This thesis examined the conscious processing hypothesis as a potential explanation for the way in which anxiety affects motor performance. The thesis is written as a series of research papers (studies). The five papers are preceded by a general introduction and followed by a general discussion. The first study replicated and extended previous research in the area of conscious processing. Participants acquired the skill of golf putting explicitly and implicitly across 400 trials. During a high anxiety transfer test, the performance of participants who learned explicitly was less robust than that of participants who learned implicitly, supporting the conscious processing hypothesis. Study 2 tested the conscious processing hypothesis using a performance rather than learning paradigm to control for possible desensitisation effects identified as a possible alternative explanation for the results of study 1. Results supported the conscious processing hypothesis, but an alternative attentional explanation was identified. Study 3 examined the conscious processing hypothesis while controlling for both desensitisation and attentional effects. Kinematic measures were also adopted to examine the golf putting task in vivo. Performance results partially supported the conscious processing hypothesis. Study 4 replicated and extended the design adopted in study 3. Study 4 also examined processing efficiency theory as a plausible alternative to the conscious processing hypothesis. Kinematic and cardiovascular measures were incorporated into the design. Performance scores suggested a processing efficiency interpretation. However, conscious processing effects could not be totally discounted. The fifth study examined the suggestion that the use of process goals by skilled but anxious performers might actively encourage lapses into conscious processing. Increases in state anxiety did not produce performance decrements. A lack of training in the use of goals was identified as an explanation for the absence of performance impairment. Implications for future research and applied practice are derived from the five studies.

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As globalization increases at a blistering pace, more and more business entities continue to get involved in cross-border capital investments. A considerable cost can be applied to these types of transaction for the translation of financial statements prepared under dissimilar accounting guidelines into a comparable form. There exist a multiple number of accounting systems that create these dissimilarities, because accounting is a language of business that has been created by society to provide information as to the economic health of an entity. Similar to any other language, varying types of “accounting language” are used across different regions of the globe to convey this information.

The skill of putting in golf contributes approximately 40 percent to one’s total score making it an important skill to master in golf. One of the critical means of improving putting skill is through practice. The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate if different practice schedules with different degrees of contextual interference (CI) influenced the participants’ immediate and long-term putting performance, (b) examine if performance changes were associated with concomitant changes in specific kinematic parameters, and (c) assess the cognitions of the participants during various stages of the practice of the putting skill. Twenty-four undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a blocked or random practice schedule. On Day One each participant practiced putting to three targets (4 ft, 8 ft, and 12 ft distance) for a total of 108 trials (36 trials to each target). On Day Two 30 trials of retention (10 trials to each target) and 10 transfer trials (10 ft distance) were performed. To obtain a kinematic description of the putting action, an OPTOTRAKTM 3020 camera system recorded the 3D movement of the putter. Participants’ cognitions were analyzed from stimulated recall interview data. Random practice participants exhibited poorer putting performance during acquisition compared to their blocked practice counterparts but showed superior performance in retention and transfer tests. While the blocked practice participants had significantly lower variability in the amplitude in the x-dimension for backswing, impact velocity, and putter position at impact (z-dimension) during practice, the random practice participants showed significantly lower variability in the amplitude of the x-dimension for the backswing and downswing, impact velocity, and putter position at impact during the retention and transfer phases. Content analysis of interview data yielded three emergent categories: participant focus, self-evaluation of performance, and benefits of practice. The participants provided evidence of active thought processes during the putting task while receiving little instruction. The blocked group focused more on accuracy while the random group was more focused on judging distance. The lack of recognition about the z-dimension has potential implications for how instruction and feedback might be employed during the learning process.

