Attentional requirements for preparing to return a serve in tennis
Goulet, C.; Bard, C.; Fleury, M.
Canadian Journal of Sport Sciences 17(2): 98-103
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0833-1235 PMID: 1324119 Document Number: 387991
Recent studies demonstrated that athletes use more efficient strategies than novices in sports with high perceptual requirements (Abernethy and Russel, 1984; Goulet et al., 1989; Starkes, 1987b). The aim of the present study was to investigate the attentional cost of information processing preceding action in tennis players of different calibers. The dual-task paradigm was used. The primary task consisted of identifying the type of serve (flat, slice, or top-spin) presented on 16-mm file. The secondary task was a manual response to an auditory probe. Results demonstrated that attentional requirements during information processing do not differ between experts and novices. Nevertheless, the experts' results on the primary task are significantly higher than those of novices, whether the primary task is performed alone or simultaneously with the secondary task. The attentional cost of information processed during the ritual phase of the serve is significantly higher than the costs for processing information from the preparation and execution of the serve. It appears, therefore, that attentional input effort is maximal before identification of the most important cues necessary for adequate performance.