Neurofeedback versus mindfulness on young football players anxiety and performance
Open accessAbstract
Nowadays, in athletic world exercise and physical practice are not only tools to achieve peak performance. In high level of athletic activities there are not so differences based on skilfulness and psychological differences determinant winner or loser. Athletes have to compete in anxiety situations and in reaction to these situations are experiencing excitement. Mindfulness and Neurofeedback interventions are included interventions that are used in the field of psychology, particularly sport psychology that includes two disparate aspects of psychological interventions i.e. technological and traditional. Therefore in this study, we examined the effects of Mindfulness and Neurofeedback interventions on the level of Sport Anxiety and Athletic performance of young football players. In this study, 45 Iranian Football players were assigned to three groups. Athletes in group 1 received twelve-session, 30-minute alpha/theta neurofeedback training, in group 2 received twelve-session, 30-minutes mindfulness training and control group did not receive any intervention. Sport Anxiety Scale and Shoot performance test were used for quantitative comparisons. The results of MANOVA showed that improvement of athletic performance scores and reduction of anxiety scale were significant in both experimental groups. In addition, there were not significant differences between both experimental groups in athletic performance, but there were significantly different between mindfulness groups compared to the neurofeedback group in sport anxiety scale. According to these findings, we concluded the alpha/theta neurofeedback training and mindfulness meditation training are appropriate to increase athletic performance and decrease level of sport anxiety.
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By providing immediate physiological feedback, biofeedback training facilitates the development of self-regulation skills, allowing athletes to manage emotional responses more effectively and enhance their ability to cope with stress and competitive anxiety in competitive settings.
“By providing immediate physiological feedback, biofeedback training facilitates the development of self-regulation skills, allowing athletes to manage emotional responses more effectively and enhance their ability to cope with stress and competitive anxiety in competitive settings [89, 109].”
From The Effect of Different Psychological Interventions on Athletes' Competitive Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis. (2026) · cites this paper as [89]
Studies by Cantón et al. and Zadkhosh et al. reported significant anxiety reductions in junior athletes following biofeedback training.
“Studies by Cantón et al. [26] and Zadkhosh et al. [89] reported significant anxiety reductions in junior athletes following biofeedback training.”
From The Effect of Different Psychological Interventions on Athletes' Competitive Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis. (2026) · cites this paper as [89]
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- Authors
- ZADKHOSH, S. M., GHARAYAGH ZANDİ, H., & HEMAYATTALAB, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Tehran (IR)
- Venue
- Turkish Journal of Kinesiology
- Publisher
- Turkish Journal of Kinesiology
- Published
- 2018-12-30
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 132-141
- ISSN
- 2459-0134 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2906943668
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Turkish Journal of Kinesiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DergiPark (Istanbul University) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- neurofeedback, mindfulness meditation, competitive anxiety, athletic performance, youth football players, sport psychology intervention
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