Dr.Sc.Psych., Professor V.A. Moskvin¹
PhD, Associate Professor N.V. Moskvina^1
1Russian State University of Physical Education, Sports, Youth and Tourism (SCOLIPE), Moscow

 

Keywords: psychophysiology, individual trait, functional asymmetry, junior athletes, volitional control of behaviour.

 

Introduction. In modern sport psychology, the problem of volitional control is among the key ones. This article is devoted to the volitional control abilities in the athletes tested with various features of dominance of the cerebral regulative block by A.R. Luria [1].

 Neuropsychology indicates that it is the frontal lobe that is responsible for the volitional control of behaviour [1-3], i.e. it is directly associated with the processes of volitional regulation. Individual styles of self-regulation make themselves evident in the fact that the left-brain dominant persons are more successful in their identity formation [2]. Identification of individual characteristics of volitional control can be of great importance in terms of selection and training of elite athletes.

Objective of the study was to rate volitional control abilities in sporting students with functional asymmetries.

Methods and structure of the study. Subject to the study were the sport university students (18-25 year-old males, n=100). Applied for the study purposes were the following methods: Cattel’s 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (A form); M.V. Chumakov’s questionnaire diagnosis of volitional personality traits (VPT) [4]; V.A. Moskvin’s technique of diagnostics of stability of choice of color stimuli; plus the Luria’s [1] incomplete dominance diagnostics criteria including hands-crossing tests to find and rate dominance in contralateral sides of the brain [2]. The sample was split up into two groups by the domination rates, with the Wilcoxon U-test of randomness being applied for statistical processing of the test data.

Results and discussion. Comparison of the averaged data of the Chumakov’s questionnaire diagnosis of VPT showed that the left-brain dominant individuals demonstrated higher results on the scales of responsibility (4.7 and 4.0 points, respectively, p<0.05), proactivity (4.9 and 4.0 points, p<0.05), vigor (6.7 and 6.1 points, p<0.03) and purposefulness (6.4 and 5.6 points, respectively, p<0.05).

According to the Cattel’s 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, particularly its F-factor (expressiveness-restraint), the left-brain dominant group had higher values - 5.5 points, in the right left-brain dominant group - 4.7 points (p<0.03), which testifies to greater activity, liveliness and flexibility of the first group subjects. The N-factor (naivety-perceptiveness) values were lower in the righ-brain dominant group - 5.1 points, while in the left-brain dominant group they were higher - 5.9 points (p<0.03). The left-brain dominant subjects were also found to have higher values in terms of stability of choice (80.7 and 68.5 points, respectively, p<0.04), which indicates the stability of the selected behavioural pattern. 

The analysis revealed that the left-brain dominant subjects had higher values according to the Chumakov’s responsibility, proactivity, vigor and purposefulness scales. They often display such qualities as liveliness, vigor, cheerfulness (the Cattel’s questionnaire). The N-factor (naivety-perceptiveness) values were lower in the right-brain dominant group of subjects - 5.1 points, while in the group of left-brain dominant subjects they were higher - 5.9 points (p<0.03), which can correspond to the display of such qualities as acuteness, prudence. The stability of choice index was higher in those with the left brain dominance, which may indicate greater stability of the adopted behavioural patterns, which was also proved by the example of the junior athletes aged 14-16 [5].

Our earlier studies showed that addictive behaviour is driven by incomplete left brain dominance. This explains weak predictive and regulatory processes in adolescents with drug dependence [2]. The psychophysiological analysis of the problem shows individual differences in the processes of planning of behaviour tactics and behaviour self-regulation, which determines two types of identity formation - "cortical-dependent" and "cortical-independent" behaviour. Incomplete left brain dominance can be considered an individual precondition for the weakness of the regulatory processes and, accordingly, development of the state of dependence [2].

Taken as a whole, these data correspond with the data that have been obtained before among the adolescent athletes and indicate that the volitional control abilities rates in the subjects with varying hands-crossing test results differ significantly as verified by a number of tests [5]. It can be asserted that there are individual traits of the volitional control abilities of the sporting students driven by their individual functional asymmetries.

Conclusions. The study data indicate that the individual volitional control abilities differ due to the functional asymmetries. The study findings may be applied for practical tests of the individual volitional control abilities by the sport psychologists in the elite athletic training systems to forecast the competitive performance under stress. 

 

The study was carried out with the financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Department of Humanities) under Project #16-06-50146-а (f).

 

References

1. Luria A.R. Osnovy neyropsikhologii [Basics of Neuropsychology]. Moscow: MSU publ., 1973, 374 p.

2. Moskvin V.A., Moskvina N.V. Mezhpolusharnye asimmetrii i individualnye razlichiya cheloveka [Interhemispheric asymmetries and individual differences in man]. Moscow: Smysl publ., 2011, 368 p.

3. Moskvin V.A., Moskvina N.V. Tseleobrazovanie i psikhologicheskoe vremya sportivnykh menedzherov [Sport managers' goal-setting and psychological timing abilities]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury, 2017, no. 1, pp. 38-39.

4. Chumakov M.V. Diagnostika volevykh osobennostey lichnosti [Diagnostics of volitional characteristics of personality]. Voprosy psikhologii, 2006, no. 1, pp. 169-178.

5. Moskvin V.A., Moskvina N.V. Asymmetry  and  individual  characteristics of strong-willed regulation  teenage  athletes. Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016, no. 5-6, pp. 22-24. doi: 10.20534/AJH-16-5.6-22-24.

 

Corresponding author: luria-2007@mail.ru

 

Abstract

The study analyzes the psycho-physiological grounds for the individual differences in the volitional control domain, with the sport university students (18-25 year-old males, n = 100) tested with cerebral control function asymmetries sampled for the study. Applied for the study purposes were the following methods: Cattel’s 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (A form); M.V. Chumakov’s questionnaire diagnosis of volitional personality traits; V.A. Moskvin’s technique of diagnostics of stability of choice of color stimuli; plus Luria’s incomplete dominance diagnostics criteria including hands-crossing tests to find and rate dominance in the contralateral frontal parts of the brain. The sample was split up into two groups by the domination rates, with the Wilcoxon U-test of randomness being applied for statistical processing of the test data.

The study found the intergroup differences with the left-brain dominant group tested with the higher volitional control rates. The study findings may be applied for practical tests of the individual volitional control abilities by the sport psychologists in the elite athletic training systems to forecast the competitive performance under stress.