Search results for " Psychologic"
showing 10 items of 1353 documents
Exploring the Enjoyment of Playing Browser Games
2009
Browser games--mostly persistent game worlds that can be used without client software and monetary cost with a Web browser--belong to the understudied digital game types, although they attract large player communities and motivate sustained play. The present work reports findings from an online survey of 8,203 players of a German strategy browser game ("Travian"). Results suggest that multiplayer browser games are enjoyed primarily because of the social relationships involved in game play and the specific time and flexibility characteristics ("easy-in, easy-out"). Competition, in contrast, seems to be less important for browser gamers than for users of other game types. Findings are discuss…
Anticipatory cortisol, testosterone and psychological responses to judo competition in young men.
2003
This study compares the anticipatory hormonal and psychological responses of 17 male judo players to an official competition with the data obtained during eight resting sessions carried out at the same time of day, throughout an entire sports season. Testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels were determined 1 h and 30 min before competition, and mood, anxiety and expectancies were also evaluated. C levels and anxiety scores were concurrently higher before the contest than in resting conditions; however, non-significant correlations between them were found. The anticipatory T response was not significant for the whole group. However, one group of subjects did display T increases, higher C lev…
Numerical relations and skill level constrain co-adaptive behaviors of agents in sports teams.
2014
Similar to other complex systems in nature (e.g., a hunting pack, flocks of birds), sports teams have been modeled as social neurobiological systems in which interpersonal coordination tendencies of agents underpin team swarming behaviors. Swarming is seen as the result of agent co-adaptation to ecological constraints of performance environments by collectively perceiving specific possibilities for action (affordances for self and shared affordances). A major principle of invasion team sports assumed to promote effective performance is to outnumber the opposition (creation of numerical overloads) during different performance phases (attack and defense) in spatial regions adjacent to the bal…
Testosterone responses to competition: the opponent’s psychological state makes it challenging
2010
Testosterone (T) increases after competition have typically been attributed to winning, yet there is also evidence that being victorious is not in itself sufficient to provoke a T response. Instead, it has been proposed that T responses are moderated by psychological processes. Here, we investigated whether the opponent's psychological state affected hormonal changes in men competing face to face on a rigged computer task. The results show that, irrespective of outcome, the competition led to increases in heart rate and T levels. We found that the T levels of the participants increased more when their opponents had high self-efficacy and that T levels were not influenced by participants' ow…
Perception of Coaching Behaviors, Coping, and Achievement in a Sport Competition
2011
This study examined the relationship between perceived coaching behaviors, coping strategies during a sport competition, and sport achievement. A prospective design was used in which 80 athletes from individual sports completed measures of perceived coaching behaviors two days before a competition (Time 1) and measures of coping and sport achievement within three hours after a sport competition (Time 2). As expected, results of multiple regressions indicated that supportive coaching was a positive predictor of task-oriented coping and sport achievement whereas unsupportive coaching was a positive predictor of disengagement-oriented coping. Both types of coping were significantly associated …
Does being a Stranger make it Difficult to Cooperate?
2017
AbstractCompetition and cooperation are two somewhat opposed strategies for interpersonal social interaction that help us to achieve both individual and shared goals. The main aim of this study was to explore which type of social interaction (cooperative or competitive) is more stressful in a face-to-face same-sex dyad in healthy young participants (n = 178), considering outcome obtained in these tasks (positive or negative) and sex as moderating variables, and performance of the task alone as a control condition. Salivary cortisol (Csal) was measured in one sample obtained before task and four obtained after the task (+0, +15, +30 and +45 minutes after). Anxiety-state was assessed before a…
Determinants of leisure-time physical activity and future intention to practice in Spanish college students
2009
Few studies analyze determinants and patterns of physical activity among college students, so it has not been possible to carry out effective interventions to promote this practice. The aim of this study was to analyze the associations between some personal, social, and environmental determinants, practice of physical activity and future intention to practice in a sample of 639 university students (321 men and 318 women), mean age 21.43 years (+/- 2.78). Physical fitness self-perception, physical activity history, and coach's support to practice physical activity have a direct effect on the practice of physical activity and an indirect effect on future intention to practice, both in men and…
Sex differences in autonomic response and situational appraisal of a competitive situation in young adults.
2017
Competition is a social stressor capable of eliciting physiological responses modulated by the outcome. The main objective of this study was to analyze the psychophysiological changes associated with competition and its outcome in men and women, taking into account the role of situational appraisal. To this end, 112 young people (46 men and 66 women) participated in a laboratory task in a competitive or non-competitive condition, while Blood Pressure (BP), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and Skin Conductance (SC) responses were measured. Our results indicate that competition elicits higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) than a non-competitive task; in addition, winners presented a greater R-R …
The Use of Heart Rate Variability in Assessing Precompetitive Stress in High-Standard Judo Athletes
2012
The objective of this study is to examine the sensitivity to and changes in heart rate variability (HRV) in stressful situations before judo competitions and to observe the differences among judo athletes according to their competitive standards in both official and unofficial competitions. 24 (10 male and 14 female) national- and international-standard athletes were evaluated. Each participant answered the Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2R) and their HRV was recorded both during an official and unofficial competition. The MANOVA showed significant main effects of the athlete's standard and the type of competition in CSAI-2R, in HRV time domain, in HRV frequency domain an…
Exploring the switching of the focus of attention within working memory: A combined event-related potential and behavioral study.
2018
Abstract Working memory enables humans to maintain selected information for cognitive processes and ensures instant access to the memorized contents. Theories suggest that switching the focus of attention between items within working memory realizes the access. This is reflected in object-switching costs in response times when the item for the task processing is to be changed. Another correlate of attentional allocation in working memory is the P3a-component of the human event-related potential. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that switching of attention within working memory is a separable processing step. Participants completed a cued memory-updating task in which they were instr…