How do mental factors affect the way a performer thinks and performs?
The mental factors that impact on performance, including their features such as decision-making, concentration, level of arousal and mental toughness, and the positive and negative effects each can have on performance.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the mental factors impacting on performance, covering their main features (decision-making, concentration, level of arousal and mental toughness) and the positive and negative effects each can have on a performer.
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What this dot point is asking
The SQA wants you to explain what the mental factor is, identify its main features, and explain how each feature can have a positive and a negative impact on performance. This is the foundation for the question paper, where a single question can ask you to describe a feature and then explain its effect in a named activity.
The answer
What mental factors are
At Higher the examinable features of the mental factor are decision-making, concentration (and the related ideas of attention and cue recognition), level of arousal, and mental toughness. You must be able to describe each and explain its effect on performance.
Decision-making
Concentration, attention and cue recognition
Level of arousal
Mental toughness
Examples in context
In a basketball game the four mental features interact. As the shot clock runs down, level of arousal rises; a performer with mental toughness keeps it near the optimum and stays composed, while concentration lets them pick up the cue of a defender dropping off, and decision-making converts that into the choice to drive rather than shoot. A performer whose arousal spikes too high rushes the same decision, loses concentration on the defender's position and forces a poor shot. Describing how the features combine, rather than treating them in isolation, is what lifts a Higher answer.
Try this
Q1. Describe two features of the mental factor. [2 marks]
- Cue. Choose from decision-making, concentration and cue recognition, level of arousal, or mental toughness.
Q2. Explain one positive and one negative way the mental factor can impact on performance. [4 marks]
- Cue. Positive: strong concentration picks up cues for a good decision. Negative: arousal too high leads to rushed, wrong choices.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher 20224 marksExplain how mental factors can have a positive and a negative impact on performance.Show worked answer →
A -mark explain question. Markers want a clear cause and effect link, not a list of factors, and reward one developed positive and one developed negative point.
A positive impact: strong concentration lets a performer pick up relevant cues (the flight of a ball, an opponent shifting position) and make a fast, accurate decision, so the right skill is selected at the right time.
A negative impact: poor decision-making under pressure, for example a netball centre rushing a pass into a crowded space, leads to turnovers and breaks down team play. The discriminator is explaining the consequence for performance, not just naming the factor.
SQA Higher 20196 marksDescribe the features of two mental factors and explain how each affected your performance.Show worked answer →
A -mark describe-and-explain question, roughly half description and half explanation. Choose two distinct features so the points do not overlap.
Describe decision-making (choosing the right response from the options available and timing it) and concentration (sustaining attention on relevant information and filtering out distractions).
Then explain the effect in a named activity: good decision-making meant selecting a drop shot when an opponent was at the back of the badminton court, winning the rally; lapses in concentration late in a game meant missing an opponent's run and conceding. Marks come from the developed link to performance, anchored in real activity examples.
Related dot points
- Decision-making as a feature of the mental factor: how a performer selects the most appropriate response under time pressure, the influence of experience and information processing, and the impact of good and poor decision-making on performance.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on decision-making as a mental factor, covering how performers select and time responses, the role of experience and information processing, and how strong and weak decision-making affect performance in named activities.
- Concentration and level of arousal as features of the mental factor: sustaining attention and recognising cues, the idea of an optimum level of arousal, and how lapses in concentration or arousal that is too high or too low affect performance.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on concentration and level of arousal as mental factors, covering sustained attention and cue recognition, the optimum level of arousal, and how lapses or over-arousal affect performance in named activities.
- Mental toughness as a feature of the mental factor: staying focused, confident and composed under pressure, resilience and recovering from setbacks, and the approaches used to develop it such as mental rehearsal, positive self-talk and routines.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on mental toughness as a mental factor, covering composure and resilience under pressure, recovery from setbacks, and the approaches (mental rehearsal, positive self-talk, routines) used to develop it.
- Methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, including the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods, examples such as observation schedules, video analysis, standardised tests, questionnaires and match analysis, and why a performer uses more than one method.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, covering qualitative and quantitative methods, examples such as observation schedules, video analysis and standardised tests, and why more than one method is used.
- Approaches to developing performance, including how a performer selects approaches that match the factor and the stage of learning, principles such as progression and specificity, and examples of approaches for the physical, mental, emotional and social factors.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the approaches to developing performance, covering how to select approaches that match the factor and stage of learning, principles such as progression and specificity, and examples for each of the four factors.
Sources & how we know this
- SQA Higher Physical Education Course Specification — SQA (2019)