Anxiety impact on scuba performance and underwater cognitive processing ability

Effects of Oxygen Prebreathing on Bubble Formation, Flow-Mediated Dilatation, and Psychomotor Performance during Trimix Dives

“…The anxiety experienced by scuba divers should also be taken into consideration when they perform different diving procedures. It is characterized by negative emotions that can influence divers’ physiological and cognitive performance, including worse cognitive performance in open water in comparison to a chamber, probably due to the uncertainty of being in an open-sea situation [ 23 , 24 ]. Furthermore, there is evidence that scuba diving performance and anxiety scores have a linear correlation; the best performance is related to a low level of anxiety, and the worst performance is related to a high anxiety level [ 32 , 42 ].…”

“…CRD tests have been used to estimate psychomotor performances in diverse study designs [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Psychomotor performance during diving can be affected by various factors such as cold water, ambient pressure, and anxiety [ 23 , 24 ], justifying the need for a well-controlled study with precise information on the water temperature, dive depth, and anxiety level. Additionally, an individual’s endothelial function should be taken into consideration due to its association with a reduced speed of information processing, psychomotor skills, mental flexibility, and attention [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Rule-directed and discovery learning in SCUBA-diving

“…(V) In emergency situations, performance might be additionally affected by the level of trait-anxiety in beginners and panic behavior, which has been investigated by other studies. [3][4][5]…”

“…So far, only very little work exists on different teaching methods for this specific sport (see limitations for the role of trait-anxiety on overall performance). [3][4][5] Common explicit and rule-directed methods in sports education have been extended with more implicit approaches over the last decades. [6][7][8] Explicit instructions, which are essential during rule-directed learning, are known for fast increases in performance but high dependence on the learners working memory capacity.…”

“…So far, only very little work exists on different teaching methods for this specific sport (see limitations for the role of trait-anxiety on overall performance). 3–5…”