（Key Lab of Mental Health of Institute of Psychology，Chinese Academy of Sciences，Beijing 100101，China）
Abstract: Based on his review of the concept definition, classification and characteristics of pre-game mental state as well as related empirical researches, the author drew the following conclusions: its theoretical study is still in the empirical description stage; its definition is lacking in the specification of the time dimension; its classification and characteristics are limited to emotional state, whereas the knowledge factor is ignored. Moreover, since there has not been a complete theoretical framework for pre-game mental state, many problems and the limitation of study are shown in empirical researches, for example, most researches used ethological measurement as the research mean, whose results are quite subjective; as for the measurement tool, most researches explained the pre-game mental state of athletes by using the results of an emotional state measurement form, whose measurement validity is seriously queried. Nevertheless, the exploration of issues about pre-game mental state is still meaningful for further study in terms of guidance and inspiration. In researches henceforward we should focus on 4 issues, namely, integrity of study subject, operability of study background, dynamics of study orientation, and science of the methods.Key words: sports psychology；pre-game mental state；sports competition