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The present research examined the immediate impact of challenge and threat states on golf performance in both real competition and a laboratory-based task. In Study 1, 199 experienced golfers reported their evaluations of competition demands and personal coping resources before a golf competition. Evaluating the competition as a challenge (i.e., sufficient resources to cope with demands) was associated with superior performance. In Study 2, 60 experienced golfers randomly received challenge or threat manipulation instructions and then performed a competitive golf-putting task. Challenge and threat states were successfully manipulated and the challenge group outperformed the threat group. Furthermore, the challenge group reported less anxiety, more facilitative interpretations of anxiety, less conscious processing, and displayed longer quiet eye durations. However, these variables failed to mediate the group-performance relationship. These studies demonstrate the importance of considering preperformance psychophysiological states when examining the influence of competitive pressure on motor performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐talk is a psychological skill that benefits motor performance by controlling and organizing performers' thoughts. While the behavioral effects of self‐talk are clear, research on the mechanisms underpinning the effects of different modes of self‐talk is sparse. To address this issue, we propose and test a psychophysiological model of the effects of self‐talk on motor performance. Forty golf novices practiced a golf putting task while using either instructional or motivational self‐talk preceding each putt. We measured performance (radial error), technique (club kinematics and muscle activity), cardiac activity (heart‐rate and event‐related heart‐rate change), as well as electroencephalographic alpha power and connectivity in a randomized (group: instructional self‐talk, motivational self‐talk) experimental design. Instructional self‐talk promoted superior technique and was associated with greater parietal alpha power and weaker connectivity between frontal and parietal electrodes and all other scalp sites, possibly indicative of increased top‐down control of action. These findings provide initial evidence for an information‐processing mechanism underlying the benefits of instructional self‐talk. They also cast doubt on the validity of left‐frontotemporal connectivity as a measure of verbal‐analytic processing during motor tasks. Motivational self‐talk led to increased heart‐rate and reduced event‐related heart rate variability, suggesting an effort‐based mechanism to explain the benefits of motivational self‐talk. Our study represents the most complete multi‐measure investigation of self‐talk to date. We hope that our psychophysiological model of self‐talk will encourage researchers to move beyond the exclusive reliance on behavioral and self‐report measures to discover the mechanisms underlying the benefits of self‐talk for performance. Self‐talk is a psychological skill that benefits motor performance by controlling and organizing performers' thoughts. This is the first study to adopt a multi‐measure psychophysiological approach for the investigation of self‐talk during a complex and ecologically valid motor task such as golf‐putting. In doing so, it offers a psychophysiological foundation of the differential effects of the effects of this cognitive technique on skill execution and opens a new avenue for researchers in sport psychology and motor skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Traditional theories of motor learning (e.g., Fitts & Posner, 1967 ), along with certain contemporary psychological perspectives (e.g., Weiss & Reber, 2012; Wulf, 2013 ), postulate that expert performers must relinquish paying conscious attention to, and/or attempting to exert control over, their bodily movements in order to achieve optimal performance. Challenging such largely unquestioned conceptual approaches, however, is an emerging body of evidence (e.g., see Montero, 2010; Shusterman, 2011 ) which indicates that ‘somatic reflection’ (i.e., a conscious focus on bodily movement) is an important mediator of continuous improvement (i.e., the fact that certain performers continue to improve their skills even after becoming experts) at the elite level of sport. The present position paper seeks to elucidate and resolve this apparent paradox concerning the role of bodily awareness in expertise. Design Literature review and position statement. Method To achieve this latter aim, we draw on empirical evidence (e.g., from research on somatic attention) and theory (e.g., Shusterman's, 2008, theory of body consciousness) to elucidate the role of bodily awareness in facilitating continuous improvement at the elite level of sport. Results and conclusion In doing so, we sketch some theoretical and practical implications of Shusterman's (2008, 2011, 2012) theory of ‘somaesthetics’ for contemporary research on expertise in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: This research project aimed to explore the construct validity of the Decision-Specific Reinvestment Scale (DSRS); more specifically, its links with stress and coping appraisals. Design: Study 1 validated the DSRS and the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale (MSRS) to the French language, in order to examine the construct validity of the DSRS using the MSRS, the Preference for Intuition and Deliberation (PID) inventory and the Melbourne Decision-Making Questionnaire (MDMQ). In addition, sex differences in reinvestment were investigated. Study 2 examined stress and coping appraisals of high and low reinvesters. Method: In study 1, 379 athletes completed the DSRS, MSRS, PID, and MDMQ. In study 2, 100 handball players, classified as low and high reinvesters, completed surveys aimed to assess stressor intensity, stressor perceived controllability, coping effectiveness, subjective performance and coping strategies with the Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport over three games. Results: In study 1, we found that intuitive athletes scored lower on the DSRS in comparison to deliberative athletes, whilst no difference was found for the MSRS. Convergent and discriminant validity was illustrated with the subscales of the MDMQ. No sex differences were found regarding reinvestment. In study 2, findings showed that low reinvesters scored higher than high reinvesters in terms of stressor perceived controllability, coping effectiveness and subjective performance. Discussion: In addition to confirmation of construct validity, these findings strengthen our understanding of how high decision reinvesters perceive a pressured situation. Key applications are derived from our findings informing coaches and athletes in offsetting the negative effects of reinvestment on sport performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]