The quiet eye (QE) - the final fixation or tracking gaze on a specific location that has an onset prior to the start of a final, critical movement (Vickers, 2007) - has emerged as a key predictor of proficient performance in targeting and interceptive tasks over the last 20 years. Since Vickers’ seminal study in golf putting, the QE has been examined in over 28 different motor tasks, with a longer QE duration often referred to as a characteristic of superior performance and a measure of optimal visuo-motor control. However, the underpinnings of QE are not fully understood, with many researchers advocating the need to better identify and understand the mechanisms that underlie the QE (Williams, 2016; Gonzalez et al., 2015). Consequently, the overriding goal of this thesis was to examine the function of the QE duration, what it represents and how it exerts an influence, by exploring the attentional underpinnings of the QE and the prominent cognitive mechanism of response programming. In study 1 (chapter 4), the manipulation of different parameters of golf putting and the examination of different response programming functions (pre-programming vs online control) during the QE enabled me to build on previous explorations of the response programming function by investigating QE’s response to specific iterations of increased task demands. Experienced golfers revealed that longer QE durations were found for more complex iterations of the task and more sensitive analyses of the QE proportions suggest that the early QE (prior to movement initiation) is closely related to force production and impact quality. While the increases in QE were not functional in terms of supporting improved performance, the longer QE durations may have had a positive, insulating effect. In study 2 (chapter 5), a re-examination of Vickers’ seminal work in golf putting was performed, taking into account an error recovery perspective. This 3 explored the influence of trial-to-trial dependence on the functionality of the QE duration and the possible compensatory mechanism that assists in the re-parameterisation of putting mechanics following an unsuccessful trial. The results reveal that experienced golfers had consistently longer QE durations than novices but there was no difference in QE between randomly chosen hits and misses. However, QE durations were significantly longer on hits following a miss, reflecting a potential error recovery mechanism. Importantly, QE durations were significantly lower on misses following a miss, suggesting that motivation moderates the adoption of a compensatory longer QE strategy. These findings indicate that the QE is influenced by the allocation of attentional effort. To explore this notion further, in study 3 (chapter 6), two experiments were undertaken. Experiment 1 examined the QE’s response to attentional effort that is activated via goal motivation and experiment 2 examined the effect of disrupting the allocation of attentional effort on the QE using a dual-task paradigm. The early proportion of the QE was sensitive to motivation, indicating that the QE is not purely determined by the demands of the task and golfers have the ability to apply attentional effort, and therefore QE, strategically (exp. 1). The results also support the assumption that QE reflects overt attentional control but question the sensitivity of QE to detect movements in the locus of attentional effort that does not activate shifts in gaze (covert attention) (exp. 2). The results in this thesis conclude that, while significant contributions to understanding what the QE represents and how it may exert its influence are made, there still remains unanswered questions and tensions that require exploration.

Context: This thesis focused on two main areas of golf performance. Firstly, centre of pressure excursions influence on full golf swing performance, as despite golf coaching literature placing importance on weight transfer, literature into this mechanism is limited. Secondly, the area of the golf putt was examined; few studies have investigated the biomechanics into the putting stroke despite it being identified as the most important performance factor within golf. Areas of investigation were, centre of pressure excursions during the putting stroke, the impact point on golf ball and movement variability on performance outcomes being the ball roll kinematics. Aims: To examine biomechanical factors that influence golf performance. Centre of pressure excursion during the full golf swing and putting stroke were examined. Additionally, body segment kinematics and variability of rotations were correlated with putting performance outcomes. The impact point on the golf ball was considered as a mechanism that can cause variability of the kinematic ball roll. Subjects: All subjects used in this thesis were actively playing golf. Subjects were categorised using the golf handicap system. For studies assessing reliability, validity or isolating putter stroke kinematics a mechanical putting robot was used. Methods: Correlational research whereby no variables were manipulated was predominantly adopted throughout this thesis to establish relationships between biomechanical parameters and golf performance. Biomechanical parameters were assessed using the appropriate data collection and analysis techniques; this included the variability associated with segment rotations. Results: Significant differences were observed for the centre of pressure excursions along the mediolateral axis between three different golf clubs (full swing). For the putting stroke low handicap golfers demonstrated lower centre of pressure excursions along the anteroposterior axis in comparison to high handicap golfers, additionally, a large amount of inter-subject variability was observed for centre of pressure excursions. In regards to the impact point on the golf ball, significant associations were identified between impact variables and the performance measures horizontal launch angle and whether the ball was pushed or pulled, these results were not replicated with human participants. It was identified that the relationship between the centre of mass displacement and centre of pressure excursions is a complex one and that movement variability had a detrimental effect on the horizontal launch angle and therefore performance. Conclusions: The results from the full swing analysis of this thesis suggest that stance width may influence the amount of centre of pressure excursions that occur. For the golf putting stroke, golfers and coaches should reduce the amount of variability associated with the technique to improve performance. Regarding future scientific research, a combination of individual analysis accompanying group-based analysis should be utilised due to the large inter-subject differences observed.

