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The relationship between a performer's conscious involvement or investment in movement control and monitoring and the ability to inhibit the movement is still unclear. We conducted three experiments to investigate whether a higher inclination for conscious movement investment benefits the inhibition of a simple keypress response. In all experiments, the inclination for conscious movement investment was measured with the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale. In Experiment 1, participants performed the go/no-go task and conscious investment was manipulated by directing conscious attention either to the finger movement (i.e., internal focus) or to the resulting motion of the key (i.e., external focus). The results showed that neither the participants' inclination for conscious movement investment, nor the direction of conscious attention affected inhibition performance. In Experiment 2, participants performed the stop-signal task, which is more attention demanding than the go/no-go task. The results showed that participants with a high or low inclination for conscious movement investment did not differ in inhibition performance. In Experiment 3 an ego-depletion procedure was included that limits resources for conscious movement investment. Before and after this ego-depletion procedure, participants performed the stop-signal task. The results showed that participants with a high inclination for conscious movement investment slowed down inhibition when they felt mentally depleted, while no slowing down of inhibition was found among participants who felt less depleted and/or had a low inclination for conscious movement investment. Together, the study provides evidence that increased conscious movement investment is beneficial for movement inhibition. Yet, these effects only emerge against the dynamic background of interacting individual (e.g., inclination for conscious movement investment, available attentional resources) and task constraints (e.g., task difficulty).
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Most studies on deception in soccer penalty kicks have focused on the deceptive actions used by penalty takers. However, it is worth noting that deception can also be played out by goalkeepers. To examine the effectiveness of goalkeepers' deceptive actions in professional competition, we analysed 714 penalty kicks taken during matches in the English Premier League and German Bundesliga, spanning the seasons from 2016-2017 to 2019-2020. We scored whether goalkeepers used deception, and if so, what type of deception, the outcome of the penalty and the kicking strategy of the penalty taker. The results showed that goalkeepers used deception in half of the penalty kicks, resulting in significantly less goals compared to penalties without deception. This advantage was similar for the different types of deception, but larger when penalty takers paid attention to goalkeepers. We propose that the deceptive actions by goalkeepers are effective, mainly because it leads the penalty taker to lose focus. The practical implications of these findings are discussed for both goalkeepers and penalty takers.
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Increased conscious movement monitoring and control can impair sports performance. Recent evidence indicates it might facilitate stopping motor actions. To further investigate, we asked novices to putt balls, but they needed to stop promptly while an auditory cue appeared during the downswing. They also completed the Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale, which measures movement self-consciousness (MS-C) and conscious motor processing, indicating the degree of inclination for conscious movement monitoring and control, respectively. Individuals with high MS-C displayed higher stopping rates but longer stopping time. Further exploration suggests that they were more likely to make slow downswings, allowing successful but late stops. We conclude that increased conscious movement monitoring may affect movement execution in such a way that it affords better stopping of ongoing motor actions.
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Previous studies have suggested an association between conscious movement investment and inhibiting motor actions. However, no within-designs were used in which conscious movement investment was manipulated. The current study compared changes in inhibition after instruction interventions that aimed to expand and limit conscious investment in the execution of a golf putting task. During a baseline and post-intervention test, participants were asked to putt balls in a hole. Randomly, an auditory stop-signal appeared 50 ms after reaching the end of backswing on some trials, signalling them to stop the downswing as quickly as possible. Between the two tests, the participants practiced under different instructions, without the stop-signal. One group (i.e., expanded conscious investment, ECIG) received multiple explicit movement-related instructions along with the internal focus of attention instructions, while the second group (i.e., limited conscious investment, LCIG) received a single analogy instruction paired with external focus of attention instructions. The results did not reveal significant differences in stopping rate and stopping time between the baseline and post-intervention tests and the two groups. However, a mediation analysis highlighted that the ECIG exhibited a greater change in downswing time compared to the LCIG. This change was correlated with a larger increase in stopping rate and stopping time. We conclude that conscious movement investment did not directly influence inhibition. Instead, we discuss how conscious movement investment may indirectly influence inhibition dependent on the putting kinematics.
