Exploring The Patterns Of Attention And Meditation In Archery Based On EEG Signal Analysis

PURPOSE: Meditation and attention in archery are associated with sports performance. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the fluctuating patterns of change in attention and meditation in archery. The secondary purpose was to compare the effects by systematic training in archery. METHODS: The sample consisted of 50 college students and 4 representatives of the archery team. The archery action was divided into three phases: preparation, arrow releasing, and relaxation. The subjects were required to practice archery and record their electroencephalographic signal during each action in time. The EEG results were subjected to one-way analysis of variance and normality test. RESULTS: Significant difference was observed between the attention level of general students in the arrow release phase and the relaxation phase (F(2,15) = 4.31, p = 0.033, η2 = 0.36). Significant differences were observed in relaxation level between the preparation and arrow release phases and between the preparation and relaxation phases for general students (F(2,15) = 5.26, p = 0.019, η2 = 0.41). The meditation level of students from the representative team was observed be lower (F(1,18) = 0.21, p = 0.65, η2 = 0.01) and the concentration level was observed to be higher (F(1,18) = 0.21, p = 0.65, η2 = 0.01) when releasing arrows than general students. CONCLUSION: Significant fluctuating variations in students' attention and meditation occurred throughout the process of archery. In particular, changes in attention experienced fluctuations of increasing and then decreasing, while meditation was higher in the preparation phase and would remain lower in the two subsequent phases. Compared to general students, the systematically trained athletes of the representative team will be more relaxed (especially in arrow releasing phase) and less focused during archery.