The Effect of Motivational Self-Talk on Bimanual Coordination Performance of University Students

Self-talk is one of the psychological factors influencing the improvement and success of motor performance. The present research aimed to investigate the effect of motivational self-talk on bimanual coordination of university students. 24 students of physical education (12 females and 12 males, mean age = 22.62 and SD = 2.081) were selected by convenience sampling method. After the pretest, subjects were divided into two homogeneous groups of motivational self-talk and no self-talk using bimanual coordination tester. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics including independent t test and paired t test were used at 0.05 significance level. Results showed that self-talk improved the coordination performance significantly (p < 0.05). Also, the female group had a significantly better precision in bimanual coordination (p < 0.05) and the male group had a significantly better speed in bimanual coordination (p < 0.05). But, there was a significant difference between boys and girls in self-talk group in the posttest (p < 0.05). According to these findings, it is suggested that motivational self-talk should be used to improve and promote bimanual coordination performance.