Attending to the execution of a complex sensorimotor skill: Expertise differences, choking, and slumps

Rob Gray

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 10:42-54 (2004)

A simulated baseball batting task was used to compare the relative effects of attending to extraneous information (tone frequency) and attending to skill execution (direction of bat movement) on performance and swing kinematics and to evaluate how these effects differ as a function of expertise. The extraneous dual task degraded batting performance in novices but had no significant effect on experts. The skill-focused dual task increased batting error and movement variability for experts but had no significant effect on novice. For expert batters, accuracy in the skill-focused dual task was inversely related to the current level of performance. Expert batters were significant more accurate in the skill-focused dual task when placed under pressure. These findings indicate that the attentional focus varies substantial across and within performers with different levels of expertise.