You are on page 1of 6

JOURNAL ARTICLE TEMPLATE

All questions must be answered in paragraph form directly below the question. You can
download this form, type in your answers, save it and upload it to the learning management
system.

Student Name: Kyle Broussard

Title of Journal Article: Toward a Psychophysiology of Performance: Sport

Psychology Principles Dealing with Anxiety

Author: Paul A. Davis and Wesley E. Sime

Name of Publication: International Journal of Stress Management

QUESTION 1:

What is the problem? Is the problem clearly stated? Does it imply a plausible research
study? Is the problem important? Explain how this research study attempts to address a
small aspect of the overreaching problem. Give one “applied” example or a personal story
that relates to the problem. REQUIREMENT: 400+ words
Helpful Hints: How pervasive is this problem in a real life setting? How effectively
did this article address this issue? What is its relevance?

At first for me it was unclear what exactly the problem was that they were wanting to
research in this article. For most of the article they talked about anxiety problems and how those
problems could lead to under performance in athletes. Then they would begin to mention
concentration and attention and how improving those will help self-confidence, how using EEG
biofeedback protocol could help performance. Therefore, is was hard for me to understand what the
problem was they wanted addressed. Then they clarified what they were going to be studying with
the colligate baseball player. They wanted to see how improving the concentration and attention on
each pitch would help improve the performance of the baseball players coming off a serious eye
injury. Some aspects of the research could have been done better for this study in my opinion. The
participant was an excellent choice, because his self-confidence and performance were both down
following the injury, the intervention and steps they used to help improve his concentration and
attention were great. However, I feel they just relied on his stats too much, baseball is a weird game
to were stats can be misleading. Someone can have better stats, but they could be playing more
poorly then another person who has lesser stats. Also when your stats are good you are going to feel
more confident in yourself. I would have like to see questions the interview asked him during their
phone calls, and maybe surveys asking him how he comfortable he felt hitting, and if he felt he was
seeing the ball better. Maybe how he felt after having a bad at bat and how he got ready for the next
one after that. Overall this was a great study and an important study, because it is important to have
self-confidence. The more confidence you have the more likely you will be able to succeed. So see
an intervention that used imagery to help gain the self-confidence for an athlete following a serious
injury is awesome. This article actually hits pretty close to a personal experience I had. At the end
of my junior year I started to lose the vision in my left eye all of a sudden, and it turned out I had
Acute Posterior Multifocal Placoid Pigment Epitheliopathy (basically irritation in the back of the
eye). This irritation ended up in my optic nerve and scared my vison. It took several months and my
vison came back to 30-20, so it was not all the way normal. I did not know if I could play my senior
year until a month before the fall semester started. When I started baseball training again I had no
self-confidence and I was really nervous about hitting and catching. I could have used an
intervention like this to help me gain that concentration and attention. Things worked out for me
and as I got more reps and became comfortable my self-confidence came back. (493)

QUESTION 2:
What type of design was used (be specific)? Justify the research design. Is the design
appropriate? If it is, explain why it is appropriate. REQUIREMENT: 300 + words

This study was done as a case study design. This study was done using qualitative
aspects such as the interviews and evaluation format. A case study need to be a bounded
system, and that is what this study was. They wanted to study how improving
concentration and attention using the EGG biofeedback protocol could help improve the
performance of a college baseball player coming of a serious eye injury. A case study
gives you a choice of what to study, and in this insistence the authors choose to study this
topic. Case studies can be used when the researcher wants to answer a descriptive
question or explanatory question. For this article I believe the researcher was wanting to
answer a descriptive question. He wanted to know what would happen to the baseball
player’s performance and self-confidence after going through an intervention to help
improve concentration and attention. It is important that a case study question answer
who, what, how, and why. In this article the they answered who was going to be study, why
they choose the participant. What methods they were going to use and how they worked.
In their case this case study was done as a single case study. They only had one
participant they used to get results from. If they would have used more participants, then it
would have been a multiple case study. Another reason this is a case study is because
cases are information rich, and researchers can learn about the problem. This was
information rich, because this player was an all-American before his injury, and after his
injury he did not produce the same. His self-confidence was also gone. This allowed the
researcher to test and see if using EEG biofeedback could help improve his self-
confidence in return allow him to get his performance back to the level he was before the
injury. (311)

