How do mental factors such as concentration, decision-making, arousal and motivation affect a sporting performance?
Mental factors that impact on performance, including the information-processing features (concentration, decision-making, problem-solving and anticipation) and the psychological traits (level of arousal, anxiety, mental toughness and motivation), and how each can have a positive or negative effect.
An SQA National 5 Physical Education answer on mental factors, covering the information-processing features of concentration, decision-making, problem-solving and anticipation, the psychological traits of arousal, anxiety, mental toughness and motivation, and how each can help or hinder a performance.
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What this dot point is asking
The SQA wants you to identify mental factors that impact on performance and explain how each can help or hinder you. National 5 groups mental factors into two sets: the information-processing features you use to read and respond to a game (concentration, decision-making, problem-solving and anticipation) and the psychological traits that affect your mindset (level of arousal, anxiety, mental toughness and motivation). Every feature can have a positive or a negative effect, and exam answers must always link the factor to a real impact on a performance.
Information-processing features
These are the mental features you use to take in and act on what is happening around you.
- Concentration. Strong concentration in man-to-man marking lets you focus on your opponent's movement and ignore distractions, so you stay tight and force errors. Losing concentration leads to misjudged passes or missed cues.
- Decision-making. The right choice, such as passing rather than dribbling in a two-versus-one, creates a scoring chance. A poor choice breaks the attack down. Decisions become quicker and more automatic with experience.
- Problem-solving. Working out the slope and distance of a putt and adjusting your line solves the problem and lands the shot. Misjudging it costs a stroke.
- Anticipation. Reading a striker's body shape lets a goalkeeper move early and save the penalty. Failing to pick up cues leaves you slow to react to a drop shot.
Psychological traits
These are the mindset features that shape how you cope and how hard you work.
- Level of arousal. Being optimally aroused keeps you alert and focused on your role in a zonal defence. Over-arousal causes rushed decisions and anger; under-arousal leaves you flat and uncommitted in a tackle.
- Anxiety. Cognitive anxiety brings negative thoughts that lower confidence; somatic anxiety brings muscle tension that makes movements rigid and inaccurate, for example a tense free throw that misses.
- Mental toughness. Being mentally tough lets you block out pressure when serving on a break point, or keep going through tough rehabilitation. Low mental toughness lets doubts take over and the skill breaks down.
- Motivation. High motivation makes you chase every shot and keep fulfilling your role; low motivation makes you give up when a game gets tight, leaving gaps for opponents to exploit.
Examples in context
Example 1. Concentration in basketball. A defender playing man-to-man focuses only on their opponent's movement and ignores the rest of the court. This keeps them tight to their player, so when a pass arrives they can pressure it and force a turnover for the team.
Example 2. Motivation in a tight match. A player with high intrinsic motivation keeps tracking back and chasing in the final minutes. The opponent finds no space, loses confidence, and the team holds its shape. A poorly motivated player would switch off and leave gaps.
Try this
Q1. Name the four information-processing mental features in National 5 PE. [1 mark]
- Cue. Concentration, decision-making, problem-solving and anticipation.
Q2. State what is meant by the "optimal" level of arousal. [1 mark]
- Cue. The state of alertness that is neither too high nor too low, helping the performer focus and have the right amount of drive.
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 N5 style4 marksDescribe how two mental factors can have a positive impact on performance in an activity of your choice.Show worked answer →
A 4-mark describe answer needs two mental factors, each with a clear positive impact, set in a real activity. Two marks come per factor: naming and explaining it, then showing the benefit in performance.
Concentration. In badminton, high concentration lets you focus completely on the shuttle and your opponent's racquet while blocking out the crowd. This helps you read the shot early and move into position, so you reach more shuttles and win more rallies.
Decision-making. Still in badminton, good decision-making lets you pick the best shot for the situation, for example playing a drop shot when your opponent is stranded at the back of the court. The right choice exploits the space and wins the point.
Markers reward each factor named and explained (1) plus a clear performance benefit in context (1), for a total of four marks.
SQA N5 style3 marksExplain how an over-aroused performer might be negatively affected during a game.Show worked answer →
This is an explain question, so each point must give a cause and its effect on performance.
Being over-aroused means the performer is too "pumped up" and alertness is well above the optimal level.
As a result, they may rush their decisions and make poor choices, for example committing to a rash tackle in football because they cannot stay calm.
Their emotions, such as anger, can also take over, which may lead to a foul, a card, or a loss of focus on their role and responsibilities.
Markers reward the link from over-arousal to a specific negative effect (poor decisions, rushed actions or loss of control), each developed point earning a mark up to three.
Related dot points
- Emotional factors that impact on performance, including happiness and sadness (affecting confidence, self-belief, resilience and optimism), anger (affecting self-control and decision-making), fear and trust, and how managing emotions can have a positive or negative effect.
An SQA National 5 Physical Education answer on emotional factors, covering happiness and sadness and their effect on confidence, self-belief, resilience and optimism, anger and its effect on self-control and decision-making, plus fear and trust, and how managing emotions helps or hinders a performance.
- Social factors that impact on performance, including communication, co-operation, roles and responsibilities within a team, etiquette and respect for rules, relationships and team dynamics, and inclusion, and how each can have a positive or negative effect.
An SQA National 5 Physical Education answer on social factors, covering communication, co-operation, roles and responsibilities, etiquette and respect, relationships and team dynamics, and inclusion, and how each helps or hinders a performance.
- The fitness part of the physical factor, including the components of physical fitness (cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and power) and skill-related fitness (agility, balance, co-ordination and reaction time), and how each can have a positive or negative effect.
An SQA National 5 Physical Education answer on the fitness part of the physical factor, covering the components of physical fitness (cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and power) and skill-related fitness (agility, balance, co-ordination and reaction time), and how each helps or hinders a performance.
- The skills and tactics parts of the physical factor, including the quality of skills and techniques (accuracy, consistency, control and fluency, and repertoire) and the use of tactics and composition (width, depth, support, penetration, and recognising strengths and weaknesses), and how each can have a positive or negative effect.
An SQA National 5 Physical Education answer on the skills and tactics parts of the physical factor, covering the quality of skills and techniques (accuracy, consistency, control and fluency, repertoire) and tactics and composition (width, depth, support, penetration, strengths and weaknesses), and how each helps or hinders a performance.
- Methods of collecting information on factors impacting on performance, including why data is gathered (the cycle of analysis), general and specific observation schedules, the use of recognised standardised fitness tests, and gathering both initial (baseline) and ongoing data.
An SQA National 5 Physical Education answer on methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, covering why data is gathered as part of the cycle of analysis, general and specific observation schedules, recognised standardised fitness tests, and the value of baseline and ongoing data.
Sources & how we know this
- SQA National 5 Physical Education Course Specification — SQA (2024)
- The four factors for Physical Education Courses — SQA (2013)