Cue weighting and basketball pass decisions under breathing-induced high and low psychophysiological activation

In basketball, players are required to make decisions while considering numerous cues and to execute the relevant actions with high precision. Prominent perceptual cues include the defensive coverage, positioning of their teammates, and the distance to the basket (Davids et al., 2013). Psychophysiological activation level is known to influence motor-cognitive processes during decision making (e.g., Du et al., 2024), but the exact form of these influences is still not fully understood. The theory of arousal biased competition (ABC) proposes that arousal enhances processing of goal-relevant information, while reducing processing of goal-irrelevant information (Mather & Sutherland, 2011). Thereby, high activation may facilitate performance by biasing the attentional focus to the most relevant cues. Research has shown that high activation additionally influences how the cues are used in decision processes, leading to higher prevalence of heuristic, non-compensatory decision strategies (Wichary et al., 2016). Non-compensatory decision strategies describe the process of selectively focusing on the most important cues, while ignoring less important ones (Schevchenko & Bröder, 2018). An example of such a strategy is “Take-the-best”, in which an individual searches through cues in order of their weightings, and chooses an option as soon as a cue discriminates among alternatives. In contrast, compensatory decision strategies, such as the equal weight and weighted additive strategies, are characterized by a more elaborate search in which all cues are considered. Thereby, the sum of weightings of two cues may for instance compensate for the weighting of another cue, and inform the final choice accordingly (Gigerenzer & Gassmaier, 2011; Scheibehenne & Von Helversen, 2014). Empirical studies solely focusing on the cognitive processes have supported the facilitative effects of high activation proposed in the theory of ABC (Du et al., 2024; Lewinsohn et al., 1993). More specifically, Wichary et al. (2016) showed that high activation promoted a selective focus on the highest weighted cue, with more time spent on this cue and fewer cues searched, and led to an increased use of non-compensatory decision strategies. While the ABC theory primarily focuses on cognitive processes, it does not provide predictions for changes in motor processes under increased psychophysiological activation. Embodied cognition approach may offer preliminary insights into this effect by characterizing the relationship between cognitive and motor processes as bidirectional (Lepora & Pezzulo, 2017). We thereby assume that the attentional bias will extend to an action bias towards the most relevant cue. This cue is expected to guide action, limiting other distractions and ensuring high movement accuracy in cases where the attended cue is task-relevant. By attending task-relevant cues, movement execution can be fine-tuned in relation to visual information, ensuring high accuracy (Nieuwenhuys & Oudejans, 2012). The regulation of breathing frequency may represent an efficient way to manipulate psychophysiological activation even on the basketball court. Slow-paced breathing (SPB), defined as breathing at a frequency below the spontaneous range at approx. 6 cycles per minute (CPM), has been thoroughly researched as a relaxation, activation-reducing technique (Laborde et al., 2022). In contrast, fast-paced breathing (FPB), defined as breathing at a frequency above the spontaneous range (>20 CPM), represents an activating technique, suggested to increase psychophysiological activation (Balters et al., 2018; Malhotra et al., 2022). FPB has been shown to increase perceived activation without inducing unpleasant feelings (Iskra et al., in preparation). This aligns with the premise of the ABC theory that the perceptual bias can occur regardless of the changes in valence. Exploration of modified breathing as an activation regulation technique may be particularly promising as it allows individuals to flexibly and timely implement it without requiring additional materials, in contrast to studies using pictorial or sound manipulation of activation (e.g., Sutherland & Mather, 2018; Wichary et al., 2016). Therefore, in the present study, breathing frequency will be experimentally manipulated and we will test its effect on motor-cognitive decision processes in a dynamic basketball-related task. The primary aim of this experimental study is to assess how breathing-induced changes in psychophysiological activation influence the pass selection, execution, and timing in basketball scenarios. Participants will be required to watch video clips of basketball scenarios and during an ongoing scene, select and physically execute a pass to a teammate they determined to be the best option. Secondly, to evaluate the quality of their decision making, option selection and movement execution time will be compared to the experts’ estimations of optimal responses. The level of psychophysiological activation will be assessed at the cardiac and subjective levels. We will collect data indexing the physiological activation at baseline at the cardiac level using electrocardiography (ECG) and impedance cardiography (ICG). Heart related activity will be used to measure heart rate and cardiac parasympathetic and sympathetic effects upon the heart, with RMSSD and PEP as respective indices (Berntson et al., 1994: Laborde et al., 2017). Heart rate and RMSSD will be measured throughout the decision-making task. Perceived arousal and valence scores will be collected using the Self-assessment manikin (Bradley & Lang, 1994) and self-report anxiety will be assessed using the anxiety thermometer (Houtman & Bakker, 1989).