Evaluation of offensive and defensive agility depending on the type of visual cue and personal decision-making styles in basketball

Background: The specific goal was to determine the level and differences in the performance of reactive agility (RA) depending on the type of visual stimulus and to identify the role of selected psychological patterns in the decision-making process. Method: 13 female basketball players (17.12 ± 1.09 years; mean BW 58.17 kg ± 7.68 kg; mean BH 1.73 ± 0.11, BMI 19.53 ± 3.86) playing top Slovak junior league. The diagnosis of specific game reactions was carried out using a Y-shaped reaction agility test. The stimulus for the action effect was a light direction indicator and a video sequence. Decision-making style was assessed using the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ). Results: The significance of the differences between offensive actions according to the type of stimulus was revealed by statistically significant differences between offensive reaction agility to a light stimulus and a stimulus with a contextual stimulus, and also in the case of defensive actions. Correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between offensive and defensive skills in the light stimulus, between the performance in offensive skills in the light stimulus, between the two types of defensive agility (light and video) and in the context stimulus, and a correlation between vigilance and both offensive activities was also found. Conclusion: The player's sensorimotor mechanisms are different depending on the type of stimulus, not on the type of actions, which leads to the conclusion that specific contextual information can lead to faster and more accurate decisions during the game 1:1 and improve the timing of action effects.