Sprint start reaction time: should one attend to the input or the output or does it matter?
The advice most compatible with the experimental literature reviewed is to suggest that the performer's attention be directed toward response preparation, the level of which varies inversely with simple RT magnitude. Directing the individual's attention elsewhere, such as enforcing a sensory set via instructions or encouraging the performer to focus attention upon the details of response execution, serves to reduce response preparation degree, thereby prolonging RT and masking any facilitation effect which can be demonstrated when proper attentional instructions are given.
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013550:Swimming; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis