Effects of anxiety on running with and without an aiming task

State anxiety is known to affect far aiming tasks, but less is known about the effects of state anxiety on running and aiming while running. Therefore, in the current study participants ran on a treadmill at their preferred speed in a low- and high-anxiety condition. In both conditions, running was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sports sciences 2012-01, Vol.30 (1), p.11-19
Main Authors: Nibbeling, Nicky, Daanen, Hein A. M., Gerritsma, Rens M., Hofland, Rianne M., Oudejans, Raôul R. D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Aerobic exercise
Anxiety
Anxiety - physiopathology
Athletic Performance - physiology
Athletic Performance - psychology
Attention
Attention - physiology
attentional control theory
Biological and medical sciences
dart throwing
Darts
Effects
Exercise Test
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
gait
Gait - physiology
Games
Humans
Male
Oxygen
Oxygen Consumption - physiology
perceptual-motor tasks
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Running
Running (effects)
Running - physiology
Running - psychology
Speed
Throwing
Vertebrates: body movement. Posture. Locomotion. Flight. Swimming. Physical exercise. Rest. Sports
Visual task performance
Young Adult
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Summary:State anxiety is known to affect far aiming tasks, but less is known about the effects of state anxiety on running and aiming while running. Therefore, in the current study participants ran on a treadmill at their preferred speed in a low- and high-anxiety condition. In both conditions, running was combined with dart throwing in the last minutes. Results showed that attention shifted away from task execution with elevated levels of anxiety. Furthermore, gait patterns were more conservative and oxygen uptake was higher with anxiety. In addition, performance and efficiency on the dart throwing task also decreased with anxiety. These findings are in line with attentional control theory and provide an indication that state anxiety not only affects aiming tasks but also tasks that rely heavily on the aerobic system. Moreover, findings indicate that when combined, running, aiming, and anxiety all compete for attention leading to suboptimal attentional control and possibly a decrease in performance.
ISSN:0264-0414
1466-447X
DOI:10.1080/02640414.2011.617386