Associate Professor, PhD L.V. Voskovskaya¹
Associate Professor, PhD L.B. Dykhan²
Professor, Dr.Hab. E.N. Kamenskaya^2
1Institute of Computer Technology and Information Security of Southern Federal University (SFU ICTIC), Taganrog
²Institute of management in economic, ecological and social systems of Southern Federal University (SFU IMEES), Taganrog

Keywords: emotional stability, training, biofeedback, self-regulation.

Introduction. Sport activities are an important part of the human life providing a person with opportunities of both physical and psychological development. Numerous researches (in physiology, psycho-physiology, psychology, etc.) are conducted in order to find factors that influence the success of sport activities. As sport psychology experts note, one of the important psychological factors, that determines the success of sport activities, is athlete’s stability to his unproductive emotional conditions.

As noted in sport psychology, emotional stability (ES) correlates with an athlete’s ability to perform laborious activities under negative emotional conditions. Sports activity is always result-oriented, so in their works sport psychologists emphasize only those aspects of athlete's mentality that can be influenced in order to develop, improve his characteristics, etc. Therefore, the representation of ES as the ability of the nervous system to remain efficient in the context of negative psycho-emotional conditions, which is accepted within the psycho-physiological approach, is interpreted in sport psychology only in terms of self-regulation qualities development aimed to overcome biology-driven unproductive characteristics. To this end, we underline the difference, essential for sport psychology, between ES as a temperament characteristic and state ES depending on the degree of mental determination and the self-regulation skill in certain situations.

Therefore, the works dedicated to the development of state ES improving technologies by cultivating self-regulation skills, are up-to-date. In addition, many experts refer to the problem with estimating the efficiency of such development procedures. That is why the biofeedback (BFB) technology holds a specific place among self-regulation development methods.

Biofeedback is a complex of procedures for recording, enriching and returning to a test subject the physiological data on the biological processes in his/her body which he/she normally cannot perceive, so that he/she could effectively and voluntarily control these processes. The BFB may be considered one of the most promising solutions to psychological problems in elite sport. It is of particular importance in emotional-volitional training of athletes, including the development of self-regulation skills to maximize the performance. Various sources describe the biofeedback technologies applied in such sports as football, rowing, synchronized swimming, basketball, tennis, etc. [1]. Yet archery holds a specific place among sports activities using the BFB. The works describing the use of biofeedback technologies in this sport, lay an emphasis on entering a special functional condition that increases attention focusing skills and visual acuity that influence shooting accuracy. However, we have not found any works dedicated to the use of the BFB for improving self-regulation skills and state ES. Therefore, the research objective was to study the problem of archers’ ES development with the use of the BFB.

The increasing stress is always accompanied for an athlete by changes in the cardiorespiratory system performance and, as a result, can be diagnosed by changes in respiration, blood stream, heart rate variability and electrodermal response (EDR) data. Among biofeedback training sessions geared to the development of self-regulation skills in the context of unproductive conditions, the use of EDA- and ECG-based biofeedback is recommended [3], [4]. However, under severe time constraints typical for junior athletes who combine their educational and sport activities, we see more value in biofeedback training sessions based on GSR and respiratory data, for it requires from 8 to 15 procedure sessions, unlike an ECG-based biofeedback training program made of 20-30 sessions.

Research methods and structure. In order to develop unproductive emotional condition control skills, we used the BFB technology based on the correction and development program implemented using the “Rehacor-T” hardware and software complex (made by Medicom MTD, Ltd., Russia).

Individual typological features of self-regulation were studied using the “Behaviour Self-Regulation Style” (tn: our translation) methodology by V.I. Morosanova [3]. The features of voluntary regulation in the intention implementation were diagnosed using the “Action Control Scale” methodology by J. Kuhl [5]. Reliability of athlete's competitive performance was assessed by the methodology of V.E. Milman. The development of athletes' voluntary qualities in terms of well-formedness of voluntary skills was estimated with the “Psychological Analysis of Athletes' Voluntary Qualities Development” (tn: our translation) methodology by B.N. Smirnov [7]. For mathematical estimation of statistical significance in changes occurring in the research time in the study and reference groups, the Wilcoxon’s T and Page’s L criteria were used.

Subject to study were 32 archers from Taganrog Sports School #13, aged 16-17, including 12 females and 20 males. The study group consisted of 12 persons (6 females, 6 males), the reference one – of 20. The selection for the study group was voluntary and with no specific requirements.

The empirical research included three stages. At the first stage we diagnosed the ES features of all archers. At the second stage, the formative experiment was conducted, with archers from the study group taking part in it. This correction and development stage included several types of gender-specific training sessions. The essence of the main ES developing training session involving formation of the skills of self-regulation of unproductive conditions was to gradually suppress the orienting response to various stimuli suddenly occurring. For males, the low-intensity electro-stimulation was used as a stress stimulus, experienced as a small sensation of pain. For females, the stimuli were represented by various sounds, causing strong orienting response, and the absence of natural adaptation to them due to their significance for the biological mechanism of survival. Such a choice was based on the psycho-physiological data stating that women possess lower ES to stress factors and, in particular, their response to stimuli is far weaker than that of men [2]. In addition, for both males and females we used an optimum performance biofeedback training for cultivating their abdominal breathing skills.

