Cardiac Deceleration in Elite Golfers as Modified by Noise and Anxiety during Putting

The relationship between attention and performance in sports has been investigated in numerous studies, often by using indirect measurements such as self-reports. Alternatives for studying attentional processes during an event are provided by psychophysiological methods. In the present study, cardiac patterns of highly skilled golfers were monitored during the performance of a putting task in both the presence and absence of noise. As a group, the golfers putted as well when noise was present as when it was absent. However, those who scored high on a trait anxiety test showed greater intraindividual variation between putts when noise occurred. More importantly, the players with higher trait anxiety did not show, as expected, pronounced cardiac deceleration prior to putting, as did the players with low trait anxiety scores. Consequently, the present result calls into question the view that cardiac deceleration is associated with superior athletic performance. Furthermore, cardiac deceleration cannot be used as a general measure of attentional processes because interindividual differences in traits, such as anxiety, are probably also important factors to consider.