A mindfulness programme improves an archer's attentional control

The summary today

Six studies on archers in four years, and two answers that cannot be reconciled. On the supporting side there is a before-and-after on twenty-three Taiwanese university archers who, after eight sessions over four weeks, become faster in every condition of the Stroop task (in the hardest from 33.7 to 29.0 seconds) and report more attentional control; there is a group from the Turkish national squad reporting more observing, more acting with awareness and a better ability to refocus; and there is a small Indonesian study, the only one with a comparison group, in which six club archers rise from 16 to 21.7 points on the grid test while the six who do nothing stay at 16.3. Against it are the data that isolate the archers within the Chinese national archery and shooting squad: twenty-five archers do not change their reaction time on the attention network test (from 510 to 509 milliseconds, p = 0.837) and fourteen do not improve their perception of breathing, which was already close to the maximum; and in Hong Kong twelve weeks of a programme move only one of the five facets of mindfulness. Before all of them comes a one-year follow-up of an American programme on archers, golfers and runners together, in which task-irrelevant thoughts during competition decrease: it points the same way, but the archers number four and are not separated from the others. None of the studies is randomised and only one has a comparison group, with six people per arm, so part of the gains on tests repeated after a few weeks may simply be practice.

Also phrased as: "mindfulness and concentration"; "meditation for concentration in archery"; "training attention with mindfulness"; "mindfulness and focus in competition"

Evidence

• 2011
  For Other sport Published later

  Twenty-two athletes, archers, golfers and runners, analysed together a year after a mindful sport programme: task-irrelevant thoughts during competition fall from 15.73 to 13.59 (pre to follow-up contrast p = 0.012) and task-related worries from 22.95 to 20.37 (p = 0.052), while total thought disruption, thoughts of escape and anxiety-related concentration disruption do not change. It is a questionnaire, not an attention test, in a sample where the archers number four and are not separated from the others: indirect evidence.

  One Year Follow-Up of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE) With Archers, Golfers, and Runners · Rachel W. Thompson, Keith A. Kaufman, Lilian A. De Petrillo, Carol R. Glass, Diane B. Arnkoff

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  Eleven archers from the Turkish national recurve squad, eight weeks of mindfulness with no control group. On the five-facet mindfulness questionnaire observing rises from 28.64 to 32.55 (p = 0.005), describing from 29.18 to 31.73 (p = 0.020), acting with awareness from 30.90 to 33.45 (p = 0.016) and non-reactivity from 16.73 to 20.00 (p = 0.019); among the mental skills refocusing rises from 13.09 to 15.91 (p = 0.024), while focusing goes from 19.55 to 20.72 with no difference (p = 0.191).

  Effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Skill Development Program on Elite Archers’ Mental Skills and Mindfulness Levels · Zeynep Ayça Terzioğlu, S. Gülfem Çakir

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same group non-judging of inner experience is the only one of the five facets that does not improve: from 21.09 to 20.27, with no difference.

  Effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Skill Development Program on Elite Archers’ Mental Skills and Mindfulness Levels · Zeynep Ayça Terzioğlu, S. Gülfem Çakir

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  Twenty-three Taiwanese competitive university archers, eight one-hour mindfulness sessions over four weeks, no control group; 22 complete the Stroop task. Time falls in every condition: neutral from 22.69 to 19.77 seconds (d = 0.71), congruent from 19.62 to 17.59 (d = 0.51), incongruent from 33.70 to 29.01 (d = 0.64), all with p < 0.001. Without a control the effect of the programme cannot be separated from that of repeating the test.

  The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Shooting Performance and Cognitive Functions in Archers · Tsung-Yi Wu, Jui-Ti Nien, Garry Kuan, Chih-Han Wu, Yi-Chieh Chang, Hsueh-Chih Chen, Yu-Kai Chang

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  In the same study the attentional control subscale of sport mindfulness rises from 4.27 to 4.72 (p = 0.003, ηp² = 0.23), but only between start and finish: halfway through, after four sessions, it stands at 4.36 and the difference is not there yet. The non-judging component does not change (p = 0.541).

  The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Shooting Performance and Cognitive Functions in Archers · Tsung-Yi Wu, Jui-Ti Nien, Garry Kuan, Chih-Han Wu, Yi-Chieh Chang, Hsueh-Chih Chen, Yu-Kai Chang

• 2021
  For Other sport Published later

  Sixty-two athletes from the Chinese national squad, archers and target shooters together, five to eight weeks of mindfulness with no control group: on the attention network test the spatial-cue condition improves (10.02 milliseconds, p = 0.018) and so does the incongruent-flanker condition (12.01 milliseconds, p = 0.019), but overall reaction time goes from 508.44 to 501.10 milliseconds with no difference (p = 0.116). A mixed sample, so indirect evidence.

  Efficiency and Enhancement in Attention Networks of Elite Shooting and Archery Athletes · Quanyu Lu, Pengli Li, Qiong Wu, Xinghua Liu, Yanhong Wu

• 2021
  Against Archers Published later

  In the same study, looking only at the twenty-five national squad archers, mindfulness changes nothing: mean time from 510.27 to 508.65 milliseconds (p = 0.837), no interaction with cue type (p = 0.152), and in the incongruent trials a gain of 6.88 milliseconds with no difference (p = 0.431).

