Effects of Reflection to Improve Goal-Directed Self-Talk on Endurance Performance

Abstract

We investigated the effects of an intervention that encouraged reflection on organic self-talk used during endurance performance. Using an experimental design, we compared the effects of enhancing metacognitive skills by (a) planning and (b) reviewing and evaluating goal-directed self-talk. Participants completed three time-to-exhaustion cycling task trials in which we hypothesized that the intervention group would perform significantly better than the control group. Further, we expected a reduction in perceived exertion for a given workload among participants following a self-talk intervention. Thirty-four participants completed a time-to-exhaustion cycle ergometer test, after which participants were randomly divided into an intervention and control group. The intervention group performed reflection tasks on performance in the time-to-exhaustion test. Participants completed two further time-to-exhaustion tests. Repeated measures analyses of covariance to test whether the intervention group performed for longer indicated no significant difference in time to exhaustion (p = 0.157). Perceived exertion rates were 2.42% higher in the intervention compared to the control group (p = 0.025). In conclusion, in the intervention group, goal-directed self-talk led to increased sensitisation to perceived exertion, and participants chose to stop exercising at this point rather than repeat implementation of self-talk statements and persist for longer.

If-then Planning in Sports: A Scoping Review

“…Nevertheless, the available studies already shed a nuanced light on mechanisms and moderators of if-then planning in sports. If-then planning modulates perceptions of exertion and experienced pain in endurance tasks (Bieleke & Wolff, 2017;Latinjak et al, 2018;Wolff et al, 2018). Moreover, it attenuates the arousal that accompanies performance in challenging situations (Stern et al, 2013;Wilczynska et al, 2014).…”

“…The majority of these studies focused on static muscular endurance performance, predominantly via weight-holding tasks (Bieleke & Wolff, 2017;Hirsch et al, 2020;Thürmer et al, 2017;Wolff et al, 2018) and once in a posture-holding yoga task (Wang et al, 2019). Only one study used a cycling task to examine whole-body endurance performance (Latinjak et al, 2018). Common to all studies is their reliance on university student samples as well as on laboratory experiments with highly standardized tasks that maximize internal validity at the expense of external validity.…”

“…Plans that did not fit participants' beliefs in such a manner, however, were not effective. Importantly, plans might even cause ironic effects and under some conditions induce higher levels of perceived exertion although they had been designed to optimize dealing with this very sensation (Bieleke & Wolff, 2017;Latinjak et al, 2018). Finally, on the neuronal level, if-then planning was found to reduce activity in brain regions associated with effortful control (i.e., the dlPFC; Wolff et al, 2018).…”

Struggles and Strategies in Anaerobic and Aerobic Cycling Tests: A Mixed-Method Approach With a Focus on Tailored Self-Regulation Strategies

“…Compared to a control group, participants who had formed if-then plans performed better in both studies. However, studies that investigated the effects of an if-then planning intervention on static muscular endurance (e.g., individual weight-holding task; Bieleke & Wolff, 2017;Hirsch et al, 2020;Wolff et al, 2018) or whole-body endurance (Latinjak et al, 2018) observed no performance improvements. Interestingly, if-then planning still affected important correlates of endurance performance like the perception of effort (Bieleke & Wolff, 2017) and the activation of prefrontal cortex areas (Wolff et al, 2018).…”

Endorsement and Constructive Criticism of an Innovative Online Reflexive Self-Talk Intervention

“…Compared with the existing self-talk literature that deals intensively with research on interventions using predetermined cue words (Tod et al, 2011), the research with reflexive self-talk interventions (aka., goal-directed self-talk interventions) is still in its infancy (Latinjak et al, 2016, 2018). Nonetheless, diverse psychotherapeutic approaches [e.g., Rational Emotive Therapy (Ellis, 1976) and Cognitive-Behavior Modification (Meichenbaum, 1977)] previously applied effectively to the sports setting (Neil et al, 2013; Turner and Barker, 2014) serve as indirect support for the efficacy of reflexive self-talk interventions in sport.…”