Visually focusing on the hole versus the ball in golf has shown some positive effects on putting performance (Heath et al., 2008), yet the reason for these benefits have not been tested. Considering the benefits of adopting an external focus, the purpose here was to examine whether attentional focus mechanisms contribute to the positive effects reported by Heath et al. (2008). Thirty experienced golfers were assigned to either a visual-ball focus or visual-hole focus group. Following warm-up putts, 48 experimental putts, divided equally into 16 putts across three conditions: control, task-relevant, and task-irrelevant, were performed. In the control condition, participants putted under single-task conditions, maintaining their assigned visual focus. In the other two conditions, participants putted under dual-task conditions and were instructed to focus on their wrist angles upon hearing a tone (task-relevant), or to identify an irrelevant sound (task-irrelevant). A questionnaire, designed to represent equal proportions of the ‘distance’ effect (Wulf, 2013; i.e., internal, proximal external, or distal external focus), served as a manipulation check to determine the attentional focus adopted under each condition. Analysis of the manipulation check for the control condition data only showed a significant interaction of Group and Attentional Focus F(2,56) = 4.5, p = .01. Post-hoc showed that participants had a significantly higher proximal external focus in the visual-ball focus group compared to the visual-hole focus group, whereas the visual-hole focus group was significantly higher than the visual-ball focus group for distal external focus. Additionally, an analysis with all three putting conditions indicated that participants had significantly higher internal focus for task-relevant trials, as compared to task-irrelevant or control trials. There were no significant differences found for any of the putting performance measures., however, the main effect of Condition did approach significance for MRE F(2,56) = 2.8, p = .068. This replicates the general finding that putting performance is poorest when golfers self-report using a higher internal focus. In conclusion, these results suggest that visually focusing on the hole results in a more distal external attentional focus in a golf environment than that of a ball-focus, but this does not translate to performance benefits.

Fine-motor skills in any domain (e.g., sports, surgery, music) are subject to performance decrements under pressure. A large majority of studies that have examined “choking under pressure” used golf putting as a paradigm to test participants. Golf putting is a fine-motor skill that is highly susceptible to deviations in performance, yet a skill that appears to be deceptively simple without a steep learning curve. The following thesis contained three studies that examined the influence of social evaluative threat on the objective outcome performance (holed or not holed, distance to the hole), as well as the kinematic variables associated with the putting stroke itself. Performance was measured using a high-speed infrared camera called the TOMI® which collected real-time 3D data about a number of different kinematic parameters for each putt that was struck. While it was expected that a learning effect would characterize the longitudinal trajectory of performance, it was also expected that state anxiety would moderate this trajectory. In Study 1, 35 amateur golfers, completed a self-report measure of state anxiety and performed golf putting tasks under a neutral condition followed by a social-evaluative condition. Somatic anxiety was related to differential performance trajectories, while cognitive anxiety was associated with variability in the backstroke. In Study 2, 27 beginner participants participated in an improved design based on Study 1. Somatic anxiety temporarily moderated performance under pressure for the novices. In Study 3, 55 beginner participants were recruited and randomized to either a stress-free learning task (n = 29), or a social-evaluative learning task (n = 26), to address research limitations from the first two studies. Furthermore, methodological concerns present in both Study 1 and 2 were addressed, with the aim of contributing to the debate surrounding theoretical mechanisms of how performance decrements occur, specifically under social-evaluative threat. High levels of somatic anxiety moderated the objective performance trajectory of the experimental group, and surprisingly decreased the amount of time taken to prepare for each putt in the social-evaluative task. In all three studies, somatic anxiety significantly moderated both objective and indirect performance (as indicated by kinematics and routine time). Taken together, these studies suggest that one’s interpretation of physiological symptoms while under social evaluative threat can temporarily impair performance trajectories of a fine-motor skill.