  Efficiency and Enhancement in Attention Networks of Elite Shooting and Archery Athletes · Quanyu Lu, Pengli Li, Qiong Wu, Xinghua Liu, Yanhong Wu

• 2021
  For Other sport Published later

  Forty-one athletes from the Chinese national archery and shooting squad, five to eight weeks of mindfulness with no control: on the breath detection task accuracy rises by 8.5 percentage points (95% CI 3.6 to 13.5, p = 0.001), while attention to an external light stimulus stays exactly the same (p = 1.000). A mixed sample and no competition score.

  What Makes an Elite Shooter and Archer? The Critical Role of Interoceptive Attention · Pengli Li, Quanyu Lu, Qiong Wu, Xinghua Liu, Yanhong Wu

• 2021
  Against Archers Published later

  In the same study the fourteen archers, taken alone, do not improve their perception of breathing: accuracy from 89.9 to 93.3 per cent (p = 0.576), sensitivity with no difference (p = 0.245). The gain in the whole group comes from the 27 target shooters, who started lower, at 80.3 per cent, and rise by 11.2 points (p = 0.002). The archers had little room to improve.

  What Makes an Elite Shooter and Archer? The Critical Role of Interoceptive Attention · Pengli Li, Quanyu Lu, Qiong Wu, Xinghua Liu, Yanhong Wu

• 2024
  For Archers Published later

  Twelve archers from the university club in Medan, split into two groups of six matched on their starting score; the experimental group does about ten minutes of mindfulness meditation after training. On the concentration grid test it goes from 16 to 21.67 (Wilcoxon p = 0.027), while the control group goes from 16 to 16.33 (p = 0.157), and after the treatment the two groups differ (p = 0.027). The abstract gives gains of 5.5 against 0.76 points and the text a difference of 4.83: the figures are not consistent with each other.

  The Effects of Meditation Mindfulness on Concentration in Archery Athletes at the Unimed Archery Club · Thasya Selivya Valentine, Nurhayati Simatupang, Indra Kasih, Yovhandra Ockta

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  The same study picks the twelve archers from the club's thirty, leaving out those whose concentration was already excellent so as not to start at the ceiling, and reports very high reliability for the grid test, r = 0.978.

  The Effects of Meditation Mindfulness on Concentration in Archery Athletes at the Unimed Archery Club · Thasya Selivya Valentine, Nurhayati Simatupang, Indra Kasih, Yovhandra Ockta

• 2024
  Against Archers Published later

  Twelve competitive archers in Hong Kong, twelve weeks of a mindfulness programme: of the five facets of mindfulness only non-judging improves (from 23.67 to 29.92, p = 0.007), while acting with awareness goes from 29.08 to 31.17, observing from 25.75 to 25.50, describing from 25.33 to 25.92 and non-reactivity from 22.08 to 24.33, none with a difference; the total score rises from 125.92 to 136.83, only just significant (p = 0.046) and carried by non-judging. Only the programme group filled in the questionnaires.

  Examining the Feasibility of a Mindfulness Flow Program for the Hong Kong Archers · Ka K. Lo, Mimi M. Y. Tse, Joanne W. Y. Chung, Queenie P. S. Law, Fenghua Sun

Status history

1. 2011 Transferred The first data come from a mixed sample: twenty-two athletes, archers, golfers and runners, followed up a year after a mindful sport programme, report fewer task-irrelevant thoughts during competition, while total thought disruption does not change. It is a questionnaire, not an attention test, the archers number four and the results are not separated by sport: transferred.
2. 2020 Reported The first data on archers alone come from eleven athletes in the Turkish national recurve squad after eight weeks of mindfulness during the camp for Rio 2016: on the mindfulness questionnaire observing, describing, acting with awareness and non-reactivity rise, and among the mental skills the ability to refocus goes up, from 13.1 to 15.9. Focusing, the closest thing to sustained attention, does not move. These are questionnaire answers rather than attention tests, in an uncontrolled before-and-after on eleven people: reported.
3. 2021 Contested The first attention tests arrive, and they contradict each other. Twenty-three Taiwanese competitive university archers, after eight one-hour sessions over four weeks, become faster in all three conditions of the Stroop task, with moderate effects, and report more attentional control. In the Chinese national archery and shooting squad, by contrast, five to eight weeks of mindfulness improve two conditions of the attention network test in the group as a whole, but change nothing in the twenty-five archers taken alone (from 510 to 509 milliseconds, p = 0.837); and in the same squad the fourteen archers do not improve their perception of breathing, while the target shooters do. None of the three studies has a control group, and the Chinese archers were already close to the maximum. Two studies for and two against, all on archers: contested.
4. 2024 Contested Two new studies, one on each side. In Medan twelve university club archers are split into two matched groups: those who do about ten minutes of meditation after training go from 16 to 21.7 points on the concentration grid test, while those who do nothing stay at 16.3. It is the first comparison with a control group, and it says the gain is not just the effect of repeating the test, but there are six archers per arm, in a regional journal, with figures that do not match between abstract and text. In Hong Kong, after twelve weeks of a programme, twelve archers improve only in non-judging of their inner experience, while acting with awareness, observing, describing and non-reactivity stay put, and the small rise in the total score comes almost entirely from there. Three studies for and three against: the status stays contested.

Related

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Research lines

• 55 studiesAttention and cognition in archers: research since 1986
• 52 studiesMental training: what has been tested on archers since 1979

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