| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of mood lability on anticipation
timing performance. The influence of gender and stimulus speed on timing error was
also analysed. Spectral analysis was used to quantify frequency of mood change.
The within-subjects standard deviation was calculated as a measure of intensity of
mood change. Thirty-eight physical education students (18 men; M = 23.8 yrs, SD
= 2.1 and 20 women; M = 20.4 yrs, SD = 1.6) participated in this study. Mood
changes were measured along the Pleasantness and Energetic dimensions of the
Affect Grid. Performance was assessed using the Bassin Anticipation Timer. It
was hypothesized that: the fast mood changers would incur greater timing errors
than the slow mood changers, men would perform with less error than women, and
stimulus speed would have a significant influence on timing error.
Mixed factorial ANOVAs with repeated measures on the last factor were utilized
to compare mean timing error scores: constant error, absolute error, variable error,
and total error, over two levels of frequency of mood change (fast / slow) and intensity
of mood change (high/low) groups, two levels of gender (men/women) and four
levels of stimulus speed (5/10/15/25 mph). Alpha was set at the .05 significance
level for all statistical comparisons. Results showed that intensity of mood change
had a significant influence on anticipation timing performance, frequency of mood
change factor did not have a significant effect on timing error, men performed
with less variability than women and stimulus speed had a significant influence
on anticipation timing. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) results, showed that
women scored lower on the negative mood states than men. Total mood disturbance
for both men and women showed no significant relationship to the timing error
scores. | |
