Field card: Mind and attention
An A4 sheet to take to the range: the terms that recur in the studies in this domain, with a one-line definition, and the registry claims that are currently corroborated, contested, contradicted or refuted.
It fits on a single A4 sheet. You can also print with Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac.
Terms
- Imagery (VMBR)
- Imagery is the mental rehearsal of the shot, usually pictured from the archer's own point of view and with as many sensations as possible.
- Worry and somatic anxiety
- Worry is the part of anxiety that lives in your thoughts; somatic anxiety is the part you feel in your body, in your hands, your breathing, your stomach.
- Target panic
- Difficulty executing the shot the way you intend, which shows up at the moment of aiming and release.
- Mindfulness
- A practice that trains attention to the present moment, accepting thoughts and sensations without judging them, usually taught in programmes lasting a few weeks.
- State and trait anxiety
- State anxiety is what you feel at a given moment, before an end for instance; trait anxiety is your general tendency to feel anxious.
- Quiet eye
- The final fixation of the gaze on the centre of the target before the release, measured in milliseconds with an eye tracker or with electrooculography.
- Rumination
- Thoughts that keep going back to mistakes just made, or to those of past competitions, when you should be preparing the next arrow.
- Yips
- The name used in precision sports for the involuntary movements, freezes and jerks that disrupt a long-practised skill.
- RMSSD
- A heart rate variability index calculated from the differences between consecutive beats, which estimates vagal tone and is little affected by breathing.
- Self-talk
- The phrases you say to yourself while shooting.
- Motare
- In kyudo, the freeze in which, once at kai, the aiming position at full draw, the arrow will not leave when the archer wants it to.
- Heart rate variability (HRV)
- It is the variation in the time between one heartbeat and the next, which never stays exactly the same.
Claims
- Contested A single study of forty young archers: the authors see an advantage for 70 m, but in their own tables the usual-training group improves the most.
- Contested Every study that finds a difference between male and female archers finds it on a different scale, and almost as many studies find none at all.
- Contested In a study of archers and golfers, those with the yips show more social anxiety, but in archers with target panic the difference does not appear.
- Contested In a study of archers and golfers, those who choke describe themselves as less conscientious.
- Contested Counting ends, three elite archers show no streak at all; counting arrows in elite head-to-head matches, the third arrow drops after two misses.
- Contested In one small group of archers concentration is the lowest mental skill; in another it sits in the lower half, with refocusing at the bottom.
- Contested One study of 188 archers links dwelling on mistakes to lower scores; in fifty young archers, worry about mistakes does not set apart the better shooters.
- Contested Measured with attention tests, concentration tracks the score in small studies; rated by questionnaire in the largest sample, it does not.
- Contested Top archers hardly ever mention breathing when they describe the shot; imagery is rare among Korean archers but more common among Italian Olympians.
- Contested National squads do better on tests and one EEG study agrees, but an attentional style questionnaire and sporting grade do not separate archers: a split picture.
- Contested Two studies, two opposite answers: archers more accurate on visual tasks, less accurate on a touch task.
- Contested Anxiety and score go together almost only where competitive anxiety is measured just before shooting, and not always even there; trait anxiety shows no link.
- Contested Two studies using the same scale disagree: in one, concern for one's image goes with more choking; in the other it does not, but fear of judgement does.
- Contested Some short questionnaires push almost every archer towards the maximum score, but the ACSI-28 separates seasoned competitors from those just starting out.
- Contested Heart rate often falls around the release, but in 28 elite archers it rises in the last seconds of aiming, and in other studies the low follows the shot.
- Contested Brazilian archers were far more anxious on competition day, while Turkish elite archers reported the same anxiety as in training.
- Contested Beginners light up more frontal areas and a course reduces the flow from cortex to muscles, but elite women archers use more cortex, not less.
- Contested Among studies with a comparison group in reliable venues, two find higher scores after mental training and two, the shortest, find no effect.
- Contested Studies on archers point opposite ways: large falls with no comparison against controls, one null with a comparison, and imagery alone raising anxiety.
- Contested Arrow by arrow, the four studies of archers disagree: some find the EEG different before the best arrows, others do not, and the direction varies.
- Contested One study of fifteen archers: the N1 to the clicker is larger on central arrows only when the good zone is tight, and the P2 never changes.
- Contested A single case from 1992 and two 2025 studies that disagree: heart rate variability does not yet read an archer's competition tension reliably.
- Contested An association in favour since 1986, the first controlled intervention with no effect, and since then results alternating between beginners and fragile venues.
- Contested A 2008 abstract finds more parasympathetic activity during the aim on the best arrows, while a 2011 study in competition finds the opposite.
- Contested The large gains come from courses measured before and after; the two randomised studies find nothing, and retaking the test improves it by itself.
- Contested One study finds that elite archers imagining the shot switch on almost a single brain area and non-archers many more.
- Contested Six small studies on archers: some find better attention after a mindfulness programme, others do not.
- Contested In thirteen women archers, twelve weeks of progressive relaxation lower diastolic pressure slightly but not heart rate.
- Contested Observations link a lower heart rate to higher scores, but every time heart rate has been moved on purpose the score has not changed.
- Contested One study of twenty young archers: after a flotation tank forearm tension fell in two of three groups, but not just before the release.
- Contested A single study of fifty beginners: in the tests a growth mindset does not go with more improvement, but a comparison made afterwards suggests the opposite.
- Contradicted There are no studies on archers: outside archery, biofeedback raises heart rate variability, but anxiety falls in only one study out of three.
- Contradicted Across 115 archers, self-talk in competition is unrelated to score, while the two interventions in favour appear in journals with questionable standards.
- Contradicted The only controlled study on archers with original data finds no effect of neurofeedback on score, even though the EEG signal changes.
- Contradicted Two studies of archers: in a doubtful venue cognitive imagery rises after mental training; in the only one in a sound venue it does not change.
- Contradicted One study of seven archers: at a blank bale the symptoms of target panic go away, but for several of them they return as soon as the face goes back up.
- Contradicted A single pilot study of eighteen anxious archers: six weeks of computer training do not significantly change their attention to threatening words.
- Contradicted In kyudo, those who have had the yips shoot a heavier bow, but a lighter one relative to their hits, and the link vanishes once years count.