Attentional Distraction by Negative Sports Words in Athletes Under Low- and High-Pressure Conditions: Evidence From the Sport Emotional Stroop Task

作者：Lautenbach Franziska; Laborde Sylvain Jean Pascal; Putman Peter; Angelidis Angelos; Raab Markus

来源：Sport Exercise and Performance Psychology, 2016, 5(4): 296-307.

DOI：10.1037/spy0000073

• sport emotional Stroop task (SEST)
• stress
• cognition
• heart rate
• anxiety

To compete successfully, athletes should often focus attention on task-relevant information, thereby inhibiting task-irrelevant distracting information, which can be emotionally laden (e.g., worries about performance). To date, there has been a lack of research assessing athletes' processing of emotional stimuli. Further, objective measurements assessing general inhibition performance have been performed under low-pressure conditions. We investigated for the first time athletes' processing of emotional task-irrelevant information in low-and high-pressure conditions. Forty athletes performed a modified emotional Stroop task (i.e., sport emotional Stroop task [SEST]) measuring attentional processing of emotional task-irrelevant stimuli. Results show an interference effect under low (p = .011) and high (p = .021) pressure for negative sports words. No effect was found for positive sports words in the low-pressure (p = .271) or high-pressure (p = .393) condition. No effect of pressure on interference was observed. Results are discussed as they relate to the threat-relatedness hypothesis and the arousal hypothesis as well as attentional control theory. Possible fields of application for the SEST are reviewed.

• 出版日期2016-11