The Relationships between Psychological/Physiological Changes and Behavioral/Performance Changes of a Golf Putting Task under Pressure

Abstract

The ˆrst purpose of this study was to examine relationships between psychological/physiological and behavioral variables when participants are placed under pressure in a golf-putting task. The second purpose was to examine the relationships between psychological/physiological variables and performance. Sixteen male novices performed 150 acquisition trials, followed by 10 test trials under pressure induced by performance-contingent distractors: a cash reward or a punishment. Following test trials, each participant answered a questionnaire concerning attentional focus, including self-reports of conscious movement control and eŠects of the distractors. Results indicated successful stress induction indexed by signiˆcant increases in state anxiety, negative emotions, and heart rate under pressure. The step-wise multiple regression analyses showed that attention to distractors decreased movement displacements of both the golf club and the participant's right elbow in the follow-through phase. Also during a backswing, the movement speed of both the club and of a participant's elbow were more likely to increase with thoseparticipants whose heart rate increased under pressure. The other multipleregression analysis showed that the participants who reported increased conscious control of movements under pressure exhibited a greater variability in the terminal locations of theirputted balls. Previous studies concerning the conscious processing hypothesis and the distraction hypothesis have suggested that two types of changes in attention cause poor performance under pressure. The ˆndings of this study indicate that under pressure both types of attention shifts were shown to be associated with poor performance or with kinematic changes during golf putting. In addition, it can be assumed that physiological emotional responses are also associated with kinematic changes under pressure. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR