International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology, cilt.9, sa.7, ss.19-29, 2020 (ESCI)
The aim of this study was to determine whether anticipation of timing performance (AT) of team athletes changed according to the time of day and chronotype. Forty-six male team athletes who exercise regularly at least 3 days a week, participated in the study voluntarily. The athletes were divided into two groups: morning type (MT, n = 23) and evening type or close to evening type (ET, n = 23). The AT performance at high stimulus speed of athletes (12 mph) was measured in two different time periods of the day (08.00-10.00 h, 20.00-22.00) at least 2 days interval in the laboratory environment using the counterbalanced research design. As a result of the statistical analysis, it was determined that the absolute error score (12 mph) was superior in the AT task in the morning hours (13.64 +/- 5.44 ms) compared to the evening hours (16.08 +/- 3.77 ms) (t = -2.361, p = .023, effect size: 0.34). The absolute error score in the AT task in the morning hours compared to the evening hours of the MT group was found to be significantly lower (t = -9.293, p = .000, effect size: 1.93). When the absolute error scores of the ET group measured in the AT task in the morning and evening hours were compared, a statistically significant difference was detected in favor of the evening hours. (t=3.133, p=.005, effect size: 0.65). In addition, while the absolute error scores of the MT group were found to be lower than the ET group in the morning hours (t = -5.345, p = .000, effect size: 1.57), the absolute error scores of the ET group in the evening hours was better as compared with MT group (t=4.420, p=.000, effect size: 1.30). It is extremely important that coaches or exercise specialists should take into account the concept of chronotype in order to achieve optimal cognitive performance of athletes, especially in planning specific perceptual-cognitive exercises.