| dc.description.abstract | Attention is an important component to successful participation in a variety of
sports and activities. Attention can be thought of as three separate but functionally
interrelated networks; Alerting, Orienting and Executive Control. The Attention
Network Test (ANT) can be used to examine the efficiency of the three networks.
Many real life situations such as sport and physical activity involve more complex
stimuli. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the scores on
the three attention networks using arrow stimuli and using sport specific stimuli (i.e.,
an image of a hockey player with the stick indicating direction). Thirty-two
participants completed two versions of the ANT; one with arrows as stimuli and one
with hockey players inserted as the stimuli. As a control, participants were surveyed
as to their previous experience in the game of hockey. There were significant
orienting, alerting, and executive function for both versions of the ANT (i.e., arrows
and hockey stimuli). The only significant difference between the two versions of the
test was found with executive function. When using hockey player stimuli, the
estimate of executive function was less than that when using arrows. Overall, the
results suggest that the use of real life stimuli can be used with the ANT. | en_US |
