Psychology of Sport and Exercise最新文献

{"title":"Artificial intelligence in sport psychology: Implications for the identification and development of talent","authors":"Francesco Sartor ,&nbsp;Salvatore A. Rosito ,&nbsp;Moira Raimo ,&nbsp;Marco Beato ,&nbsp;Maurizio Bertollo","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102977","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102977","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial Intelligence (AI), defined as computational systems capable of executing tasks requiring human-like intelligence, such as reasoning, planning, learning, perception, and interaction, represents a transformative paradigm within sport psychology.</div><div>Machine Learning, a key subdomain of AI that enables pattern recognition and predictive modeling from data, has demonstrated significant efficacy in performance prediction and talent identification across different sports, as evidenced by Baker et al. (2025) in their review.</div><div>However, the implementation of these technologies faces significant hurdles, critically concerning data availability, quality, ownership, and the inherent challenges of labeling for supervised learning. Longitudinal studies are further complicated by missing data and dataset imbalance, particularly concerning outcomes such as the rare development of talent into top-tier athletes, which can lead to biased models with poor generalizability. Standardized development frameworks, such as the Software Development Life Cycle, are advocated to mitigate these risks. Future directions emphasize human-machine interaction, such as conversational AI for decision support and digital twins for athlete modeling. Nevertheless, psychological and subjective factors, like coach judgment, athlete attitudes are critical yet currently underrepresented. AI will be playing a crucial role in enhancing communication between domain experts (coaches, scouts) and complex \"black-box\" systems, building trust for collaborative talent development. Future advancements should prioritize the integration of psychological constructs through idiosyncratic and idiographic approaches, while exploring deep learning for safeguarding applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 102977"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145622843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ACTive to the peak: Psychological flexibility and the relationship with flow and clutch states","authors":"Luca Ziegler,&nbsp;Lindsey Leatherman,&nbsp;Ashley Coker-Cranney","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102989","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102989","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Current research on psychological flexibility (PF) in sport has largely relied on cross-sectional assessments or limited follow-up, which overlooks the inherently dynamic nature of the competitive athletic season. Furthermore, the relationship between PF and optimal mental states associated with enhanced athletic performance, primarily flow and clutch states, remain relatively unexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to longitudinally assess the six processes of psychological flexibility and flow and clutch states across a competitive season. Collegiate soccer players (<em>n</em> = 173) completed online pre-game psychological flexibility and post-game optimal mental states assessments for pre-season, non-conference, conference, and post-season games. Aside from values, the remaining five processes remained stable across the season, providing further support that processes should be specifically targeted via psychological interventions to see improvement. Furthermore, values were a significant predictor of flow states in non-conference games (<em>R</em>²_Adj. = .30), while cognitive defusion significantly predicted clutch states in conference games (<em>R</em>²_Adj. = .67). The remaining processes did not account for a significant amount of variance in flow or clutch states, suggesting that unidimensional psychological flexibility may not be directly related to improving optimal mental states. Practical implications relate to the importance of multidimensional assessment of psychological flexibility, consideration of the relative stability in psychological flexibility, and the finding that psychological flexibility did not directly relate to optimal mental states in the present study.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 102989"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144933515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A commentary on “Decision making in sports” by Johnson (2025)","authors":"David P. Broadbent,&nbsp;Lyndell M. Bruce","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102979","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102979","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recognition of the 25th anniversary of <em>Psychology of Sport and Exercise</em> (PSE), Johnson (2025) provided an insightful overview of decision making in sports, detailing the foundations of this research in psychology and then outlining the growth of decision making research in sport psychology. The review highlighted the tremendous progression of this research area, outlining several theoretical approaches that have been proposed, and providing future directions that will continue to progress the area in the next 25 years. It is the latter which we have chosen to delve in to further in this commentary. Specifically, we contend that the key for advancing this area of research is the use of real-world data and representative study designs to further our understanding of the interactive and context-specific nature of decision making in sport. This will have implications for performance and training in sport, as well as wider implications for our understanding of how humans interact with the world. We provide a brief overview of the key points we took from the review by Johnson (2025) and build on each of these to highlight future directions for research that could provide unique insights into decision making in sport.