title: Attentional capture by spoken language: effects on netballers' visual task performance.
abstract: In two experiments, participants performed visual detection, visual discrimination and decision-making tasks, in which a binary (left/right) response was required. In all experimental conditions, a spoken word ("left"/"right") was presented monaurally (left or right ear) at the onset of the visual stimulus. In Experiment 1, 26 non-athletes located a target amongst an array of distractors as quickly as possible, in both the presence and absence of spoken cues. Participants performed superiorly in the presence of valid cues, relative to invalid-cue and control conditions. In Experiment 2, 42 skilled netballers completed three tasks, in randomised order: a visual detection task, a visual discrimination task and a netball decision-making task - all in the presence of spoken cues. Our data showed that spoken auditory cues affected not only target detection, but also performance on more complex decision-making tasks: cues that were either spatially or semantically invalid slowed target detection time; spatially invalid cues impaired discrimination task accuracy; and cues that were either spatially or semantically valid improved accuracy and speeded decision-making time in the netball task. When studying visual perception and attention in sport, the impact of concomitant auditory information should be taken into account in order to achieve a more representative task design.
authors.affiliation: a School of Sport and Education , Brunel University , Uxbridge , UK.
authors.forename: Daniel Tony
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horne
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Teszka
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D003657:Decision Making; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation; D011930:Reaction Time; D013060:Speech; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: auditory; crossmodal; decision-making; spatial attention; sport