How do anxiety and stress affect soccer referees? An ERPs study

Area of Science:

• Sports Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Soccer referee decision-making is influenced by pressure and emotions.
• The precise impact of anxiety on referee decisions under pressure is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how anxiety levels affect soccer referees' decision-making under varying pressure conditions.
• To explore the neural mechanisms underlying anxiety's influence on referee judgment using Event-Related Potential (ERP) technology.

Main Methods:

• Developed a soccer penalty task simulating real match scenarios.
• Recruited 76 experienced soccer referees, categorized into high and low anxiety groups.
• Utilized ERP to analyze brain signals during decision-making under simulated low and high pressure.

Main Results:

• Referees with high anxiety showed significantly larger P300 and N400 amplitudes in low-pressure environments.
• No significant differences in P300 and N400 amplitudes were found between high and low anxiety groups under high-pressure conditions.

Conclusions:

• Anxiety's effect on referee decision-making is complex and context-dependent.
• Managing referees' psychological states is crucial for enhancing decision quality in competitive sports.
• Findings offer an empirical basis for interventions to mitigate anxiety's impact on high-pressure decision-making.