Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
The 17th European Congress of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Innsbruck, Avusturya, 11 - 16 Temmuz 2024, ss.84, (Özet Bildiri)
The objective of the current study was to examine Wegner’s (1994) ironic processes of
mental control theory and the impacts of two weeks of heart rate variability biofeedback
coherence training program on participants’ shooting performance under pressure.
Twenty-two (9 female) elite modern pentathlon athletes (Mage = 21.28, SD = 2.38
years) participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group took part in 2 weeks (6 sessions)
of heart rate variability biofeedback and a regular training program, while the control
group only participated in regular training sessions for two weeks. Upon arrival at the
laboratory, participants provided a written informed consent form and completed an
information sheet to obtain participants’ demographic information, Mental Readiness Form-MRF3 (Krane, 1994) and sleep quality. Participants’ performance was assessed by giving technical instructions for shooting based on Woodman et al.’s (2015)
conceptualization of a laser pistol (Gorgulu, 2019), and then familiarized themselves
with the task.
The shooting performance data (i.e., shooting accuracy) was normally distributed
and thus analyzed via a 2 (Group: experimental, control) x 2 (Test: baseline-test, pressure-test) mixed-model ANOVA with follow-up independent and dependent t-tests.
In the control group, when instructed not to miss in a specific direction, performers
did so a significantly greater number of times (t21 = 3.47, p < .001) under pressure con-
ditions, which provides support for Wegner’s (1994) theory in performance setting. In
contrast, in the experimental group, participants’ performance did not change from
low to high-pressure conditions that provide interventional advancement for heart
rate variability biofeedback coherence training concerning Wegner’s theory. Results
from the current study provided that heart rate variability biofeedback training, alongside regular shooting training sessions, can contribute to better performance under
pressure, potentially through improved autonomic nervous system functioning.