Citation

Harris DJ, Vine SJ, Wilson MR. Cogn. Process. 2017; 18(3): 343-347.

Affiliation

School of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, St. Luke's Campus, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK. Mark.Wilson@exeter.ac.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Springer Verlag)

DOI

10.1007/s10339-017-0794-9

PMID

28238169

Abstract

This report was designed to investigate the role of effective attention control in flow states, by developing an experimental approach to the study of flow. A challenge-skill balance manipulation was applied to self-paced netball and basketball shooting tasks, with point of gaze recorded through mobile eye tracking. Quiet eye was used to index optimal control of visual attention. While the experimental manipulation was found to have no effect, quiet eye was associated with the experience of flow. Furthermore, mediation revealed an indirect effect of quiet eye on performance through flow experience. This study provides initial evidence that flow may be preceded by changes in visual attention, suggesting that further investigation of visual attention may elucidate the cognitive mechanisms behind flow experience.

Language: en

Keywords

Attention; Challenge; Flow; Peak performance