The Two Dimensions of Attention: How Your Attentional Style Impacts Performance

When we talk about athletic prowess, we often focus on physical attributes: strength, speed, agility. But what if one of the most significant determinants of performance lies not in our muscles but in our minds—specifically, in how we direct our attention? In the 1970s, psychologist Robert Nideffer proposed a revolutionary framework that continues to influence how we understand focus and performance today.

The Attentional Grid: Width and Direction

Nideffer’s insight was elegantly simple yet profound: our attention varies along two critical dimensions—width and direction.

Width describes the spectrum between broad and narrow focus. A broad focus takes in multiple stimuli simultaneously, while a narrow focus zeros in on a single element while filtering out everything else.

Direction refers to where we direct our attentional spotlight, ranging from internal (our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations) to external (events and information in our environment).

These two dimensions create a grid with four distinct attentional styles:

1. Broad-External: Scanning the environment for multiple cues simultaneously
2. Broad-Internal: Analyzing various thoughts, strategies, or sensations within ourselves
3. Narrow-External: Focusing intensely on a specific external stimulus
4. Narrow-Internal: Concentrating deeply on a specific internal process or sensation

The Right Style for the Right Moment

What makes Nideffer’s model particularly valuable is its emphasis on flexibility. There’s no single “best” attentional style—success depends on matching your focus to the demands of the situation.

Consider tennis: When receiving a serve, a narrow-external focus on the ball is essential. But between points, a broad-internal focus might be better for strategic planning. During a rally, the player might need to quickly shift to a broad-external focus to track both the ball and the opponent’s movement.

Elite athletes aren’t necessarily those with superior physical capabilities but often those who can seamlessly shift their attentional style as circumstances demand. The karateka’s prized “zanshin”—a state of relaxed alertness that allows detection of attacks from any direction—exemplifies the broad-external style that martial arts particularly value.

Measuring Attentional Style: The TAIS

To quantify these attentional tendencies, Nideffer developed the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS), a 144-item questionnaire measuring 17 personality dimensions, six of which relate directly to attention.

Three scales measure positive attentional attributes:

• Broad External (BET): Ability to process multiple external stimuli
• Broad Internal (BIT): Capacity to analyze information from various sources
• Narrow Focus (NAR): Ability to concentrate deeply on one stimulus

Three others identify attentional weaknesses:

• Overload External (OET): Tendency to become overwhelmed by external stimuli
• Overload Internal (OIT): Propensity to become confused when analyzing too much information
• Reduced Focus (RED): Tendency to maintain too narrow a focus when breadth is needed

Research has shown intriguing connections between these measures and performance. In one study, Nideffer found that effective narrowing of attention predicted the number of gold medals won by Olympic champions. Another fascinating study by Baghurst and colleagues (2004) revealed that rowers with naturally internal attentional styles performed better when focusing on their performance metrics, while those with external styles rowed further when focusing on external tasks like solving math problems.

When Attentional Styles Go Wrong

Understanding your attentional weaknesses can be just as valuable as knowing your strengths. Under pressure, our attentional systems often break down in predictable ways:

• Attentional Narrowing: Stress often causes excessive narrowing of attention (the “tunnel vision” phenomenon), which can lead to missing crucial peripheral information
• Distractibility: For some, pressure leads to a broadening of attention, making it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli
• Internal Preoccupation: Anxiety can trigger excessive internal focus on worries and fears rather than relevant task cues

These attentional shifts explain why athletes who perform brilliantly in practice might falter dramatically in competition. The pressure doesn’t necessarily impair their skills—it disrupts their optimal attentional style.

Training Your Attentional Flexibility

The good news? Attentional styles can be developed and refined through deliberate practice. Here are strategies that elite performers use:

1. Simulation Training: Practicing under conditions that mimic the attentional demands of competition
2. Attentional Cues: Developing specific verbal or physical triggers that help shift attention appropriately
3. Mindfulness Practice: Building general attentional control through meditation and present-moment awareness
4. Environmental Design: Structuring training environments to develop specific attentional capacities

Coaches increasingly incorporate these approaches, having athletes practice with artificial distractions or using virtual reality to create scenarios requiring rapid attentional shifts.

Beyond Sports: Attention in Everyday Life

While Nideffer’s model emerged from sports psychology, its applications extend far beyond athletics. Consider how different tasks in your daily life require different attentional styles:

• Writing an email might require narrow-internal focus
• Driving in heavy traffic demands broad-external attention
• Creative problem-solving often benefits from broad-internal processing
• Learning a new physical skill might need narrow-external concentration

Many of our daily frustrations stem from mismatches between our natural attentional tendencies and the demands of our tasks. The person who excels at detailed analytical work might struggle in fast-paced social environments requiring broad-external focus. Understanding these patterns can help us design workflows that leverage our attentional strengths.

Limitations and Criticisms

Despite its intuitive appeal and practical applications, Nideffer’s model isn’t without criticism. Some researchers question the validity of self-report measures like the TAIS, noting that people often have limited insight into their own attentional processes. What we think about our attention and how we actually attend are sometimes quite different.

Additionally, the model simplifies the immensely complex neural processes involved in attention. Modern neuroscience reveals attention as a collection of interrelated networks rather than a single faculty that can be neatly categorized along two dimensions.

Conclusion: Developing Attentional Intelligence

Perhaps the most valuable insight from Nideffer’s work isn’t the specific categorization system but the recognition that attention is flexible, trainable, and situation-dependent. Just as we’ve learned that intelligence isn’t a single fixed capacity but a diverse set of cognitive abilities, we’re beginning to understand attention as a multifaceted skill rather than a static trait.

The truly “attentionally intelligent” individual isn’t someone who excels at a particular style of focus, but rather someone who recognizes the attentional demands of each situation and adapts accordingly. In a world of endless distractions and competing priorities, this meta-awareness of attention might be among the most valuable skills we can develop—both for performance excellence and everyday wellbeing.