Experienced Basketball Players Research Articles

Choking under pressure: The role of fear of negative evaluation

Objective Conceptual models and predictors of choking under pressure (i.e., choking) have been proposed, but the role of fear of negative evaluation remains largely unknown. The purpose of the current study was to determine the degree to which fear of negative evaluation (FNE) may predispose athletes to choking. Design and method 138 Experienced basketball players participated in a pre-selection stage, which involved completing a set of questionnaires that included the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation-II (BFNE-II) questionnaire. Based on the scores from the BFNE-II, 34 athletes, categorized as either low- or high-FNE, were selected to perform basketball shots from five different areas of the court under low- and high-pressure phases. Shooting performance was evaluated based on the total number of successful shots out of 50 attempts. Results Results indicated that the high-FNE athletes displayed a significant increase in anxiety and a significant decrease in performance from low- to high-pressure phases. The low-FNE group exhibited only minimal changes in anxiety throughout the study and was able to maintain performance under pressure. Further mediation analysis investigating significant difference in performance between FNE groups within the high-pressure phase indicated that that cognitive anxiety was a partial mediator between FNE group and performance, but somatic anxiety was not. Conclusions Findings extend the existing choking literature by providing empirical support for the role of FNE in the context of the self-presentation model of choking.

Cognitive Adaptation: Spatial Memory or Attentional Processing. A Comment on Furley and Memmert (2010)

This commentary considers the paper by Furley and Memmert (2010) who sought to test the respective validities of the specific processing and cognitive adaptation hypotheses. That they found no evidence of a difference between experienced basketball players and nonathletes on the Corsi block task, a measure of spatial memory, led them to infer support for the specific processing hypothesis, namely that differences between experts and novices manifest themselves only in processes related specifically to the domain of expertise. An alternative interpretation is offered, indicating possible confounds and referring to recent research that suggests Corsi block and dynamic spatial tasks depend upon different neuronal networks.

Differences in Spatial Working Memory as a Function of Team Sports Expertise: The Corsi Block-Tapping Task in Sport Psychological Assessment

Individual differences in visuospatial abilities were investigated in experienced basketball players compared with nonathletes. Most research shows that experts and novices do not differ on basic cognitive ability tests. Nevertheless, there are some equivocal findings indicating there are differences in basic cognitive abilities such as attention. The goal of the present research was to investigate team-ball athletes in regard to their visuospatial abilities. 112 male college students (54 basketball players, 58 nonathlete college students) were tested in their spatial capacity with the Corsi Block-tapping Task. No differences in spatial capacity were evident between basketball players and nonathlete college students. The results are discussed in the context of the expert performance approach and individual difference research.

Visual Search Behavior of Experienced Players while Anticipating the Success of Basketball Free Throws

The purpose of this study was to compare the visual search behaviors of experienced basketball players with those of novices as they anticipated the success of a free throw. In basketball, the accurate judgment of the result of a free throw at an early time is an important factor in both performing the next play for the players and in deciding team tactics for coaches. The subjects were twelve experienced male basketball players and twelve novice counterparts. The task was to anticipate the success of free throws by responding verbally with ‘IN’ , ‘OUT’ or ‘Uncertain’ while viewing randomized successful / unsuccessful video-based models of free throws. The video was captured from a position to the side of the shooter's shooting arm and perpendicular to the plane of the intended motion of the ball. The stimuli were temporally occluded after the ball released the shooter's hand and before the ball reached the goal. In addition, the participants' visual search behaviors were acquired by using an eye movement tracking system. The results indicated that experienced players were able to anticipate a successful free throw earlier and more accurately than could the novices. Experienced players had an effective strategy to anticipate the result of free throws that was based on not only the ball's trajectory but also the use of shooter's coordinated motions as advanced cues for predicting the success of a free throw before the release of the ball. The experienced players' viewing points were distributed on the shooter's lower body until the execution phase and then on the shooter's shooting arms before ball release. This effective visual search behavior is therefore one of the most important factors in improving accurate judgment at an early time.

Detecting deception in a bluffing body: The role of expertise

Studies of deception detection traditionally have focused on verbal communication. Nevertheless, people commonly deceive others through nonverbal cues. Previous research has shown that intentions can be inferred from the ways in which people move their bodies. Furthermore, motor expertise within a given domain has been shown to increase visual sensitivity to other people's movements within that domain. Does expertise also enhance deception detection from bodily movement? In two psychophysical studies, experienced basketball players and novices attempted to distinguish deceptive intentions (fake passes) and veridical intentions (true passes) from an observed individual's actions. Whereas experts and novices performed similarly with postural cues, only experts could detect deception from kinematics alone. These results demonstrate a link between action expertise and the detection of nonverbal deception.

