Motor Learning and Performance

Worksheet 4: Arousal and Anxiety Effect of Decision Making

Session Outcomes:
At the end of the session, the students are expected to:
 Demonstrate understanding of the effect of arousal and anxiety on decision making and performance.
 Explain the application of the different principles and theories of attention as it applies to sports and activity
 Explain how performance decrements occur under conditions of low and high arousal and anxiety
 Analyze the attentional demands of different performance situations in the activity.

General Instructions:
1. Perform the 7 tasks listed below (8 mins per task).
2. Answer the guide questions that follow. These would be collected at the end of the session.
3. Each group will be assigned a certain task to report. This will be reported to class next meeting using the
following guidelines:
a. PowerPoint presentation (minimum requirement)
b. Content should be backed up by a recent journal article, research paper or any relevant reference
material.
c. Duration of presentation (5-10 mins)
d. Outline should include: General description of topic, Result and analysis.

General Task: Shoot the ball in the cup.

Members: 1 shooter, 3 catchers, 1 assist
Materials: 10 cups and 3 paper balls

Task 1: Trial Practice (Stages of Information Processing)

1. Choose a player to shoot the paper ball in the numbered cup.
2. Cups will be monitored by 3 members in the group, who will be the catchers. Allow the catchers to stand by as
the shooting goes.
3. Shoot the paper ball into the cup by number, in order (1, 2, 3, etc.). Do as many shots as you can in 2 minutes.
Let the catchers help remove the ball and pass on to the assist who will return the balls to the shooter.
4. Record the number of shots made in this task.

Task 2: Position based (Inattention blindness)

1. Choose a player to shoot the paper ball in the numbered cup.
2. Cups will be monitored by 3 members in the group, who will be the catchers. Allow the catchers to stand by as
the shooting goes.
3. Shoot the paper ball into the cup by number (1, 2, 3, etc.). Do as many shots as you can in 2 minutes. Let the
catchers help remove the ball and pass on to the assist who will return the balls to the shooter.
4. Catchers should reshuffle the cups every three shots.
5. Allow another member of the group to (unknowingly) make hand signals of numbers behind the shooter or the
catchers.
6. Record the number of shots made in this task. Also record whether the catchers and shooter noticed the hand
signals from the other member. Note down how many correct hand signals were recalled.

Task 3: Word Based (Parallel processing)

1. Choose a player to shoot the paper ball in the numbered cup.
2. Cups will be monitored by 3 members in the group, who will be the catchers. Allow the catchers to stand by as
the shooting goes.
3. Shooter must shoot the paper ball into the cup by number (1, 2 then 3). Do as many shots as you can in 2
minutes. Let the catchers help remove the ball and pass on to the assist who will return the balls to the shooter.
4. Catchers should reshuffle the cups every three shots.
5. Allow another member of the group to mention as many Motor Control class terminologies as the task is being
done. Let this member record the words he/she mentions.
6. Record the number of shots made in this task. Also record whether the shooter remembers what the other
member had said and compare these words to the record of the other member. Note down how many correct
words were recalled.

COMPETITIVE: TALLY NUMBER OF POINTS PER TASK PER GROUP. THE GROUP WITH THE HIGHEST TOTAL POINTS WINS
A BONUS SCORE IN LABORATORY ACTIVITY GRADE.
Task 4: Competitive trial (Automaticity)
1. Repeat task 1 for 2 minutes. Record the total number of shots and compare them with other groups.
2. The highest number of shots made by a group in this task will be awarded points to be tallied at the end of the
class session.

Task 5: Competitive position based (Perceptual Narrowing)

1. Choose a player to shoot the paper ball in the numbered cup.
2. Cups will be monitored by 3 members in the group, who will be the catchers. Allow the catchers to stand by as
the shooting goes.
3. Assign one member to tell the shooter which cup to shoot. Do as many shots as you can in 2 minutes. Let the
catchers help remove the ball and pass on to the assist who will return the balls to the shooter.
4. Catchers should reshuffle the cups every three shots.
5. Assign another member of the group to purposefully point to random cups as the shooter plays.
6. Record the number of shots made in this task, as well as the incorrect shots made in this task.
7. The highest percentage of shots made by a group in this task will be awarded points to be tallied at the end of
the class session.

Task 6: Competitive word based (Inverted U Principle)

1. Choose a player to shoot the paper ball in the numbered cup.
2. Cups will be monitored by 3 members in the group, who will be the catchers. Allow the catchers to stand by as
the shooting goes.
3. Assign one member to tell the shooter which cup to shoot. Do as many shots as you can in 2 minutes. Let the
catchers help remove the ball and pass on to the assist who will return the balls to the shooter.
4. Catchers should reshuffle the cups every three shots.
5. Allow another member of the group to mention as many Motor Control class terminologies as the task is being
done. Let this member record the words he/she mentions.
6. Record the number of shots made in this task, as well as the incorrect shots made in this task.
7. Ask the shooter to mention as many terminologies as initially recalled and compare with the list from the other
member. Count how many correct terminologies were recalled.
8. The highest percentage of shots made by a group in this task will be awarded points to be tallied at the end of
the class session. The greatest number of correct terminologies will get an additional 2 points.

Task 7: Combination competition (Attentional Control)

1. Choose a player to shoot the paper ball in the numbered cup.
2. Cups will be monitored by 3 members in the group, who will be the catchers. Allow the catchers to stand by as
the shooting goes.
3. Assign one member to tell the shooter which cup to shoot. Do as many shots as you can in 2 minutes. Let the
catchers help remove the ball and pass on to the assist who will return the balls to the shooter.
4. Catchers should reshuffle the cups every three shots.
5. Allow another member of the group to mention as many Motor Control class terminologies as the task is being
done. Let this member record the words he/she mentions.
6. Assign another member of the group to purposefully point to random cups as the shooter plays
7. Ask the shooter to mention as many terminologies as initially recalled and compare with the list from the other
member. Count how many correct terminologies were recalled.
8. Record the number of shots made in this task, as well as the incorrect shots made in this task.
9. The highest percentage of shots made by a group in this task will be awarded points to be tallied at the end of
the class session. The greatest number of correct terminologies will get an additional 2 points.
GROUP NUMBER: ________________ DATE: ________________
PRESENT MEMBERS: _____________________________________________________________________________
ABSENT MEMBERS: ______________________________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Explain the terminologies accompanying your assigned task.
2. Fill up the charts and guide questions below.

TASK CORRECT SHOTS INCORRECT SHOTS CORRECT WORDS POINTS

1 Trial Practice
2 Position based
3 Word Based
4 Competitive trial
5 Competitive position based
6 Competitive word based
7 Combination competition

GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What are the attentional demands of the tasks given? Describe in terms of observations received, reactions prompted
and performance displayed in the task.
Task 1: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 2: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 3: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 4: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 5: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 6: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 7: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. How did arousal, stress and anxiety affect decision making during the tasks above?
Task 1: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 2: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 3: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 4: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 5: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 6: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task 7: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOR REPORTING:
1. Given the following terminologies in your assigned task, define what this terminology is and explain its mechanism.
2. What are the attentional demands of the task assigned to you? What reactions and outcomes were observed from the
shooters, catchers and their performance?
3. How do these demands relate to stimulus identification, response programming or movement programming?
4. How does arousal and anxiety relate to attention, focus and decision making in your assigned task?
5. What are the implications of your findings to sport and performance? How can you utilize these factors or arousal and
anxiety to improve sport performance?