The effect of working memory training on working memory capacity and competitive anxiety in adult football players

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of working memory training on working memory capacity and competitive anxiety in adult football players.

Research method is quasi-experimental and design is pretest – posttest with control group. 24 football player were selected among Arak Aluminum football team players by convenience sampling and randomly assigned into control and experimental groups. After the pre-test, participants in the experimental group performed 25 sessions of working memory exercises. Post- test was performed at the end of all groups. Instruments of gathering data included N-BACK working memory test, competitive - state anxiety tests, and working memory training software. For data analysis, one-way analysis of covariance was used.

The results showed that working memory training resulted in decrease in state anxiety and increase in working memory capacity of football players in experimental groups.

Generally, the use of working memory training as a complement to physical exercise is useful to reducing the anxiety of football players in high-pressure situations.