| This study applied experimental psychology and motor learning research to create a psychological training regimen for competitive tennis players. Subjects were measured on their speed and accuracy of responding to a computer drawn tennis ball that was rotating in a topspin, sidespin, or backspin direction. Immediately prior to the ball presentation, a word was presented visually or aurally. In the first experiment, the accessory stimulus provided positive (e.g. "nice shot" or "ace") or negative information (e.g. "bad shot" or "fault") followed by the subject's name. In the second experiment, the accessory stimulus was a written or spoken word conveying information about the type of spin (e.g "topspin", "backspin", or "sidespin"). In condition 'a' of experiment 2, 33% of the time the accessory cue correctly indicated the type of ball spin. In condition 'b', the accessory cue correctly indicated ball spin 66% of the time. The accessory cues presented immediately prior to an imperative stimulus did affect response speed and accuracy. The magnitude of the reaction time (RT) effect was partially dependent on the accessory modality and polarity and the compatibility between the imperative stimulus and the accessory cue. The results support the notion that this paradigm may be a viable method to train tennis players psychologically. |
