Emotional intelligence training in team sports:The influence of a season long intervention program on trait emotional intelligence

The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of an emotional intelligence (EI) training intervention to improve EI at trait level. Sixty-seven rugby players participated in the study. One group received a specific EI training intervention, while the other group served as a control group. The intervention consisted of four face-to-face sessions over a 5-month period, with homework and follow-up procedures. Results showed that the EI training was partially successful in increasing EI, and demonstrates it is possible to enhance EI at trait level in participants while they may not have preexisting motivation to do so

Vagal Tank Theory: The Three Rs of Cardiac Vagal Control Functioning – Resting, Reactivity, and Recovery

The aim of this paper is to set the stage for the vagal tank theory, showcasing a functional resource account for self-regulation. The vagal tank theory, building on neurophysiological, cognitive and social psychology approaches, will introduce a physiological indicator for self-regulation that has mainly been ignored from cognitive and social psychology, cardiac vagal control (also referred to as cardiac vagal activity). Cardiac vagal control reflects the contribution of the vagus nerve, the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, to cardiac regulation. We propose cardiac vagal control to be an indicator of how efficiently self-regulatory resources are mobilized and used. Three systematic levels of cardiac vagal control analysis are suggested: resting, reactivity, and recovery. Based on this physiological indicator we derive the metaphor of the vagal tank, which can get depleted and replenished. Overall, the vagal tank theory will enable to integrate previous findings from different disciplines and to stimulate new research questions, predictions, and designs regarding self-regulation

Attention, working-memory control, working-memory capacity, and sport performance: The moderating role of athletic expertise

The aim of this research was to detangle the association between attention, working-memory (focusing on both control and capacity functions), and sport performance across athletic expertise. Specifically, the mediating effect of working-memory-control and working-memory-capacity on the attention and performance relationship will be investigated, and whether this effect differs across athlete expertise. A sample of 359 athletes (Mage = 18.91 ± SD = 1.01; 54.87% male) with a range of athletic expertise (novice n = 99, amateur n = 92, elite n = 87, and super-elite n = 81) completed a battery of neurocognitive tasks assessing attention, working-memory-control, working-memory-capacity, and a cognitively engaging motor task (e.g., basketball free-throw task). Athletes with more expertise performed better on tasks of attention, working-memory-control and working-memory-capacity. Results of structural equation modelling indicated a positive association between the cognitive measures and sport performance. Specifically, working-memory-control and working-memory-capacity mediated the attention and sport performance relationship. Additionally, invariance testing indicated larger effects for those with more athletic expertise. These findings provide a better understanding of how attention and the control and capacity functions of working-memory interact to predict performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed