College Honors Program

Effect of Feedback on Cognitive Control in Athletes and Non-athletes

Date of Creation

5-17-2024

Document Type

Campus Access Only

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Gregory J. DiGirolamo

Abstract

The push to address and prioritize the mental health of college students has grown tremendously in recent years. Specifically, there has been a unique focus on collegiate student athletes due to the increase in the number of suicides (Whelan, B.M., 2024). Athletes may differ from non-athletes in their ability to overcome negative events since they are constantly exposed to feedback, whether that is positive or negative. This experiment investigated the ability of athletes and non-athletes to control their behavior in response to negative or positive feedback. An anti-saccade task, where people look away from a suddenly appearing object, was employed. 16 participants (9 athletes and 7 non-athletes) completed 602 trials divided into blocks of baseline, training and testing. Following negative feedback, athletes and non-athletes both showed diminished cognitive control by looking away slower. Likewise, following a stimulus that was associated with negative feedback, athletes and non-athletes both looked away slower, again showing diminished cognitive control. However, following 2 consecutive trials of negative feedback, athletes showed improved cognitive control by looking away faster while non-athletes did not. Athletes demonstrated a unique response to more negative feedback than non-athletes, suggesting more resiliency.

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