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Use of Biotechnological Devices in the Quantification of Psychophysiological Workload of Professional Chess Players

  • Education & Training
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Abstract

Psychophysiological requirements of chess players are poorly understood, and periodization of training is often made without any empirical basis. For this reason, the aim of the present study was to investigate the psychophysiological response and quantify the player internal load during, and after playing a chess game. The participant was an elite 33 year-old male chess player ranked among the 300 best chess players in the world. Thus, cortical arousal by critical flicker fusion threshold, electroencephalogram by the theta Fz/alpha Pz ratio and autonomic modulation by heart rate variability were analyzed. Data revealed that cortical arousal by critical flicker fusion threshold and theta Fz/alpha Pz ratio increased and heart rate variability decreased during chess game. All these changes indicated that internal load increased during the chess game. In addition, pre-activation was detected in pre-game measure, suggesting that the prefrontal cortex might be preparatory activated. For these reasons, electroencephalogram, critical flicker fusion threshold and heart rate variability analysis may be highly applicable tools to control and monitor workload in chess player.

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Acknowledgements

In the framework of Spanish National R + D + i Plan, the current study has been cofunded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with the reference DEP2015-70356. Also, the author DCM is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU14/01283) and the author SV is supported by a grant from regional department of economy and infrastructure of the Government of Extremadura and European Social Fund (PD16008). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sport Science, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    Juan P. Fuentes, Santos Villafaina, Daniel Collado-Mateo & Narcis Gusi

  2. Facultad de Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Talca, Chile

    Daniel Collado-Mateo

  3. Department of Physical Education, Sport & Human Movement, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo de la Vega

  4. Applied Psychophysiological Research Group, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Sport Science, European University of Madrid, Calle Tajo, s/n, 28670 Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain

    Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez

  5. Grupo de Investigación en Cultura, Educación y Sociedad, Universidad de la Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia

    Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez

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  1. Juan P. Fuentes
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  2. Santos Villafaina
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  3. Daniel Collado-Mateo
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Correspondence to Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez.

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Fuentes, J.P., Villafaina, S., Collado-Mateo, D. et al. Use of Biotechnological Devices in the Quantification of Psychophysiological Workload of Professional Chess Players. J Med Syst 42, 40 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-018-0890-0

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