Assessing cognitive interference in sport: Development of the Thought Occurrence Questionnaire for Sport

This paper outlines the development of an instrument to assess cognitive in terference athletes may experience during competition. The investigation wa s based on an instrument developed in educational settings, namely the Thou ght Occurrence Questionnaire (TOQ). At the initial stage of the investigati on interviews with athletes were conducted to establish items for TOQ item modification. The face validity of items was evaluated through a content an alytic method. The pool of items which was selected was factor analysed, fi nally, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire which emerged were evaluated through examination of convergent validity, discriminant validity , concurrent validity, and reliability. The results provide adequate psycho metric support for the instrument. The modified questionnaire (Thought Occu rrence Questionnaire for Sport) seems a promising tool for the investigatio n of the role that thoughts athletes experience during competition play in sports.