Attentional control

Attentional control is the voluntary regulation of where your focus points, how wide it is and how fast it switches. It rests on selective attention, sustained attention and divided attention, but adds conscious steering on top. In effect it is the wheel with which an athlete directs their focus to the right place.

Good attentional control means being able to narrow onto the ball before striking and widen again to read the field. It lets you let go of a thought about a mistake in time and get back to the process. Weak control leads straight to poor concentration at competitions, where attention has a life of its own.

Attentional control is measured with switching and interference-suppression tasks, where you have to change the response rule flexibly. Suitable instruments are in the tests section. They are usually supplemented with measures of sustained and selective attention, to see which property is falling short.

Attentional control is trained by switching between wide and narrow focus, by mindfulness practice and by anchors that bring focus back to the goal. Drills with the commands "widen — narrow — on target" work well. Scenarios are in the exercises section; the main skill is noticing that your attention has wandered and bringing it back gently.

Attentional control is built on top of selective attention, sustained attention and divided attention, and its job is to damp down internal and external distractions. A shortfall in it shows up as poor concentration at competitions; a sport psychologist can help you build the skill.