The Psychological Aspects of an Athlete
Frankie Chaidez
What is Sport Psychology?
According to the American Psychological Association, sport psychology is a proficiency that uses psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well-being of athletes, developmental and societal aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with sports settings and organizations. Within this type of study, we can gain an understanding on the various psychological aspects of the athlete. These aspects may include the environment in which the athlete is in, the mental state of the athlete, their daily routine outside of the sport, and many more elements pertaining to the individual. Why is this important? Well, there is a lot more to learn about an athlete other than their sport. More specifically, the different psychological perspectives of an athlete. These can give us more of an understanding on how the brain plays an important role in athletic behavior or in other words their performance. Throughout this article we are going to explore more into the brain of the athlete. We will first look go over research based on the psychological skills of athletes with comparisons on gender and non-athletes, and also see how brain waves can provide us information. Second, we will look at a topic that is very prominent in today’s culture, the mental health effect on athletic performance and the importance of high mindfulness.
Psychological Skills
Chung states that, “Athletes’ performance in sports is determined by the complex interaction between physical, physiological, kinematic, and psychological factors.” (Mun- Gyu Jun, 2023) As we can see there are so many different pieces to the puzzle, but what is the core element of the athlete? That answer can be our minds! Every human has different psychological abilities that can distinguish them from each other. When we talk about athletes these could discuss reaction time, mental toughness, hand-eye coordination, sport intelligence, and quick decision making. There are so many areas that we can look at pertaining to the athlete brain. Each of these elements of the brain work together to result in the best performance of the athlete. One thing to know is that these psychological skills are not always natural or inherent for the individual, training can be done in order to enhance those skills. A research study done out of Kyung Hee University and Gachon University, tested effects of psychological skills training on the anticipated performance of high school rapid-fire pistol athletes. Four male shooting affiliated students, ages 17 to 18, completed a 10-week program where psychological training was given twice a week followed by a neurofeedback session. The researchers created various types of psychological training to present to the students; (1) Goal Setting Training, (2) Routine Training, (3) Positive Self-Talk Training, (4) Relaxation Training, (5) Image Training, and (6) Attention and Concentration Training. The neurofeedback training involved brain quotient analysis where they measured electroencephalography (EEG) signals within the prefrontal cortex. A perceived athletic performance test questionnaire was also given before and after the study to validate the effectiveness. The EEG signals show results on self-regulation, brain development, brain arousal, emotional balance, and the amount of physical and mental stress the athlete experienced. The study had much significance due to shooting representing a sport of high and closed skill where athletes have to maintain a certain position while performing specific techniques on a fixed target and environment. The results of the brain quotient after the 10-week period showed more prominent changes in the left brain compared to the right brain including the decrease of tension and stress, and activity of alpha waves and sensorimotor rhythm waves. From this it was concluded that high athletic performance can be directly correlated to the left side of the brain and that psychological training positively impacts the performance of athletes. (Mun — Gyu Jun, 2023) We are able to see the importance of training outside of the sport setting that can result in absolute performance of an individual.
Another question we can ask ourselves is whether we can differentiate between athletes to non-athletes based on skill, along with the comparison of male and females. Before looking into research, most people would consider athletes to be more “skilled” due to the number of skill-filled experiences within a sport, but this is may not always be the case. A study from researchers out of Sweden and Portugal, explored cognitive abilities and motivational dispositions between athletes and non-athletes. The cognitive ability or executive function used for the study was response inhibition, which refers to the ability to suppress a prepotent response, impulse, or inappropriate thought. This can also be viewed as the stop-signal task which requires (1) making a quick decision and (2) how to react from a decision that interrupted a goal. They focused on the “goal conflict” of the individuals since it directly correlates to our cognitive abilities. The study composed of 93 participants (40 male & 53 female): 59 athletes and 34 non-athletes. Each individual performed the stop-signal task on a computer where they answered quickly as possible to indicate with their index fingers which way the arrow pointed and to inhibit the response if the arrow turned red. Results showed no significant difference in response inhibition between athletes and non-athletes, but a clear difference between males and females. There was a shorter SSRT (stop-signal reaction time) for males and a higher score for women in the trait variable BIS (Behavioral Inhibition System). It’s also important to understand that differences in effective functions could also depend on the type of sport due to different sports challenging EFs in various ways. Sports can be categorized into three groups: interceptive sports (tennis, alpine skiing), strategic sports (soccer, volleyball, basketball), and static sports (swimming, cross country). (Eriksson, 2023) From this experiment, it is evident that there no real distinctions between the skills of those who are involved in sports and not, but we can still consider those of elite status to have the upmost cognitive practice compared to other people. We can also consider that fact that response inhibition is not the only skill that athletes have, there are plenty of other skills that can be tested. But the results of response inhibition can be considered a good representation since the majority of athletes will experience instances where they need to respond conflict.
