The Effects of High- and Low-Anxiety Training on the Anticipation Judgments of Elite Performers

J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2016 Feb;38(1):93-104. doi: 10.1123/jsep.2015-0145.

Abstract

We examined the effects of high- versus low-anxiety conditions during video-based training of anticipation judgments using international-level badminton players facing serves and the transfer to high-anxiety and field-based conditions. Players were assigned to a high-anxiety training (HA), low-anxiety training (LA) or control group (CON) in a pretraining-posttest design. In the pre- and posttest, players anticipated serves from video and on court under high- and low-anxiety conditions. In the video-based high-anxiety pretest, anticipation response accuracy was lower and final fixations shorter when compared with the low-anxiety pretest. In the low-anxiety posttest, HA and LA demonstrated greater accuracy of judgments and longer final fixations compared with pretest and CON. In the high-anxiety posttest, HA maintained accuracy when compared with the low-anxiety posttest, whereas LA had lower accuracy. In the on-court posttest, the training groups demonstrated greater accuracy of judgments compared with the pretest and CON.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anxiety*
  • Athletes / psychology*
  • Attention
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Judgment*
  • Male
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Racquet Sports / psychology
  • Stress, Psychological / psychology*
  • Young Adult