Attention and Performance XIV, provides a broad, historic, and timely synthesis of the empirical and theoretical ideas on which performance theory now rests.

This is an ideal text for motor behaviour and cognitive psychology courses, as well as a reference for professionals with an interest in motor behaviour and human movement. It explores how focus of attention can affect motor performance, particularly the learning of motor skills.

This title describes current research findings in the study of human performance Experts from all fields of performance are brought together, covering domains including sports, the performing arts, business, executive coaching, the military, and other applicable, high-risk professions.

In 1966 the first meeting of the Association for the Study of Attention and Performance was held in the Netherlands to promote the emerging science of cognitive psychology. This volume is based on the most recent conference, held in Israel thirty years later. The focus of the conference was the interaction between theory and application. The organizers chose the specific topic, cognitive regulation of performance, because it is an area where contemporary theories of cognitive processes meet the everyday challenges posed by human interactions with complex systems. Present-day technological systems impose on the operator a variety of supervisory functions, such as input and output monitoring, allocation of cognitive resources, choice of strategies, and regulation of cognitive operations. A challenge for engineers and designers is to accommodate the cognitive requirements called for by these systems. The book is divided into four sections: the presentation and representation of information, cognitive regulation of acquisition and performance, consciousness and behavior, and special populations: aging and neurological disorders. Contributors Nicole D. Anderson, Moshe Bar, Lynn Bardell, Alice E. Barnes, Irving Biederman, Robert A. Bjork, Richard A. Block, Fergus I. M. Craik, Heiner Deubel, John Dunlosky, Ido Erev, Ronald Fisher, John M. Flach, Barry Goettl, Morris Goldsmith, Daniel Gopher, Lynn Hasher, Okihide Hikosaka, Larry L. Jacoby, Peter Kalocsai, Colleen Kelley, David E. Kieras, Roberta Klatzky, Asher Koriat, Arthur F. Kramer, Elisabetta Ladavas, John L. Larish, Susan J. Lederman, John Long, Cynthia P. May, Guiliana Mazzoni, Brian McElree, David Meyer, Satoru Miyauchi, Neville Moray, Louis Narens, Thomas O. Nelson, Raymond S. Nickerson, Lynne Reder, J. Wesley Regian, Ian Robertson, Wolfgang Schneider, Christian D. Schunn, Wayne Shebilske, Shinsuke Shimojo, Suresh Subramaniam, Tom N. Trainham, Jehoshua Tsal, Timothy A. Weber, Christopher Wickens, Rose T. Zacks, Dan Zakay

Compiled as a result of the Thirteenth Symposium of the Association for Attention and Performance, this collection focuses on the Symposium's theme: Organization of Action. The book is arranged in sections which provide a comprehensive view of the main issues raised during the meeting. Several aspects of the theme were considered, including: the anatomical and physiological constraints on motor preparation and execution . the influence of control (proprioceptive, cutaneous, visual, oculomotor) signals the contribution of kinematics to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms and the role of cognitive constraints such as attention or learning in goal selection This new volume is of particular interest to professionals and researchers in cognitive psychology, physiology, and neuropsychology as well as those studying motor skills.

"This volume is intended to reach out to basic and applied psychological researchers, cognitive and affective scientists, learning scientists, biologists, sociologists, neuropsychological researchers, and philosophers, who have an interest in an integrated understanding of the mind at work, particularly pertaining to explanations of real-life phenomena that have social and practical significance."--Provided by publisher.

