Conscious focus of attention and sports skills. Analysis of the main lines of experimental research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v51.97677Keywords:
conscious focus, sport skills, experimental evidence, methodological criticismAbstract
This work centered on the following question within the areas of psychology and philosophy of sports. When athletes are in action, is it beneficial for them to focus consciously on exercising their skills or is it better to do this unconsciously? This issue has caused some controversy in the area, with philosopher Barbara Montero defending a strong position in favor of conscious processing. In order to shed some light on this, we analyzed the results of the two main lines of experimental research on this topic, one of them led by Sian Beilock and the other, by Gabriele Wulf. In every case, we presented and evaluated the methodological criticism made by Montero to each experimental paradigm. Thus, by following a qualitative approach, we applied an interpretative methodology to explore arguments and experimental evidence from the area. Through our analysis, we tried to provide practical advice on which focuses of attention are beneficial (and which are not) for sports performance.
Keywords: conscious focus; sports skills; experimental evidence; methodological criticism.
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