study 3), suggesting that attentional narrowing is not simply a uniform response to arousal. Across 5 studies, data suggest the independence of attentional scope and motivational mindsets in the context of running. We discuss implications for visual attention, mindset theory, and self-regulation.