The Western approach to dance is largely focused on control and mastery of technique, both of which are certainly necessary skills for improving performance. But mindful attention, despite its critical role in high performance, has gotten short shrift—until now. Attention and Focus in Dance, a how-to book rooted in the 20 years of attentional focus findings of researcher Gabriele Wulf, will help dancers unlock their power and stamina reserves, enabling efficient movement, heightening their sensory perception and releasing their dance potential. Author Clare Guss-West—a professional dancer, choreographer, teacher and holistic practitioner—presents a systematic, science-based approach to the mental work of dance. Her approach helps dancers hone the skills of attention, focus and self-cueing to replenish energy and enhance their physical and artistic performance. A Unique, Research-Based Approach Here is what Attention and Focus in Dance offers readers: A unique approach, connecting the foundations of Eastern movement with Western movement forms Research-based teaching practices in diverse contexts, including professional dance companies, private studios, and programmes for dancers with special needs or movement challenges Testimonies and tips from international professional dancers and dance educators who use the book’s approach in their training and teaching A dance-centric focus that can be easily integrated into existing training and teaching practice, in rehearsal, or in rehabilitation contexts to provide immediate and long-term benefits Guss-West explores attentional focus techniques for dancers, teachers and dance health care practitioners, making practical connections between research, movement theory and day-to-day dance practice. “Many dancers are using excessive energy deployment and significant counterproductive effort, and that can lead to a global movement dysfunction, lack of stamina and an increased risk of injury,” says Guss-West. “Attentional focus training is the most relevant study that sport science and Eastern-movement practice can bring to dance.” Book Organisation The text is organised into two parts. Part I guides dancers in looking at the attentional challenges and information overload that many professional dancers suffer from. It outlines the need for a systematic attention and focus strategy, and it explains how scientific research on attentional focus relates to dance practice. This part also examines the ways in which Eastern-movement principles intersect with and complement scientific findings, and it examines how the Eastern and scientific concepts can breathe new life into basic dance elements such as posture, turnout and port de bras. Attention and focus techniques are included for replenishing energy and protecting against energy depletion and exhaustion. Part II presents attention and focus strategies for teaching, self-coaching and cueing. It addresses attentional focus cues for beginners and for more advanced dancers and professionals, and it places attentional focus in the broader context of holistic teaching strategies. Maximising Dance Potential “Whether cueing others or yourself, cueing for high performance is an art,” Guss-West says. “Readers will discover how to format cues and feedback to facilitate effective neuromuscular response and enhance dancer recall of information and accessibility while dancing.” Attention and Focus in Dance offers an abundance of research-backed concepts and inspirational ideas that can help dancers in their learning and performance. This book aids readers in filtering information and directing their focus for optimal physical effect. Ultimately, it guides dancers and teachers in being the best version of themselves and maximising their potential in dance.

This book presents a review of research on reaction processes and attention as it has evolved over the last 40 years in the context of the information processing tradition in cognitive psychology. It is argued and demonstrated that issues of reaction processes and attention are closely interconnected. Their common conceptualization can be seen in terms of limited processing capacity on the one hand, and stage analysis on the other. This volume concludes that, at present, a stage analysis metaphor offers better prospects as a conceptual starting point; the limited capacity metaphor was strongly tied to the digital computers of the 60s. The emphasis of the book is on behavioral research, but summaries of related findings on evoked potentials and other psychophysiological variables are included as well. From this perspective, it may be of interest to neuropsychologists who want to learn about the present state of cognitive experimental paradigms. Elements of Human Performance also addresses the question of the relationship between basic research and applications in the said areas. This is particularly urgent in view of the now common notion that the results of many simplified laboratory tasks may be artifactual and of little applied value. A back-to-back research strategy is outlined to assess the validity of basic research results for real-life tasks.

The thinker who has a mortal fear of being wrong will give all that is valuable in himself to that little ambition. Walter Lippmann (1914) Psychology has always been plagued by passing fads and fan cies to a greater extent than is seemly in a scientific discipline. Over the past few years the Zeitgeist can be summed up by the two words 'cognitive psychology'. Indeed, a recent poll of academic psychologists in American indicated that over 80% of them regarded themselves as cognitive psychologists! Cognitive psychology is in the ascendant, but it has never been clear to me that it has addressed all of the appropriate is sues. In particular, information processing in the real world (and even in the laboratory) occurs within a motivational and emotional context, but cognitive psychologists usually main tain the convenient fiction that cognition can fruitfully be stud ied in isolation. The main reason for writing this book was to at tempt to demonstrate that there can be a useful cross-fertiliza tion between cognitive and motivational-emotional psycholo gy and that there are already tantalizing glimpses of the poten tial advantages of such inter-disciplinary research. The ideas of Donald Broadbent and his associates have exer cised a formative influence during the writing of this book. They discovered some years ago that there are intriguing simi larities (as well as differences) in the effects on performance of such apparently quite disparate factors as white noise, time of day, introversion-extraversion and incentive.

The thirty-two contributions discuss evidence from psychological experiments with healthy and brain-damaged subjects, functional imaging, electrophysiology, and computational modeling.