QUESTION 3:
1. Are the sample, measurements, and data gathering methods and
procedures to be used clearly described (summarize the sample, measurements, and
methods/procedures)? Would it be possible to replicate the study based on the
information presented? Describe using a separate sample. 300 + words
Helpful hints: Is there any missing data that would be needed to replicate the study?
Was there any key data inadequately described? Put yourself or your athletes in the
place of the participants of the study. Did the measurement/ data gather methods
make practical sense? Is the type of people the research is about, i.e. the
population, adequately described? If a sample is used, is there a description of how
the sample was selected? Is the way the sample was selected and the sample size
appropriate? Have they explained why the participants they selected were the most
appropriate to provide access to the type of knowledge sought by the study? Are
there any discussions around recruitment (e.g. why some people chose not to take
part)? Are there any type of new variables or constructs that you can identify to
strengthen the design?

The explained why they chose the participant, because he is coming of a serious eye injury.
After he had the injury his performance has not been what it was like before the injury. He has also
lost his self-confidence, and did not believe that his vison was fully healed even though he had been
cleared by two doctors. They relied on qualitative interview ad evaluation methods. First they did
an interview and evaluation, then implemented the intervention, and then did follow-ups and
assessments of the interventions efficacy. The consultant explained how elite hitters need high
levels of concentration and attention and explained how the EGG biofeedback could help shape
them. The intervention took place over four 1-hr sessions, that started one week after the interviews.
The participant would start with a 5-minute diaphragmatic breathing pattern. Next he would
perform the brain gym cross crawl exercise for 2-minutes. Then for the next 10 minutes he would
perform visual exercises. Starting off with the lazy eights exercise. He session he would perform a
different exercise that the difficulty became a little harder. The participant finished each session
with a 30-minute imagery session used in conjunction with the EEG biofeedback. After his
completion of the intervention the participant and consultant spoke briefly over the telephone
during the next several months to review his progress during competition. During the study they
really did not gather any measurements. They just identified that he was having trouble with his
performance and that he was not fully certain his vision was healed. Causing him to not be very
confident. They gave us no indication on how the participant was feeling after each session, or if
they even gave him questions to answer after the sessions. The same goes for after the completion
of the intervention they would speak briefly over a few months just to review how he was doing.
The failed to give us any indication on how he was doing and what was said during the interview to
help give us an idea on if the intervention did help him or not. The steps in the intervention made
great sense for what they were trying to accomplish in helping with concentration and attention. I
wish they just would have given us better feedback on how the participant was feeling after each
session. (387)

QUESTION 4:
 Summarize how the conclusions relate to the results. Explain how the
results indicate the suggestions the author makes. Describe the limitations or problems
with the research? 300 + words
Helpful hints: How generalizable is the study? Could the results be generalized to
other settings? What are the limitations of the population/measurement tools/ study
procedures? Are there any alternative explanations for the findings?
The results showed that the hitter went on to have a great junior year following the
intervention using the EEG biofeedback. After the injury the hitter went on to hit .294 and
struck out every 4.76 at bats. After the intervention he hit .356 and only stuck out every
10.61 at bats. That is a big difference in strike outs, because that is still way better than his
all-American year were he struck out every 5.05 at bats. Going into his senior year he did
not participate in any intervention, but only did baseball activities. His stats went back
down to hitting .316 and striking out every 5.67 at bats. The author stated that the EEG
biofeedback helped him maximize his skills to be able to concentrate and pay attention in
great detail allowing him to perform better. I believe for the most this study is
generalizable, because if you take any athlete and help them gain the ability to
concentrate and pay attention better they ate most likely going to have success. When an
athlete is in the zone and feels better prepared for their competitions then they are going
to be more confidence than they were before. Some limitations during this case study
were that the biofeedback gear needed headphones and sensors that connected to a
laptop. I think they could have done a better job at maybe having the participant do a
survey on how he thought the intervention was helping him. One thing that worries me
about this study is that baseball is a weird game and sometime stats can be miss leading
on how well a player actually if playing. However, the fact that is strike out rate went from
every 5 at bats to every once every 10 shows me that the psychological skills training did
help him somehow. Showed that maybe he did have better concentration and attention
during that season thanks to the intervention. (322)

QUESTION 5:
 Describe the implications for future study. Explain how the implications
for future research logically follow the results. Provide one implication for future study
that is not mentioned. 300 + words
Helpful hints: Describe the next step. Describe the clinical significance of the next
step. Does the researcher discuss the contribution the study makes to existing
knowledge or understanding?

