Archers who dwell on past mistakes shoot lower scores

The summary today

There are two studies and they do not point the same way. The first, the only one to measure dwelling itself, is an old one: across almost two hundred archers in the United States, of all the mental items in the questionnaire, thinking back to mistakes already made is the one most strongly linked to the season's average score, and it weighs more than any other in separating those above and below 1200 points. It is a snapshot taken once, though, and a snapshot does not show which way time runs: archers who shoot badly have more mistakes to go back to, and that alone would explain the link. The same questionnaire also shows that those who dwell on mistakes have less confidence and make less use of visual imagery, so the three measures move together and cannot be separated. The second, on fifty young Malaysian archers, measures worry about making mistakes, a close relative of dwelling on them, and finds it is the only mental skill that does not set apart those who shoot better. It is a weak finding, from six arrows and with no test, and it concerns mistakes still to come more than those already made, but it points the other way.

Also phrased as: "dwelling on mistakes and archery score"; "thinking about the arrow you missed"; "not letting the mistake go"; "rumination and archery performance"

Evidence

• 1986
  For Archers Published later

  188 recurve archers in the United States aged 12 to 74, mixed levels, with questionnaires and annual average FITA score (79 with complete data for the regression): the item on past mistakes correlates with score at r = -0.51 (n = 80), difficulty recovering after a mistake at r = -0.33 and how often one goes back over it at r = -0.28 (n = 115, p < 0.005), and the first is also the heaviest coefficient in the function separating archers above and below 1200 points. In the same questionnaire those who dwell more have less confidence (r = -0.429) and make less use of visual imagery (r = -0.415), which in turn go together (r = 0.448): the three measures are not independent.

  A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance · Daniel M. Landers, Stephen H. Boutcher, Min Q. Wang

• 2018
  Against Archers Published later

  Fifty Malaysian archers aged 13 to 20 in development programmes, the ACSI questionnaire and a single end of six arrows at fifty metres: of the seven skills measured, freedom from worry is the only one that is not higher in the better-shooting group. The ACSI's worry is about what might go badly, mistakes still to come and other people's judgement, more than about going back to mistakes already made, but it is close enough to the question to count as a contrary result, and a weak one: the groups are built by combining mental skills and score, and the differences sit in plots with no test.

  The identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables: A Support Vector Machine approach · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, A P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Jessnor Arif Mat Jizat, Mohamad Fauzi Ibrahim

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  The same fifty archers, from the same group in the same year, reanalysed with another classifier: the same pattern, with freedom from worry the only scale that does not separate the groups, shown only in a plot, with no figures and no test. It is the same sample, linked in the registry to the other article, and it counts only once.

  The application of k-Nearest Neighbour in the identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, Anwar P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Ahmad Fakhri Ab Nasir

Status history

1. 1984 Not studied No one in the registry's bibliography had yet measured how much an archer goes back to mistakes already made.
2. 1986 Reported The first study in the registry on this question, and so far the only one to measure dwelling itself, puts together questionnaires and the annual average score of 188 archers in the United States: thinking back to past mistakes is the single mental measure most closely linked to score, r = -0.51, ahead of difficulty recovering after a mistake and of how often one goes back over it. It remains a cross-sectional association in one sample, so the status stops at reported.
3. 2018 Contested A Malaysian group measures the mental skills of fifty young archers with a questionnaire and finds that freedom from worry is the only one that does not set apart those who shoot better. The scale asks how much one worries about making mistakes and about others' judgement, not how much one goes back to mistakes already made, but worry about making mistakes is a close relative of dwelling on them, and this is the first finding to point the opposite way to 1986. It is weak: just six arrows, groups built by combining mental skills and score, differences shown in plots with no test, and the group's two articles report the same sample, which counts once. With one study on each side, contested.

Related

Related articles

• Choking in archery: how common it is, who it happens to and what goes with itHow many archers say they fall apart in competition, what those who choke most often have in common, and how much pressure costs on measured scores.
• Repeatability and consistency: measuring the steadiness of your shotHow repeatable an archer's shot is: what studies say about level, good and bad days, arrows outside the 10, and how to measure consistency on the range.

Research lines

• 56 studiesAnxiety and confidence in archery competition since 1986
• 48 studiesWhat predicts the score, and how talent selection tried to use it

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA larger working memory does not make an archer more accurate3 studies · 79 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA longer quiet eye improves shooting accuracy3 studies · 58 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA mental profile tells archers apart from athletes in other sports only in part5 studies · 550 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA mental training programme improves the elite archer's mood1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023
• ReportedA mental training programme reduces burnout in elite archers1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023

See all claims on mind and attention