The Effects Of State Anxiety And Incentives On Attention Shifting Function

Researchers are keeping eyes on the effect of anxiety on sport performance.There are many theories interpreting how it affects sport performance from different perspectives.Attention control theory(ACT)discussed the connection between anxiety and attention control in cognitive tasks.ACT,which absorbed the theory of the core elements of processing efficiency of control theory,the dual system theory and executive function theory,combining the results of relevant empirical researches,had two crucial assumptions: first,anxiety can damage the system of top-down goal-oriented attention;second,anxiety can interfere with inhibition and shifting functions of central executive system.In recent years,researchers keep investigating its applicability in sports field.Reward and punishment are incentives athletes often face during training and competition,which would cause individuals approaching or avoidance behavior.And shifting task consists of approaching and avoidance behavior.Thus we assume that anxiety and incentives are the factors that affect shifting function.In this study,there are three parallel studies testing this hypothesis that tried to explore its applicability among athletes.Study 1 used alternating paradigm of More-Odd shifting task,testing the assumption of anxiety interfering shifting function of ACT,and exploring the role of incentives(reward,punishment,combined reward and punishment)in this process.It was found that for college students,the high state anxiety reduced the processing efficiency,increased subjective efforts but had little effect on the accuracy,which was in line with ACT assumption.In comparison for athletes,the high state anxiety had little effect on the processing efficiency and accuracy,which was inconsistent with the assumption of ACT.Last,reward can improve accuracy,punishment can reduce accuracy,combined reward and punishment can improve subjective efforts,and no incentive can improve the processing efficiency.Study 2 used clues paradigm of More-Odd shifting task,testing the assumption of anxiety interfering shifting function of ACT,and exploring the role of incentives(reward,punishment,combined reward and punishment)in this process.It was found that for college students,the high state anxiety reduced the processing efficiency,increased subjective efforts but had little effect on the accuracy,which was in line with ACT assumption.In comparison for athletes,the high state anxiety had little effect on the processing efficiency and accuracy,which was inconsistent with the assumption of ACT.Last,reward can improve accuracy,punishment can reduce accuracy,combined reward and punishment can improve subjective efforts in a high state of anxiety,and no incentive can improve the processing efficiency.Study 3 used autonomous paradigm of More-Odd shifting task,testing the assumption of anxiety interfering shifting function of ACT,and exploring the role of incentives(reward,punishment,combined reward and punishment)in this process.It was found that for college students,the high state anxiety reduced the processing efficiency,increased subjective efforts but had little effect on the accuracy,which was in line with ACT assumption.In comparison for athletes,the high state anxiety had little effect on the processing efficiency and accuracy,which was inconsistent with the assumption of ACT.Last,reward can improve accuracy,punishment can reduce accuracy,combined reward and punishment can improve subjective efforts,and no incentive can improve the processing efficiency.The three parallel studies showed a consistent trend,by which we concluded that: assumption of state anxiety interfering shifting function of ACT was applicable for college students,but not applicable for athletes.Meanwhile for students and athletes,reward can improve performance of shifting function,punishment can reduce accuracy of shifting function,and no incentive condition induced highest processing efficiency.Furthermore,higher processing efficiency emerged under reward than punishment,and this effect was more obvious in a high state of anxiety.