It has been consistently shown in the literature that when gaze is directed to a specific location, for a long enough duration, at the correct time relative to the motor execution, high-levels of performance are possible. In recent years, a particular gaze called quiet eye (QE) has gained growing attention among researchers investigating aiming tasks and has become accepted within the literature as a measure of optimal attentional control. Previous studies consistently displayed that longer QE is associated with superior performance however there is lack of understanding how QE exerts its positive effect on performance. Therefore the overriding aim of the current program of research was to explore the mechanisms behind the QE by experimentally manipulating the separate aspects of the QE definition in ways that have not been explored by previous researchers. In study 1 (Chapter 2), two experiments were conducted to examine the key characteristics of the QE in golf putting; duration and location. Novice participants were randomly allocated to training groups of experimentally longer or shorter QE durations (experiment 1) and training groups of different QE locations (experiment 2). A retention-pressure-retention design was adopted, and measures of performance and QE were recorded. All groups improved performance after training and the levels of performance achieved were robust in a pressure test. However there were no significant group effects. Study 1 provided partial support for the efficacy of QE training, but did not clarify how the QE itself underpins the performance advantage revealed in earlier studies and suggested that the QE should perhaps not be reported simply as a function of its duration or its location. In study 2 (Chapter 3) an examination of the timing of the QE was performed, using an occlusion paradigm. This provided an experimental manipulation of the availability of visual information during the putting action. Expert participants performed a putting task under three different conditions, namely full, early, and late vision conditions. The results showed that putting accuracy was the poorest when late visual information was occluded (early vision condition). Therefore study 2 suggested that the correct temporal placement of gaze might be more crucial to successful performance, and that putting accuracy was poorer when the latter component of QE which ensures precise control of movement was occluded. Previous research has revealed that anxiety can attenuate the QE duration, shortening the latter component which was shown to be important in study 2. Therefore the final study in the thesis examined the influence of anxiety on attentional control (QE). Expert golfers participated in a putting shootout competition designed to increase levels of anxiety and continued putting until a missed putt occurred. The results revealed that duration of QE was shorter on the missed putt, while there was no difference in QE duration for successful putts (first and penultimate putts). The results are therefore supportive of the predictions of attentional control theory. Furthermore this reduction in QE duration was result of latter component of QE being attenuated, supporting models of motor control that point to the importance of online visual information for regulating control of movements. The results of this series of studies conclude that the timing of the QE – maintaining a steady fixation through the unfolding movement to ensure precise online control - seems to be the strong candidate for how QE exerts a positive effect on performance.

I föreliggande uppsats var syftet att i en mixad design med kontroll- och behandlingsgrupp, undersöka om psykofysiologisk strategiträning kan hjälpa individer att hantera stress samt förbättra sin prestationsförmåga i pressade situationer inom golfputtning. Strategiträningen innefattade en kombination av andning-, rörelse och kognitivt beteende. Resultatparametrar var a) fingertemperatur som indikerar förändringar i det sympatiska nervsystemet och b) ett protokoll som mätte prestationsdata. Data har analyserats med hjälp av ANOVA ”repeated measures” i SPSS.Huvudresultatet visar signifikant fingertemperaturskillnad mellan behandlings- och kontrollgruppen. Slutsatsen i denna studie är att denna intränade strategi sannolikt kan användas för att reducera risken att bli stressad i en pressad situation och därmed öka prestationseffektiviteten. / In the present study the aim was to investigate, in a mixed treatment- and control design, effects of a behavioral strategy on coping with stress in stressful situations and particularly golf putting. The behavioral strategy contented integrated breathing-, movement and cognitive behaviors. The outcome parameters were a) finger temperature indicating changes in the lymphatic nervous system and b) a protocol measuring performance results. Data was analyzed with help of ANOVA”repeated measures” in a SPSS-program. The main results showed significant differences in finger temperature between the treatment and the control groups. The conclusion was that training of the strategy used in this study probably can be used to increase efficacy in golf putting.