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 102979"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144984342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cognitive and executive functions of top level para-karate athletes with intellectual disability","authors":"Debbie Van Biesen ,&nbsp;Dušana Augustovičová ,&nbsp;Roi Charles Pineda ,&nbsp;Dagmar Nemček ,&nbsp;Jan Burns","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102998","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102998","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Karate is one of the most popular martial arts. This study investigates the cognitive profiles of top-level Para Karate athletes with intellectual disability (ID), aiming to assess the extent to which cognitive abilities are related to athletic performance. Cognitive and executive functions, including decision-making, processing speed, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control, are critical in high-level sports but are often understudied in athletes with ID. We conducted cognitive assessments and executive function tests on a cohort of elite Para Karate athletes (<em>n</em> = 42) aged 27.0 (±6.5) years competing in two separate classes. The K21 class (<em>n</em> = 21) is the traditional class for athletes diagnosed with ID and the K22 (<em>n</em> = 23) is a class for ID-athletes with a significant additional impairment such as a genetic syndrome (e.g., Down syndrome) or functional limitation (e.g., reduced joint mobility). The MANOVA revealed that K21 Para Karate athletes perform significantly better than K22 athletes in the areas related to cognitive processing speed (i.e., simple reaction time), visuospatial processing (block design) and inductive reasoning (matrix reasoning task) with large effect sizes. No significant differences between the classes were found for the executive function measures working memory and inhibitory control. The kata-performance during competition was judged by a panel of seven referees. K21 athletes performed better than K22 athletes and a significant correlation was apparent between kata-performance and one parameter of executive function (i.e., inhibitory control). These results highlight the relation between cognitive development and martial arts performance and provide insights for future studies related to the development of sport-specific classification for athletes with ID. More sophisticated measures are necessary to assess the key determinants of kata performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 102998"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145088704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Motor experience enhances dimension-specific action anticipation: Evidence from electroencephalography and computational modeling","authors":"Zhurui Yan ,&nbsp;Jian Wang ,&nbsp;Yiheng Chen ,&nbsp;Yingzhi Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102999","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102999","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In fast-paced competitive sports, effective performance depends on the ability to anticipate opponents’ movements across multiple outcome dimensions, such as spin and direction. Although motor experience enhances action anticipation, the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying efficient anticipation of different outcome dimensions by experts remain unclear. In this study, 23 table tennis players and 31 controls completed a serve anticipation task involving spin and direction judgments. By combining behavioral measures with hierarchical drift diffusion modeling (HDDM) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of electroencephalography (EEG), we examined the decision dynamics and neural representations underlying these anticipatory processes. Results revealed that spin and direction judgments engage dissociable cognitive and neural pathways. Athletes showed greater processing efficiency, reflected in faster evidence accumulation and enhanced strategic flexibility. MVPA further revealed dimension-specific spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity, with athletes exhibiting earlier decoding during the perceptual stages, and stronger and more stable top-down integration during the later stages. Our findings highlight how motor experience enhances dimension-specific information extraction and adaptive decision strategies, offering new insights into the neural basis of action prediction and the optimization of high-level athletic performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 102999"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145139902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cohesion at 40: A commentary on (re)conceptualizing cohesion through identity, interdependence, and teamwork in sport and exercise","authors":"Christine M. Habeeb ,&nbsp;Sarah A. Stephen ,&nbsp;Pete Coffee","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103024","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103024","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We provide a brief commentary to accompany Eys and Beauchamp's (2025) work, <em>(Re)conceptualizing cohesion: A theoretical realignment and roadmap for future research</em>. We emphasize and extend the conceptual advances offered in the paper around four focal areas: the revised definition of cohesion (Propositions 1–2), the repositioning of individual attractions within a social identity framework (Proposition 3), the roles of task and outcome interdependence (Propositions 4, 5, 7) and teamwork processes (Proposition 6). Building on these propositions, we contribute to their conversation on theoretical refinement and methodological rigor. Specifically, we highlight cohesion theory can be further strengthened with dedicated research on social cohesion and more precisely placing (group) goals within cohesion theory. As mentioned by the authors, there is a need to conduct targeted studies in individual-sport contexts and utilize multilevel modeling to capture nested team dynamics in any group setting. We further consider that framing interdependence as a subjective, dynamic state offers novel insights into its relationship with cohesion. To enhance knowledge about cohesion and teamwork, we suggest measuring observable teamwork behaviors in combination with survey-based methods. We offer this commentary to enrich the paper's conceptual foundation and support the evolution of cohesion research in the coming 40 years.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 103024"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145515303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reflections on non-WEIRD behavior change and the next generation of physical activity research: A commentary on Simpson et al. (2025)","authors":"Angela Beggan ,&nbsp;Kerry R. McGannon","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102993","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102993","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This commentary responds to Simpson et al.’s (2025) call to broaden health behavior change (BC) research in physical activity (PA) beyond WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) paradigms. Drawing from narrative, discursive, and postqualitative traditions, we reflect on the conceptual and historical meanings of “WEIRD” and explore its limitations. We propose three transgressive directions for future BC and PA research: humility, reflexivity, and attention to <em>wyrd</em> ways of life. These reflections invite researchers to move beyond the ‘same old’ assumptions and consider culturally situated, relational, and decolonizing approaches that rethink both our conceptions of BC and PA and what our research of them can mean, do, and become.