Journal of Sports and Motor Development and Learning

Scientific Journal

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under CC BY-NC 4.0 license

Authors

¹ Department of Motor behavior and sports psychology, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

² Department of Motor behavior and sports psychology , Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

³ Department of Motor behavior and sports psychology, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health , University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

⁴ Department of Educational and Curriculum Methods and Programs, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

⁵ Department of Motor behavior and sports psychology, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran, Tehran , Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jsmdl.2023.360148.1731

Abstract

.
Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of strategic self-talk on volleyball players' performance and visual attention.
Methods: This quasi-experimental research employed a pre-test/post-test design with a control group. Participants included 54 novice male volleyball players selected via convenience sampling. They were randomly assigned into five groups: instructional self-talk (n=10), motivational self-talk (n=11), instructional-motivational self-talk (n=10), motivational-instructional self-talk (n=11), and control (n=12). The self-talk intervention was conducted over 12 weeks, with three sessions per week. In both the pre-test and post-test phases, serving scores were recorded by the researcher, and participants' gaze behavior was measured using an eye tracker while performing a simple volleyball serve task. Data were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc tests.
Results: The findings revealed that strategic self-talk had a significant effect on simple serve performance (P=0.0001) and quiet eye duration (P=0.0001). Bonferroni post-hoc tests indicated that instructional self-talk improved motor performance and increased quiet eye duration. Combined self-talk groups (instructional-motivational and motivational-instructional) also exhibited enhanced motor performance and prolonged quiet eye duration. However, motivational self-talk alone had no significant effect on motor performance and quiet eye duration.
Conclusion: The results underscore the importance of instructional self-talk in enhancing performance and visual attention in novice volleyball players, supporting the attentional mechanisms underlying self-talk.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Sports and Motor Development and Learning

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 21 March 2025

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Receive Date: 31 May 2023
Revise Date: 27 August 2023
Accept Date: 08 October 2023

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