The formative experiment was performed with each participant of the study group individually and included 10 optimum performance trainings and EDA sessions for ES development. The BFB training sessions have been conducted in the “Modern Psycho-Technology Center” (Taganrog) from January to May 2015 upon the request of the Taganrog Sport School #13.

At the third stage, we estimated the efficiency of the correction and development program using the repeated diagnostics of ES features of the study and reference group athletes, and analyzed changes using the mathematical methods of statistics.

Results and discussion. The pre-diagnostics revealed individual typological features of self-regulation of most subjects being on the average level with dependency being the weak point of archers. In the situation when they had to plan their activities or face failures, athletes focused on their conditions, rather than actions. During competitions they noted their emotional instability, responses to any obstacles and self-regulation problems. All volitional qualities were generally average too.

In order to estimate the efficiency of the BFB program, we used a set of basic psychological methodologies mentioned above, and the analysis of the changes in the psycho-physiological data in the entire course of trainings. EDA data was recorded in the beginning, in the middle and at the end of each biofeedback training session within the whole BFB cycle. As a result, it was highlighted that in the course of trainings the EDA indices, recorded in the beginning of training procedures, were gradually decreasing, and that, in our opinion, demonstrates the growth in emotional stability (L_emp=160, L_cr=152, p<0.001). At an average, EDA indices reduced for 27.8%. Similar decrease was captured in the end of each biofeedback training session in the entire training course from day 1 to day 10; we interpret it not only as the ES increase but also as the development of self-regulation skills expressed as the ability to terminate EDA bursts caused by sudden sound or electrical stimuli (L_emp=164, L_cr=152, p<0.001). At an average, after the entire training course the EDA indices of the study group reduced by 72%. In order to estimate the general performance of training sessions conducted, we compared the GSR data arrangement in the beginning of the biofeedback training (Day 1) with the EDA data arrangement in the end of the training (Day 10). In general, EDA indices reduced by 65%, i.e. three times, in the study group.

The analysis of results, performed using the psychological methodologies, demonstrated that the BFB correction and development work had improved the self regulation level both generally and by individual typological features (see V.I. Morosanova’s methodology). Scales of dependency and planning have shown the least changes the reason being age peculiarities of the participants, as dependent self-regulation is widespread in junior groups due to the necessity of long-term development in this sphere. In contrast, such self-regulation features as programming and estimation of results had changed most significantly, caused, in our opinion, by features of the training sessions. Indeed, in the course of GSR suppression trainings, archers learnt how to correct their responses to unpleasant stimuli and estimate the efficiency of their actions taken to remain emotionally resilient by the frequency of unpleasant stimuli occurring as feedback.

The repeated J. Kuhl’s “Action Control” poll had also highlighted a range of changes. The study group had demonstrated the growth in all scales; the most significant one regarded the action control in the context of failures. In this scale, we have recorded a statistically significant increase in the average group value (Т_emp=3.5, Т_cr=9, p<0.02) that, in our opinion, indicates the occurring tendency to get oriented towards actions rather than conditions, in case of failure. The estimation of psychological reliability in the context of competition, based on Milman’s methodology, has also shown an increase in the scales of competitive emotional stability (Т_эмп=9, Т_кр=9, p<0.02), motivation (Т_emp=4.5, Т_cr=9, p<0.01), and stability-tolerance to obstacles (Т_emp=9, Т_cr=9, p<0.02); athletes from the study groups reported being more relaxed and enthusiastic and inspired in the context of competitions. The “Psychological Analysis of Athletes' Voluntary Qualities Development” has revealed an increase in the scales of determination and persistence (Т_emp=8.5, Т_cr=9, p<0.02), moderation and self-control (Т_emp=17, Т_cr=17, p<0.1) for the archers from the study group. In the reference group all results within the given period remained statistically the same.

Conclusion. The conducted empirical research with the use of the correction and development program based on the BFB technology, confirms that biofeedback training sessions are an effective way of development of athletes' emotional stability by the means of increased self-regulation of unproductive conditions accompanying competitive activities.

References

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Corresponding authors: l.voskovskaya@mail.ru; dyhanlb@mail.ru; kamenskay-e@yandex.ru

Abstract
The given article discusses the results of working with athletes to improve their emotional stability (ES) by the hardware means based on the biofeedback technology (BFB). It shows that emotional stability is one of the psychological conditions essential for reliability of competitive results. It is noted that, in terms of sport psychology, emotional stability is understood as the ability to regulate on one's own inefficient emotional conditions that occur in the context of competition. Biofeedback technology is a modern tech-nology, capable of combining various methods of self-regulation. The findings of the work include the results of the emotional stability training sessions of archers with the use of the biofeedback technology. In the course of the training, athletes demonstrated the growth in self-regulation and competitive emo-tional stability and improved their moral-volitional qualities, such as determination, persistence, self-restrain, and self-regulation.