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 102993"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145622841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“Turning around an oil tanker”: Recommendations for a safeguarding program in football","authors":"James A. Newman ,&nbsp;James L. Rumbold","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite increasing awareness and reports of wrongdoing in sports such as professional football there remains a lack of safeguarding education targeted at adults to address this behavior. Thus, there is a need to develop safeguarding education programs based on the experiential knowledge of adults in football. The present study explored knowledge users' recommendations, as a means to co-produce a safeguarding education program to address maltreatment in football. Guided by a social constructivist approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 safeguarding and welfare personnel (nine who identified as females and ten as males) who work within British clubs and organizations ranging from English Premier League (EPL) through to the English Northern Premier League Division One. The participants’ roles ranged from Chief Executive Officer; Vice Chairman; General Counsel; Club Development Officer; Head of Safeguarding; Designated Safeguarding Officer; Safeguarding Case Officer; Academy Safeguarding Manager; Head of Education and Welfare; Player Care and Welfare Officer; Head of Education and Player Care, and Coach. Through a reflexive thematic analysis, knowledge users discussed s<em>haping safeguarding education in professional football, and the best way to deliver safeguarding education</em>. Knowledge users highlighted the need for safeguarding programs to be designed and delivered at individual, club, and systemic levels to be effective. Furthermore, these programs need to be underpinned by a cultural intervention to safeguarding education in professional football. From a research perspective, the present findings emphasize the value of collaborating with underrepresented groups to create meaningful change in safeguarding in sport. Lastly, the present study provides the foundation for future research to evaluate the effectiveness of a safeguarding education program in football in practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 103004"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145276899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From social identity to team performance: Linking transactive memory systems and teamwork","authors":"Canberk Ozlu ,&nbsp;Umut Sezer ,&nbsp;Deniz Durdubas ,&nbsp;Ziya Koruc","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cultivating a shared team identity fosters individuals' sense of belonging and strengthens their connection to the team. Previous studies have demonstrated that having a shared team identity and strongly identified individuals within the group are associated with various positive outcomes. Among these positive outcomes, increasing evidence from the organizational field suggests that a shared identity may serve as a foundational mechanism in the emergence of transactive memory systems (TMS). TMS refers to shared cognitive structures that enable team members to encode, store, and retrieve information collectively. The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between team identification and transactive memory systems, as well as to investigate their effects on teamwork behaviors and overall performance of sport teams in unique tournament settings. A 3-wave longitudinal research design was employed to examine these associations, involving 167 athletes across 15 teams. Structural equation modelling indicated a significant relationship between team identification and transactive memory systems in the pre-tournament phase. Furthermore, pre-tournament transactive memory systems predicted teamwork behaviors during the tournament, positively influencing overall team performance. Our exploratory findings underscore how the short duration and high-pressure nature of the tournament differentially shaped teams' adaptive responses. Specifically, only mid-ranking teams showed significant improvements in adjustment behaviours from pre-tournament to mid-tournament, whereas both lower- and higher-ranking teams exhibited non-significant change. Based on these findings, to optimize a team's performance in a time-limited context such as tournaments, sport psychologists and coaches are encouraged to cultivate a shared team identity through social identity focused workshops or identity leadership interventions, and social activities with a heightened sense of psychological safety (e.g. open discussions for role clarity), which can develop transactive memory systems and, in turn, enhance teamwork behaviors and overall team performance. Consequently, the present study aims to adopt a collective-cognitive approach to the link between social identity and team performance in a sporting context, and to shed light on how team functioning unfolds under time-constrained conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 103007"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145338434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A letter to my younger self: Understanding talented athletes’ experiences of and future recommendations for seeking help for mental health difficulties","authors":"Ella McLoughlin ,&nbsp;Rachel Arnold","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103017","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103017","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Researchers have suggested that athletes are at-risk for mental health difficulties partly due to the stressors they encounter. Despite this, athletes may not acknowledge nor seek support for their mental health problems. The aim of this study is to explore talented athletes' experiences of seeking help for mental help difficulties, and their perceptions of the psychological services offered. Utilizing letter to self-methodology, 16 talented athletes (11 female; <em>M</em>_<em>age</em> = 25.27, <em>SD</em> = 7.95) were asked to write a letter to their younger self outlining their experiences of seeking help for mental health difficulties. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, and five themes were generated: (1) Athletes have a tendency to bottle up feelings as a way to protect themselves; (2) Unable to identify signs and symptoms of mental ill-health; (3) Availability of sport psychology support has improved, but it is still insufficient; (4) Athletes are individual and should be treated as so; and (5) The sporting environment should attempt to develop cultural competency. Following this, a composite version of the letter was developed and presented to a selection of the original sample (<em>n</em> = 9). Member reflection interviews were then completed (<em>M</em>_{<em>duration</em>} = 63.07 min; <em>SD</em> = 11.15) to explore their responses to the letter. This study provides insight into athletes’ current and desired mental health support. From the findings, a set of recommendations are forwarded to strengthen the provision of mental health support and provide athletes with earlier and tailored support.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 103017"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145472606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}