A rower checking their technique and rhythm

A sprinter focusing on the gun

A golfer staring at the ball

A goalkeeper tracking a penalty kick

$$0.05$$ seconds

$$0.13$$ seconds

$$0.18$$ seconds

$$0.31$$ seconds

Divided attention

High attentional control

Attentional narrowing

Broad external focus

The ability to regulate arousal level to maintain optimal performance

The ability to focus attention on relevant cues for skill execution

The ability to maintain motivation to persist with training and competition demands

The ability to use mental imagery to rehearse skills and performance scenarios

To avoid misinterpreting short-term performance changes as long-term learning

To ensure that improvements seen during practice are retained and transferred to competition

Because immediate performance is always a reliable indicator of learning

Because learning cannot be directly observed and must be inferred from performance over time