Effect of Practicing under High Psychological Pressure on the Performance and Learning of the Basketball Jump Shot: A Test on the Practice Specificity Hypothesis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of practicing under high psychological pressure on performance in laboratory and competition conditions. Totally, 60 participants (mean age=21.4±2.6) were selected using available sampling method and divided into two high and low psychological pressure groups. The basketball jump shot was used as the target task in the current study. Participants practiced the task for 10 sessions. The retention and transfer (performance in a real match) tests were conducted 48 hours after the last session of practice. The throwing accuracy of participants was assessed by AAHPERD test. The results showed that there was no significant difference between groups in retention test. However, in the transfer test, the high psychological pressure group had higher accuracy than the low one. These results interpreted the practice specificity hypothesis.