title: "It's Always the Judge's Fault": Attention, Emotion Recognition, and Expertise in Rhythmic Gymnastics Assessment.
abstract: In many sports, such as figure skating or gymnastics, the outcome of a performance does not rely exclusively on objective measurements, but on more subjective cues. Judges need high attentional capacities to process visual information and overcome fatigue. Also their emotion recognition abilities might have an effect in detecting errors and making a more accurate assessment. Moreover, the scoring given by judges could be also influenced by their level of expertise. This study aims to assess how rhythmic gymnastics judges' emotion recognition and attentional abilities influence accuracy of performance assessment. Data will be collected from rhythmic gymnastics judges and coaches at different international levels. This study will employ an online questionnaire consisting on an emotion recognition test and attentional test. Participants' task is to watch a set of videotaped rhythmic gymnastics performances and evaluate them on the artistic and execution components of performance. Their scoring will be compared with the official scores given at the competition the video was taken from to measure the accuracy of the participants' evaluations. The proposed research represents an interdisciplinary approach that integrates cognitive and sport psychology within experimental and applied contexts. The current study advances the theoretical understanding of how emotional and attentional aspects affect the evaluation of sport performance. The results will provide valuable evidence on the direction and strength of the relationship between the above-mentioned factors and the accuracy of sport performance evaluation. Importantly, practical implications might be drawn from this study. Intervention programs directed at improving the accuracy of judges could be created based on the understanding of how emotion recognition and attentional abilities are related to the accuracy of performance assessment.
authors.affiliation: Maastricht University Maastricht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lindsey G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: van Bokhorst
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Knapová
authors.affiliation: University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Majoranc
authors.affiliation: Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zea K
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Szebeni
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Táborský
authors.affiliation: University of Banja Luka Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
authors.forename: Dragana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tomić
authors.affiliation: University of Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cañadas
keywords: accuracy; attention; emotion recognition; expertise; judges; rhythmic gymnastics