ATTENTION AND PERFORMANCE IN MINIATURE GOLF ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN

Highly skilled adolescent (15-19 years), young (25-35 years), middle-a ged (50-57 years), and older (58-73 years) miniature golf players were examined in training and competitive conditions. Number of shots, hea rt rate, ratings of anxiety, and concentration time were registered. I n addition, two attentional subscales from the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) inventory (Nideffer, 1976) were administer ed. Results indicated (a) parallel increases of heart rate and rated a nxiety in competition for all age groups, (b) improvement of motor per formance in competition for adolescent and young-adult players, and de terioration of motor performance in competition for middle-aged and ol der players, and (c) increased concentration time for the two younger samples, and decreased concentration time for the two older samples in competition. As well, the TAIS data indicated greater self-perceived external and internal distractability in the two older, compared to th e two younger samples. This age-related vulnerability to distractions was shown to partly mediate age differences in competitive motor perfo rmance. The overall pattern of outcome is discussed relative to the vi ew that the adult aging process is associated with a deficit in the ab ility to handle situations of high arousal due to age-related deficits in a variety of basic cognitive capacities.