This study explored the attentional focus of expert golfers using a naturalistic approach. Eight male professional golfers were filmed in two contexts (training and competition). Self-confrontation interviews based on the video were conducted immediately afterwards. Qualitative data analyses showed that golfers used various attentional foci. Foci were classified according to their content and their characteristics. Golfers adapted their attentional foci to the context. They used sequences of attentional foci and moved from one attentional focus to another when they prepared, executed, or evaluated their shot. Future research on attentional focus of expert athletes should study the phenomenon over time.

As long as athletes strive to attain optimal performance states and consistently reach high performance goals, psychological interventions will be used to assist in the development of skill and the maintenance of performance. In the pursuit of these goals, newer evidence-driven models based on mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches have been designed to achieve these ends. Based upon questionable efficacy data for traditional psychological skills training procedures that emphasize reduction or control of internal processes, mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches develop skills of nonjudging mindful awareness, mindful attention, and experiential acceptance to aid in the pursuit of valued goals. The most formalized and researched mindfulness- and acceptance-based approach within sport psychology is the manualized Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) protocol. In the 8 years since the MAC was first developed and presented, and the 5 years since the first publication on the protocol, the MAC program has accumulated a continually growing empirical base for both its underlying theory and intervention efficacy as a performance enhancement intervention. This article reviews the empirical and theoretical foundations of the mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches in general, and MAC in particular; reviews the accumulated empirical findings in support of the MAC approach for performance enhancement; and presents recent MAC developments and suggested future directions.

This article presents a review of literature on attentional processes involved during competitive performance. Many studies have tried to enhance our understanding of the concept of attention in experimental psychology, yet studies dealing with the focus of attention in sport psychology are scarce. It is therefore relevant to examine the different theories in order to outline the practical issues in terms of teaching and training. In the first section, the goal is to summarize the principal theories and models of attention that are of interest for physical activities and sports. Based on this review, we will then expose the importance of newer approaches related to attentional processes. The latter are more focused on choking and on anxiety-performance relationships. The second goal is to outline applied perspectives that are meant to prevent performance slumps, by examining the various positions of the authors. Finally, the limits of these studies will be mentioned, and the further avenues of research in sport psychology will be exposed.

Résumé Cet article a pour objectif de réaliser une synthèse de la littérature portant sur les processus attentionnels mis en jeu lors de la réalisation d’une performance sportive. Si de nombreux travaux se sont attachés à mieux appréhender le concept d’attention dans le champ de la psychologie expérimentale, les recherches relatives aux points d’attention en psychologie du sport appliquée sont plus rares. Il est donc pertinent de confronter les différentes théories pour en dégager des applications pratiques en termes d’enseignement et d’entraînement. Dans une première partie, l’objectif est de rappeler les principales théories et modèles de l’attention applicables au champ des activités physiques et sportives. En nous appuyant sur cette synthèse, nous confrontons de nouvelles approches relatives aux processus attentionnels. Celles-ci s’intéressent à un phénomène connu des experts, la contre-performance, en établissant des liens avec d’autres facteurs influençant la performance, notamment l’anxiété. Le second objectif est d’en dégager des perspectives appliquées, en confrontant les différentes propositions des auteurs, qui ont pour but d’éviter ce phénomène de contre-performance. Enfin, les limites des études relatives à cette thématique sont discutées, et les perspectives de recherche en psychologie du sport sont évoquées.