Effects of increasing and decreasing physiological arousal on anticipation timing performance during competition and practice
Open accessAbstract
The aim of this study was to investigate if the effects of changes in physiological arousal on timing performance can be accurately predicted by the catastrophe model. Eighteen young adults (8 males, 10 females) volunteered to participate in the study following ethical approval. After familiarisation, coincidence anticipation was measured using the Bassin Anticipation Timer under four incremental exercise conditions: Increasing exercise intensity and low cognitive anxiety, increasing exercise intensity and high cognitive anxiety, decreasing exercise intensity and low cognitive anxiety and decreasing exercise intensity and high cognitive anxiety. Incremental exercise was performed on a treadmill at intensities of 30%, 50%, 70% and 90% heart rate reserve (HRR) respectively. Ratings of cognitive anxiety were taken at each intensity using the Mental Readiness Form 3 (MRF3) followed by performance of coincidence anticipation trials at speeds of 3 and 8 mph. Results indicated significant condition × intensity interactions for absolute error (AE; p =. 0001) and MRF cognitive anxiety intensity scores (p =. 05). Post hoc analysis indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in AE across exercise intensities in low–cognitive anxiety conditions. In high–cognitive anxiety conditions, timing performance AE was significantly poorer and cognitive anxiety higher at 90% HRR, compared to the other exercise intensities. There was no difference in timing responses at 90% HRR during competitive trials, irrespective of whether exercise intensity was increasing or decreasing. This study suggests that anticipation timing performance is negatively affected when physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety are high.
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Competitive anxiety can negatively affect sports performance and increase injury risk.
“Competitive anxiety is a common psychological challenge among athletes and can negatively affect sports performance.”
From The Effect of Different Psychological Interventions on Athletes' Competitive Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis. (2026) · cites this paper as [9]
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that performance decrements were worst when cognitive anxiety and physiological arousal were highest, supporting the claim that anxiety can negatively affect performance. Our copy does not support the added claim about injury risk or establish how common competitive anxiety is among athletes. The verbatim citing sentence does not include the injury-risk claim. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Duncan, M. J., Smith, M., Bryant, E., Eyre, E., Cook, K., Hankey, J., Tallis, J., Clarke, N., & Jones, M. V.
- Affiliations
- Coventry (United Kingdom) (GB)
- University of Staffordshire (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Duncan, Michael J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- European Journal of Sport Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-12-03
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 27-35
- ISSN
- 1536-7290 (ISSN-L)
- 1746-1391
- OpenAlex
- W2052553081
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 3.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- e-space.mmu.ac.uk
- Locations
- European Journal of Sport Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University) (submittedVersion)
- Pure (Coventry University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Coventry University Open Collections (Coventry university) (submittedVersion)
- The Open Collections (Coventry University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Keywords
- timing performance, physiological arousal, cognitive anxiety, catastrophe models, heart rate reserve, treadmill running
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Arousal, Female, Humans, Male, Task Performance and Analysis, Exercise, Young Adult, Anticipation, Psychological
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