The next step would be to take this intervention and use it on athletes that have are
healthy or have injuries that do not deal with the eye. This study was beneficial for a player
coming of a serious eye injury, so helping him learn how to concentrate and pay attention
was very useful considering he was having problems with his confidence regarding his
vision. They could bring in athletes that are just trying to improve their performance, and
take them through the intervention to see if improving concentration and attention using
the biofeedback protocol does help performance. You can also see that technology is
becoming more and more important in today’s world. You will probably start to see studies
that the researcher has the better equipment, and they do not need to be in a lab hooked
up to a computer. They will be able to track the participant’s information while they are
competing in practice or games. The importance of testing this intervention on other
athletes that do not have eye problems is important, because it allows the researchers to
gather more information on how the EEG biofeedback helps athletes. Doing so can and
will allow them to make adjustment to the certain needs for athletes in different sports. Also
since they used a baseball player in this study it would be important to bring in athletes
that play other sports. The researcher did inform us how this study goes with others that
have been made, and how concentration and attention play a role. He informed us of the
quite eye. I think one study that could be done using this a goal keeper in hockey. They
need really good concertation and attention skills to catch a hockey puck with players
blocking their view. I think doing a study like that could really help see if this intervention
helps improve performance for athletes. (315)

QUESTION 6:
Identify at least one research question or hypothesis that arises from this study (but is not
mentioned in the study) and might be the next logical step in this line of inquiry. Discuss
one theory or topic described in the textbook. Link the Research question to the applied
setting. Explain how this information may be important to research in the future. 400 +
words
Helpful hints: Read the article” CRITICAL QUESTIONS FOR THE EVALUATION
OF RESEARCH” posted in course materials for more critical thinking ideas.

What kind of impact will the EEG biofeedback have on the hitter’s pre game routine
during practice and games? After completing the intervention, the hitter will be more
likely to focus harder and give more effort on completing the same pre game routine
during practice and game. This would be something I would want to study more. It
is important to practice the physical skills you will be using during game, so why
would a player not want to practice the psych skills he will use as well. To see how
after growing through a psychological skills training that helps the athlete maximize
his concentration and attention how it will affect his effort toward other psychological
skills. In baseball having a routine that you complete every time can help you stay
relaxed and confident, but some players do not practice that routine or put much
effort into it. Those players can sometimes become frustrated easily when things
are not going their way. The players that do have a psychological routine tend to be
able to control their motions even during times that they are struggling to perform.
One method could be the PREP method. Pick a quality. Pick a quality that you want
to commit at getting better for the day. Release you circumstances. You want to let
go of any thoughts that will not help you play well that day, sports or non-sport
related. Energize your body. Take care of your body and do what you have to do to
get it ready to play. Pre-play your performance. Imagine how you want the game to
go. First we would have to figure out if the athlete in the study has a pre-game
routine. If he does we will see how it compares to the PREP method, and if needed
we could help him adjust it as well. If the athlete does not have one, we would
advise them to use the PREP method. We would let the athlete go through the
intervention then, ask them to use the PREP method during practice and games. In
order to determine if the intervention help the athlete work harder toward practicing
their pre-game routine we would give them a survey and an interview at the
beginning. Basically asking them how much they practice or put effort into that area
of their psychological skills. After the intervention we would give them another one,
and finally during their season we would periodically give them another survey and
interview. Comparing the answers to what they had said at the beginning. Also
asking them how they have handled frustrating situations, and see how their
performance has compared to previous years. (444)
I left my foundations book at the school and only had my handbook here at my
house, so I used the PREP method on page 172. I hope that is okay.

QUESTION 7 BONUS

Describe one key term, theory or implication that relates to your life. This can be past, present or
future. 100+ words

You might also like