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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1348893
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume IV View all 11 articles

Mind wandering is not always harmful in sports: The role of its content

Provisionally accepted
Jieling LI Jieling LI Chuangye LI Chuangye LI Shuangpeng XUE Shuangpeng XUE Yuxiu HE Yuxiu HE *
  • Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Mind wandering (MW) among athletes during training and competition will evidently lead to abnormal performance. However, MW has also been found to have positive effects. This study aims to clarify the cause of bidirectional (negative and positive) effects of MW in the sport context. In particular, whether it is related to MW content. Methods: A total of 846 Chinese athletes completed the Chinese version of MW scales. The survey data were tested for common method biases. Then, Pearson correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were performed by using SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 7.0. Results: The frequency of MW can positively predict its bidirectional effects. MW content plays an important role between MW frequency and negative and positive effects, but the direction of influence varies with different contents. Conclusion: MW in sports is not always harmful, and its content plays an important role. These findings suggest that managing MW content may be a promising MW intervention method for improving performance in sports.

    Keywords: Athlete, content, Frequency, mind wandering, performance

    Received: 03 Dec 2023; Accepted: 23 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 LI, LI, XUE and HE. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yuxiu HE, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.