Gender Specific Features of Psychophysiological Reactions in Judo Athletes

Purpose. Determining Gender-Specific Features of Psychophysiological Reactions in Judo Athletes. Material and Methods. The study involved 34 qualified judo athletes who were divided into two groups: men (n=17) and women (n=17). Age range: 18 to 22 years. To assess psychophysiological reactions, a set of specialized tablet-based programs operated under the iOS system was used. The tests were grouped into three categories: Assessment of simple sensorimotor reactions (simple motor response; resistance to distracting factors; simple visual-motor reaction; simple auditory-motor reaction); Assessment of complex sensorimotor reactions (choice reaction to static objects; reaction to a moving object; difference reaction; choice reaction to dynamic objects); Assessment of specific perceptions (sense of tempo assessment; accuracy reproduction of a given line; speed of reproduction of a given line; perception of changes in object size). Statistical analysis was performed using the licensed software Statistica 10. Descriptive statistics were presented as mean, standard deviation, first and third quartiles, median, minimum, and maximum values. To compare the psychophysiological reaction indicators between the two groups, the nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test was used. Statistically significant differences were considered at the level of p<0,05. Results. А comparative analysis of the psychophysiological reaction indicators of male and female judo athletes was conducted using the nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test. The analysis showed that men demonstrated better performance in the following tests: «Reaction to a moving object» by 12,1 %; «Difference reaction» by 2,9 %; «Choice reaction to dynamic objects» by 2,1 %; and «Sense of tempo» by 8,5 %. Women showed better results in the tests: «Simple motor response» by 1,9 %; «Simple visual-motor reaction» by 8.5 %; «Simple auditory-motor reaction» by 0,6%; «Choice reaction to static objects» by 2,5 %; «Accuracy reproduction of a given line» by 6,5 %; «Speed of reproduction of a given line» by 11,0 %; «Perception of changes in object size» by 5,4 %. However, none of these differences were statistically significant (p>0,05). In the test «Resistance to distracting factors» men and women showed identical average results. Conclusions. The study aimed to identify gender-specific features of psychophysiological reactions in judo athletes. It was found that women demonstrated better results in simple sensorimotor reactions and specific perception assessments, while men had higher scores in tests reflecting complex sensorimotor reactions. However, these differences were not statistically significant (p>0,05). It was established that both male and female judo athletes develop the ability to quickly analyze, evaluate, and predict situations and make timely and appropriate decisions during a match, which explains the statistically insignificant differences in the psychophysiological reactions of the studied athletes.