The effect of associative and dissociative strategies on rowing ergometer performance

This study outlined the implementation and evaluation of one associative an d two dissociative coping strategies on rowing ergometer performance. Parti cipants were 9 novice varsity rowers who performed a 40-min ergometer worko ut in 10 separate experimental sessions. At each workout participants were requested to row as far as possible in 40 min. A multiple-baseline design w as utilized, which after varying amounts of baseline permitted implementing an associative or dissociative strategy for each participant. These strate gies included associative, dissociative-video, and dissociative-music. Resu lts indicated that performance improved under all conditions for all partic ipants but that the greatest gains were found in the associative condition.