As researchers of psychological abilities, we actually have the ability to predict performance based on what the brain waves of an individual look like. In the first study mentioned, we saw results of alpha waves and Sensi motor rhythm waves in relation to the left side of the brain. This next study looks into the cognitive neuroscience of dynamic brain waves on athletes with open skills. The experiment was done by collecting data on the dynamic brain waves of table tennis athletes, and then converting the data into deep neural network algorithms. The individuals wore a portable 40-channel BCI that acted as a helmet on the scalp, ears, and face. The data started with the players in their relaxed state, next they completed 4 different tests while playing the sport, and then went back to their relaxed state.
The results showed that with the CMNet model there was an accuracy rate of 96.70% in the algorithms predicting performance with the data of high gamma waves. (Yu-Hung, 2023) In addition, to distinct brain waves that play a role in our performance, we can switch over to the more biological approach. Researcher Hugo-Henrique Silva states that “gene variation linked to physiological functions is recognized to affect elite athletic performance by modulating training and competition-enabling behavior.” The discovery of the gene FAAH, fatty acid amide hydrolase, introduced another factor that contributes to athletic performance. This gene encodes for the amygdala-prefrontal cortex that supports emotion control. More specifically, this gene has been found to regulate anxiety-like behavior and influence persistence and leadership. (Hugo-Henrique Silva, 2023) This article provides us with information that looks even farther into the process of cognitive functions. It’s important to understand athletic performance from both the psychological and biological way of thinking. Athletes have the potential to improve their physical abilities from the psychological side and could potentially retain a gene that directly influences their performance.
Mental Health
The biggest theme in sports today that does not get enough attention is the talk of mental health. Athletes ranging from the beginner level all the way to the professional level, experience the effects of this mental disease.
There are many different factors that can contribute to the negative mental health of athletes such as anxiety, sleep, stress, and environment. A key takeaway is that it's crucial for athletes to know how to train their minds in order to have a good performance. Majority of sports require lots of physical skill for performance, but there is always the mental component that people forget about. By training the mind in preparation for practice or competition, athletes are more likely to see positive results. In a study done out of Gazi University in Turkey, researchers found a very positive correlation in athletes with higher mindfulness and their performance. They defined mindfulness as paying more attention to the experiences in the present moment on purpose and without judgment. There was an understanding that various types of sports are going to develop different type of awareness, which is why they focused on track and field athletes. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the mindfulness levels of athletes in the areas of sprints, middle-distance, throws, and jumps. Each individual’s mindfulness level was examined based on gender, national athlete status, status of performing mental training, and athletic experience. Female athletes showed higher mindfulness compared to males but not by a great amount. On athletic status, national athletes were seen to have higher scores in awareness which stems from having intense training, prestigious competition, and a load of emotions when dealing with success/failure in their athletic careers. Within the branch variable, sprinters resulted in higher scores of the refocusing sub-dimension of the test which can be explained from a great amount of focus for intense and short events. (Bulgay, 2022) There is essentially no room for sprinters to not have that type of intense focus so there is no questioning in these results. These results can definitely represent other fast-paced sports like tennis and swimming. Overall, this study suggests for athletes to consider including mindfulness exercises into their training routine. These techniques can greatly impact the performance and minds of athletes as they develop in their physical abilities.
What happens when high mindfulness is not obtained?
When we start to see a lack in high mindfulness, we start to see effects of mental health unravel. From the athlete perspective, the sport can start to be something negative in their life rather than positive and fun. This negative outlook can stem from factors like anxiety, an immense amount of stress, negative influence of coaches or teammates, exhaustion, eat habits, and even issues with sleep. A research article came to find the importance of sleep optimization. It states that “sleep extension has been shown to enhance athletic performance and provide increased benefits regarding aerobic function and metabolism.” Ultimately when the body is deprived of sleep, the brain fails to recover neurons. The body cannot function at full potential if regular sleep is not obtained. The cognitive phenotype of sleep deprivation led to negative outcomes of altered learning and memory, reaction time, accuracy, strength, endurance, and decision making. (Papanikolaou, 2022) Athletes can struggle with finding a sleep pattern especially those who are in school. Student athletes are sometimes not given enough time for the number of responsibilities they have throughout the day, and one of the most important ones is sleep. We can see this in programs that have a late-night practice and then set a 5 am lift the next morning. How do coaches expect their athletes to perform well if they’re not providing them time to rest mentally and physically. In this case the athletes don’t have too much control on whether they are going to get sufficient sleep. This lack of sleep can then lead into another negative health aspects such as anxiety.
