Abstract

This study examined the relationship between cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, self-confidence and performance upon simple reaction time (SRT) and discrimination reaction time (DRT) tasks. The subjects comprised twelve cricket players who completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 at four stages during the study: 4 days, 1 day and 1 hour prior to a cricket match, and again immediately prior to each individualss batting performance. In addition, the subjects also performed SRT and DRT tasks 1 day and 1 hour prior to the match, and again immediately prior to batting. The results demonstrated that cognitive anxiety did not change across the four testing sessions. Somatic anxiety, on the other hand, increased immediately prior to batting and this was accompanied by a corresponding reduction in self-confidence. SRT and DRT did not alter but error percentage was greater on the DRT task immediately prior to batting than at 1 day and 1 hour prior to the match. These findings suggest that increased somatic anxiety accompanied by reduced self-confidence was associated with errors in rapid discrimination. Verf.-Referat