Recognition accuracy by experienced men and women players of basketball.

This study examined 30 experienced basketball players' recognition accuracy by sex, playing position (guard, forward, and center), and situations in the game of basketball. The study used a perceptual cognitive paradigm in which subjects viewed slides of structured and unstructured game situations and accurately recognized the presence or absence of the basketball. A significant difference in recognition accuracy by sex, players' position, and structure of the game situation was found. Male players' recognition accuracy was better than the female players'. The recognition accuracy of subjects who played guard was better than that of subjects who played forward or center. The players' recognition accuracy was more accurate when observing structured plays versus unstructured plays. The conclusion of this study suggested that experienced basketball players differ in their cognitive and visual searching processes by sex and player position within the sport of basketball.

Free-Throw Shooting Performance as a Function of Preshot Routines

This study assessed the effectiveness of preshot routines on free-throw shooting behaviour of experienced basketball players. 30 male subjects were assigned to one of three conditions, no routine, standardized physical routine, and imagery/ physical routine. Subjects' performance was assessed in four sessions spaced over a six-week period. In between sessions, subjects were given practice with the preshot routine of their condition. In the first session all subjects attempted the throws using their regular preshot routine, whereas in the remaining three sessions they performed as required by their assigned condition. Over-all, the imagery group performed significantly better than the routine group which in turn performed better than the no-routine group. The last test session's performance of the routine and the physical/imagery routine groups but not the no-routine group was similar to players' regular preshot routine performance, suggesting that withdrawal of experienced players' regular preshot activity has a relatively long-lasting detrimental effect on their free-throw shooting performance.

FREE-THROW SHOOTING PERFORMANCE AS A FUNCTION OF PRESHOT ROUTINES

This study assessed the effectiveness of preshot routines on free-throw shooting behaviour of experienced basketball players. 30 male subjects were assigned to one of three conditions, no routine, standardized physical routine, and imagery/ physical routine. Subjects' performance was assessed in four sessions spaced over a six-week period. In between sessions, subjects were given practice with the preshot routine of their condition. In the first session all subjects attempted the throws using their regular preshot routine, whereas in the remaining three sessions they performed as required by their assigned condition. Over-all, the imagery group performed significantly better than the routine group which in turn performed better than the no-routine group. The last test session's performance of the routine and the physical/imagery routine groups but not the no-routine group was similar to players' regular preshot routine performance, suggesting that withdrawal of experienced players' regular preshot activity has a relatively long-lasting detrimental effect on their free-throw shooting performance.

A catastrophe model of anxiety and performance

An experiment is reported which tests Fazey & Hardy's (1988) catastrophe model of anxiety and performance. Eight experienced basketball players were required to perform a set shooting task, under conditions of high and low cognitive anxiety. On each of these occasions, physiological arousal was manipulated by means of physical work in such a way that subjects were tested with physiological arousal increasing and decreasing. Curve-fitting procedures followed by non-parametric tests of significance confirmed (p less than .002) Fazey & Hardy's hysteresis hypothesis: namely, that the polynomial curves for the increasing vs. decreasing arousal conditions would be horizontally displaced relative to each other in the high cognitive anxiety condition, but superimposed on top of one another in the low cognitive anxiety condition. Other non-parametric procedures showed that subjects' maximum performances were higher, their minimum performances lower, and their critical decrements in performance greater in the high cognitive anxiety condition than in the low cognitive anxiety condition. These results were taken as strong support for Fazey & Hardy's catastrophe model of anxiety and performance. The implications of the model for current theorizing on the anxiety-performance relationship are also discussed.

Effect of an Oversized Basketball on Shooting Ability and Ball Handling

Abstract This study attempted to discover if using a larger than regulation basketball would have an effect on shooting ability and ball handling. Twenty-six experienced male basketball players were tested on short shooting, foul shooting, passing, and ball handling with the regulation basketball and with the experimental ball. The data were treated statistically and there were no significant difference between the two balls on short shooting, foul shooting, or dribbling. There was a significant difference (at the 1 percent level of confidence) between the experimental ball and the regulation ball on the passing test.