A study done in Malaysia tested the use of anxiety monitoring systems (AMS) to accurately identify athletic performance. The use of AMS between people and devices is referred to as the Internet of Things, and this is said to improve athlete performance in all aspects. AMS was created to shed light on the players who have inconsistent performance between training and competitions. The term “performance anxiety” explains these actions inconsistency where athletes tend to not perform well in the times of real competition due to an immense amount of anxiety with competing. These feelings arise from the fear of surroundings, failure, and a lack of confidence. Athletes have to work on their psychological skills in order to perform better and which includes the handling of emotions and mental manifestations. This research strongly encourages the use of AMS-IoT as a source to determine an athlete’s anxiety conditions and adaptability during sports. (Ahmad, 2022) Another study looking at anxiety gives us results related to emotional intelligence and the probability of anxiety disorders. These researchers focused on the importance of emotional intelligence in combat sports that are split up into striking and grappling. These include boxing, judo, taekwondo, karate, wrestling etc. They used the Emotional Intelligence Scale which consisted of three scales: (1) emotional perception, (2) emotional comprehension, and (3) emotional regulation. After they had to complete the ISRA, inventory of situations and anxiety responses, where the athlete had to indicate the frequency at which each anxiety response appeared in a proposed situation. The objective of the test was to create a profile on the athlete and see how anxiety is distributed based on motor, physiological, and cognitive. From this they were able to determine the general anxiety of each athlete. The results showed that grapplers had higher interpersonal, cognitive, and motor anxieties while also having the lowest levels of emotional comprehension. (Maria, 2023) This shows a clear correlation in emotional intelligence and a clear prediction of anxiety.
Conclusion
The brain of the athlete is made up of many distinct parts, all towards the same goal of high performance. Within this article, we touched on very key points relating to the psychological aspects of an athlete. Cognitive skills are not always inherent, we have the ability to train the brain to enhance not only our emotions but also our performance. Psychological skills training should be added to the routine of every person’s life, not just athletes. We discovered that we are able to determine good or poor performance based on our brain waves. When we start to see a lack of mindfulness or emotional intelligence, the topic of mental health comes into play for athletes. We see common themes of sleep deprivation, performance anxiety, and negative effects of stress. The biggest component of being an athlete is the mental side which is the determining factor of all performance.
References
Ahmad, W. N. W., Mohd Adib, M.,Azrul Hisham, & Sut Txi, M. R. (2022). Enhanced the anxiety monitoring system among athletes with IoT for sports performance: a review. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 22(11), 2700–2707. https://doi.org/10.7752/jpes.2022.11344
Bulğay, C., Tingaz, E. O., Bayraktar, I., & Çetin, E. (2022). Athletic performance and mindfulness in track and field athletes: Research and Reviews. Current Psychology, 41(7), 4482–4489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00967-y
Eriksson, L. J. K., Sundin, Ö., & Jansson, B. (2023). Exploring Response Inhibition, the Behavioral Inhibition System and Possible Sex Differences in Athletes and Non-Athletes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(14), 6340. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146340
Hugo-Henrique Silva, Tavares, V., Beatriz, V. N., Cerqueira, F., Medeiros, R., & Silva, M. G. (2023). FAAH rs324420 Polymorphism: Biological Pathways, Impact on Elite Athletic Performance and Insights for Sport Medicine. Genes, 14(10), 1946. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14101946
Maria, M. F., Diego Ignacio, V. P., Aedo-Munoz, E., Lindsei Brabec, M. B., Brito, C. J., Miarka, B., & Alfonso Lopez Diaz-de-Durana. (2023). Emotional intelligence and anxiety disorder probabilities in grappling and striking combat sport athletes: comparison with regression analysis. Idō Movement for Culture, 22i(3) https://login.ezproxy.loras.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/emotional-intelligence-anxiety-disorder/docview/2833908752/se-2
Mun-Gyu Jun, Jeong-Ho, K., & Choi, C. (2023). Effects of Psychological Skills Training on Brain Quotient and Perceived Performance of High School Rapid-Fire Pistol Athletes. Applied Sciences, 13(5), 3118. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13053118
Papanikolaou, D. D., Astara, K., Vavougios, G. D., Daniil, Z., Gourgoulianis, K. I., & Stavrou, V. T. (2022). Elements of Sleep Breathing and Sleep-Deprivation Physiology in the Context of Athletic Performance. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 12(3), 383. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12030383
Yu-Hung, T., Sheng-Kuang, W., Shyr-Shen, Y., & Tsai, M. (2023). A Novel Hybrid Deep Neural Network for Predicting Athlete Performance Using Dynamic Brain Waves. Mathematics, 11(4), 903. https://doi.org/10.3390/math11040903