The effect of physiological activation on intuitive decision-making performance in basketball players at various level of athleticism

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study seeks to explore the effects of physiological activation intensity on basketball intuitive decision-making performance at various levels of athleticism by means of image framing method. A total of 68 subjects were recruited and categorised into an expert group and a novice group. An active intervention on the physiological activation intensity when engaging in intuitive decision-making was performed by means of a visual information stimulus for two groups of subjects. Moreover, the accuracy (ACC) and reaction time (RT) of intuitive decision-making were tested under various conditions of physiological activation intensity and different groups. Analysis of reaction time (RT) as the dependent variable revealed that physiological activation intensity significantly affected RT, which decreased with increasing physiological activation intensity. When analyzing accuracy (ACC) as the dependent variable, a significant interaction effect with the level of athleticism was identified. In the expert group, ACC at high physiological activation intensity was significantly higher than at low physiological activation intensity. Conversely, the novice group showed no significant difference in ACC between high and low physiological activation intensities. Additionally, across both low and high physiological activation intensities, the expert group's ACC was significantly higher than that of the novice group. The intensity of physiological activation has a significant impact on the intuitive decision-making ability of basketball players, and psychological skill training should be integrated into daily training to assist basketball players in better understanding their physiological activation levels.