The intricacies of verbalizations, gestures, and game outcome using sequential analysis

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to identify the intricacies of verbalizations, gestures, and game outcome during competition. Design: The behavioral research software Observer XT (R) using sequential analysis was used to analyze our data. Method: Participants were 34 junior tennis players with a mean age of 13.68 (SD = 1.8). Youth players were observed during 17 matches using the Self-Talk and Gestures Rating Scale and were examined by a built-in application (Observer XT (R)) of mapping of verbalizations, gestures, and performance. Results: Sequences indicated negative verbalizations were the most frequently exhibited form of overt verbalizations, followed by positive and instructional verbalizations. Furthermore negative verbalizations for either the server or the receiver decreased the probability of winning a game and showed verbalizations from the server related to the receiver's verbalizations and game outcome, and vice versa. Conclusions: The results shed light on how verbalizations and gestures interact differently according to the context, which may have important implications for research that has focused on verbalizations and has neglected gestures and contextualized performance in sport. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.