Strategic Self-Talk and Readiness Potential in Pistol Shooting: A Pilot Study on the Attentional Self-Talk Mechanism

Considerable evidence through self-reports and behavioral data suggests that the facilitating effects of strategic, instructional self-talk can be attributed to attentional mechanisms.Nonetheless, the psychophysiological underpinnings of such mechanisms have been scantly explored.The aim of this pilot study was to provide preliminary evidence regarding the attentional mechanism of instructional self-talk by analyzing the readiness potential during the motor planning phase of a pistol shooting task.A within-subject, noncontrolled design was used involving nine novice participants who completed five sessions.These included familiarization with the task and preintervention assessment, three training sessions, and postintervention assessment.The SCATT shooting system was used to record and assess shooting performance and aim stability.A 32-channel EEG cap was used for the acquisition and analysis of the readiness potential.The analysis showed a positive trend for performance improvement from pre-to postintervention assessment.In parallel, considerable in effect size amplitude changes in the readiness potential before movement initiation were observed.These preliminary findings provide indications that the effectiveness of strategic, instructional self-talk in pistol shooting may be partly attributed to the amplitude changes in the readiness potential, highlighting an attention-based mechanism that reflects a potential effortless neurocognitive preparation of action effect.