The Differences Between Winners and Losers in Competition: the Relation of Cognitive and Emotional Aspects During a Competition to Hemodynamic Responses

Abstract

Sympathetic nervous activity plays an important role in behavior related to competition. However, the hemodynamic response patterns of winners and losers during competition remain largely unknown. This study examined the differences between winners’ and losers’ hemodynamic and psychological responses (their evaluation of perceived demands and resources and their positive and negative emotions) to competition. The participants included 30 university students, who completed a competitive mirror-drawing task (three times) in pairs as their cardiac output (CO) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were measured. Additionally, they were required to answer a question regarding their subjective psychological state before and during the competition. The participants were assigned to a Winner or a Loser group based on outcomes. The Winner group presented greater CO changes than the Loser group, while the Loser group displayed greater TPR changes than the Winner group. Moreover, the Winner group scored significantly higher on resource/demand evaluation than the Loser group. Although we observed no significant differences in terms of negative emotion, only the Winner group showed increased positive emotions from precompetition to competition. This evidence suggests that winners and losers display different patterns of enhanced sympathetic-cardiovascular responses to competition; winners are characterized by a myocardial response pattern, while losers are characterized by a vascular response pattern. The psychological responses that depend on one’s position during a competition provide information on the quality of hemodynamic responses to competition.