Effect of Different Features of Pressure on the Kinematic Characteristics of Gun and Performance Accuracy in Expert and Novice Pistol Shooters

The present study investigated the effects of physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety on performance accuracy and kinematic features of gun in expert and novice groups. The physiological arousal was recorded with skin conductance response. Performance accuracy and kinematic features of gun such as total movement time, peak velocity, displacement in horizontal and vertical axis were measured by using mixed variance analysis test with repeated measures design. Increased physiological arousal and anxiety showed induced pressure conditions. More increase in the physiological arousal in novice group led to an increase in the peak velocity and the displacement in the vertical axis of the gun and a reduction of the performance accuracy. However, the performance of the expert group increased with decreased displacement in two axes under pressure conditions. The findings support the prediction of the catastrophe model, which conceptualized based on the relationship of motor performance with physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety.