Cited by 41Sport Psychology and PerformanceNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesCognitive Functions and Memory

Efficiency and enhancement in attention networks of elite shooting and archery athletes

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Lu, Quanyu, Li, Pengli, Wu, Qiong, Liu, Xinghua, Wu, Yanhong·2021·Frontiers in Psychology

Abstract

Attention has been theorized as a system comprising three networks that can be estimated reliably by the attention network test (ANT); the three networks are defined as alerting, orienting, and conflict control. The present study aims to identify the attention networks that are crucial for elite shooting and archery athletes and to examine whether mindfulness training can improve elite athletes' attention networks. We compared the performances in ANT between 62 elite athletes (27 F/35 M, 23.66 ± 4.95 years) from the Chinese national team of shooting and archery and 49 athletes (19 F/30 M, 19.53 ± 3.38 years) from a provincial team in China. The results indicate three well-functioned attention networks in both groups, but elite athletes in the national team responded faster overall than athletes in the provincial team (Diff = 28.84 ms, p = 0.006). The 62 elite athletes in the national team then received mindfulness training with varied periods ranging from 5 to 8 weeks, after which the ANT was re-administered. After mindfulness training, the elite athletes improved in orienting (Diff spatial = 10.02 ms, p = 0.018) and conflict control networks (Diff incon = 12.01 ms, p = 0.019) compared with their pre-training performances. These results suggest that elite shooting and archery athletes in the national team are more efficient in all three attention networks, which means that they are able to reach the alerting state faster, make better use of environmental information, and suppress interference from distractors more efficiently. Moreover, the orienting and conflict control networks of the elite shooting and archery athletes can be improved by mindfulness training. We conclude that mindfulness practice should be considered as a useful addition to daily training for shooting and archery athletes.

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  • Mindfulness training improves athletes' attention and increases awareness of the present moment.

    “which found that mindfulness training improves athletes’ attention and increases awareness of the present moment.”

    From The Effect of Mindfulness Intervention on the Psychological Skills and Shooting Performances in Male Collegiate Basketball Athletes in Macau: A Quasi-Experimental Study (2023) · cites this paper as [40]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) reports improved attention abilities after mindfulness training in elite shooting and archery athletes, though overall accuracy and response times did not improve significantly. The Introduction defines mindfulness in terms of present-moment awareness, but the paper does not report that training increased the athletes’ awareness of the present moment. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Bu D. Liu J. Zhang C. Si G. Chung P. (2019). Mindfulness training improves relaxation and attention in elite shooting athletes: a single-case study. Int. J. Sport Psychol. 50, 4– 25. 10.7352/IJSP2019.50.004 · DOI
  2. Moran A. (2011). Attention, in Performance Psychology: A Practitioner's Guide, eds. Collins D. Abbott A. Richards H. (London: Churchill Livingstone / Elsevier Health Sciences), 319– 335.

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Authors
Lu, Q., Li, P., Wu, Q., Liu, X., & Wu, Y.
Affiliations
  • Peking University (CN)
  • Capital Normal University (CN)
Corresponding author
Wu, Yanhong
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Published
2021-03-09
Volume
12
Pages
638822-638822
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3134849920
Cited by
41
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3
FWCI
8.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771205, 61690205)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords
attentional networks, mindfulness training, shooting athletes, archery athletes, elite athletes, orienting network, conflict control, alerting, sport psychology

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