The purpose of this research was to examine the influence of fictitious scoring updates on psychological momentum (PM) and athletic performance in a competitive basketball setting. The participants included in this study were 50 male undergraduate students who reported having played basketball previously and qualified by being able to make more than 24% (12 out of 50) of their 3-point shots in a pre-trial session. Participants were told that they were competing in a 50 shot, 3-point shooting competition against another individual, equal in ability. After every 10 shots, participants were given a fabricated score update and answered four questions used to measure PM. Results showed that the fictitious score updates significantly (p < .01) influenced participants’ PM scores, where those who were told they led had higher PM scores than those who were told they trailed. As for shooting performance, no significant differences (p = .76) were found between positive and negative PM states for participants who reported experiencing both during the competition. Together, these findings suggest that manufactured score updates can influence PM, but resultant performance differences may not exist. Results of this study lend support to the notion that PM is experienced by athletes. However, when examining basketball shooting performance, the momentum-performance relationship is statistically unsupported. Thus, although PM is thought of by many as a game-changing factor, this study would suggest that PM plays a negligible role in changes to individual performance.

<p>The notion of momentum has received significant attention from sports psychologists. Recently, however, some researchers have introduced it to educational contexts and developed a psychological momentum perspective toward academic motivations. Different from other motivation theories, the psychological momentum theory mainly builds on Newtonian physics. It stresses the analogy between physical concepts (mass, inertia, and momentum) and psychological processes. While such a background brings several novel and appealing insights into academic motivations, as the theory is still new to the field, more validation work, such as those exploring its convergence and divergence with other established theories, is needed. Using self-determination theory as a complementary theory, the current study explored the convergence between the two theories by examining the association between self-determined motivations and two states of academic inertia (i.e., low-momentum state inertia [LMSI] and high momentum state inertia [HMSI]). The study also examined the two theories’ divergence by investigating how the two states of inertia predict academic engagement over and above self-determined motivations. </p> <p>Two hundred and six undergraduate students from a Midwestern university participated in this study. Regarding convergence, results provided mixed support for the hypothesis. No significant association was obtained between HMSI and all motivations; however, LMSI was negatively associated with intrinsic motivation and the relatively autonomy index but positively associated with amotivation (all to a weak-to-moderate extent). Regarding divergence, results demonstrated that inertia explained a moderate-yet-meaningful amount of variation in academic engagement, even after self-determined motivations are controlled for. Taken together, the results suggested the promise of PMT as a motivation theory. Based on the findings, implications and limitations of the study were further discussed.<b><br> </b></p>

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of timeouts in competitive elite table tennis in relation to psychological momentum (PM). To that end, archival data from elite top-international matches (N= 48) was firstly examined to gather information on when timeouts are most taken, and whether these have any objective influence on subsequent performance (set outcome and ultimately match outcome). Secondly, similar archival data for Swedish League matches (N= 36) was examined and interviews with elite coaches from the highest Swedish league (N= 6) at these given matches were carried out to gain further knowledge and understanding on the role and use of timeouts in competitive elite table tennis. Findings showed that timeouts were mostly called following a sequence of three consecutive lost points; that is, coaches used timeouts to break negative PM. However, findings also showed that these given timeouts had no objective impact on neither set nor match outcomes; that is, sets and matches were ultimately lost. Future research examining the subjective coach-player experience revolving around timeouts is needed to comprehend potential ‘secondary’ purposes when calling timeouts and, subsequently, understand timeouts role in table tennis fully.

La performance sportive est influencée par de nombreux facteurs, lesquels s’influencent eux-mêmes réciproquement. La complexité de ces facteurs et de leurs relations ayant été négligée par les chercheurs, l’objet de la présente thèse était de rendre compte de cette complexité, à l’aide de méthodes empruntées à l’approche dynamique. Nous avons pu montrer que (a) les joueurs de football les plus experts construisent leur représentations du jeu en cours (les liens entre actions réalisées sur le terrain) avec des niveaux de complexité les plus élevés; (b) en aviron, une organisation motrice complexe, impliquant des interactions entre de nombreuses composantes, sous-tend la génération des mouvements de rame en cours; (c) le momentum psychologique en aviron se caractérise par des changements psychologiques et de performance qui s’inscrivent dans l’histoire de la performance; et (d) la performance excellente se développe à partir des interactions en cours entre les facteurs personnels et environnementaux couplés. Ces différents éclairages montrent l’intérêt d’une approche de la complexité pour comprendre les processus de performance. / The processes involved in human performance seem inherently complex and dynamic. For example, in order to “read the game”, a soccer player must integrate all the information from the ongoing movements and positions of team members, the opponents, the relative positions between them, where the ball is located, etc. Furthermore, an individual’s motor performance, which is particularly crucial in sports, depends on various simultaneous processes at different levels of the motor system: Cells, muscles, limbs, the brain, etc. In addition, individuals and teams do not perform in a void, but in achievement contexts, in which they strive for their goals, and their psychological states and performance may fluctuate as a function of many personal and environmental factors. For example, an athlete may enter a positive or negative spiral when perceiving that he or she is progressing or regressing in relation to the preferred goal or outcome (e.g., the victory). This perception of progress and regress, and the positive and negative psychological and behavioral (performance) changes accompanying this perception, are called positive and negative psychological momentum (PM; e.g., Gernigon, Briki, & Eykens, 2010). Positive and negative PM can emerge from one’s (or the opponent’s) mistakes, referee decisions, crowd behaviors, one’s psychological and physical state at a certain moment, and the interactions between these factors (Taylor & Demick, 1994). In addition, switching from performance on a relatively short time frame to a long-term process, individuals develop their abilities over multiple years, and hence over many practice or competition occasions. Ultimately, very few individuals develop world-class performance (e.g., winning Olympic medals), and their excellent abilities develop out of a combination of a variety of personal and environmental factors in interaction (e.g., motivation, coaching, family support, practice; Simonton, 1999). The current dissertation aims to capture complex dynamic performance-related processes, including the topics illustrated above. This means that we examine complexity at different levels (psychological, behavioral), time scales (from one training or competition session up to a career), as well as the interrelation between the processes across different levels and time scales.