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Atenção , Estado de Consciência , Golfe , Inibição Psicológica , Desempenho Psicomotor , Humanos , Masculino , Feminino , Adulto , Adulto Jovem , Tempo de Reação , MovimentoRESUMO
We investigated whether in an in-situ collision avoidance experiment cyclists regulate braking by adopting an affordance-based control strategy. Within an affordance-based control strategy for braking, deceleration is controlled relative to the maximum achievable deceleration rather than by nulling out deviations from ideal deceleration, and potentially allowing for different braking styles. Twenty active- and eighteen inactive-cyclists were asked to cycle on a straight path in an indoor gym and to stop as close as possible in front of a stationary obstacle. Maximum achievable deceleration was manipulated by loading the bike: no-load, load-5 kg, and load-10 kg. Two approach distances were used to vary cycling speed. Participants in both groups stopped farther from the obstacle when approaching with long- than short-initial distance conditions. No systematic effects of loading on braking performance and control were found across the two groups. However, both groups did increase the magnitude of brake adjustments as ideal deceleration increased and got closer to the action boundary, even when current deceleration approached the ideal deceleration. This indicates that participants adopted an affordance-based control strategy for braking. Two braking styles were identified: an aggressive style, characterized by a late braking onset and a high, steep peak in ideal deceleration, and a conservative style, characterized by an early braking onset and gradual, linear increase in ideal deceleration. The aggressive braking style was more prevalent among the active-cyclists. We suggest that the braking styles emerge from differences in calibration between information and action. The novelty of our work lies in confirming that cyclists adopt an affordance-based control strategy in an in-situ experiment and in demonstrating and explicating how affordance-based control can incorporate the emergence of different styles of braking.
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Ciclismo , Desaceleração , Humanos , Masculino , Adulto , Adulto Jovem , Feminino , Desempenho Psicomotor , Fenômenos Biomecânicos , Desempenho Atlético , Acidentes de Trânsito/prevenção & controle , AceleraçãoRESUMO
Visual exploratory activities (VEA) refer to head and body movements that football players make prior to receiving the ball to search possibilities for action. VEA is considered a key performance indicator that differentiates the skill level of players. This study revisited whether VEA also distinguishes super elite, award winning players from their elite teammates without awards. To this end, video footage from the men's UEFA Champions League season 2018-2019 featuring the super elite players (n = 18) and the elite players (n = 18) was analyzed. To reduce the potential differences in match dynamics as much as possible, the selected players in the two groups were of the same team, playing the same match, in the same positioning line. VEA (i.e. frequency per unit time) during the penultimate and final pass prior to ball reception and performance (i.e. percentages of adequate ball contacts and subsequent actions) were compared between the two groups of players using ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests, respectively. In addition, hierarchical stepwise regression analyses were conducted to explore the degree to which VEA was predicted by group and subsequent performance. The results showed that the players had higher VEA during the final pass (M = 0.45) than the penultimate pass (M = 0.41). There were no significant differences in VEA or performance between the two groups. Also, the regression analyses did not deliver significant models. We conclude that with partial control for match dynamics, no evidence emerged to support that VEA distinguishes super elite players from elite football players.
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Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effect of self-controlled video feedback on the learning of tactical motor skills in tennis, and additionally, whether this was affected by learners' self-efficacy and self-regulative skills. Method: Twenty-three intermediately skilled tennis players were assigned to either a self-controlled group that was provided video feedback on request or a yoked group that received an identical, externally controlled video feedback schedule. In three training sessions participants practiced serve and volley play. Video feedback with attentional cueing and transitional statements that focused solely on individual tactical gameplay was provided by a licensed tennis coach. Individual tactical performance was measured with a custom designed Tactical Tennis Tool (TTT) in a pretest, posttest and in a one-week retention test. Before each test self-efficacy was measured, and a questionnaire was administered to measure self-regulative skills. Results: Analyses revealed significantly larger improvements in tactical performance relative to the pretest for the self-controlled group than for the yoked group in both the posttest and the one-week retention test. No differences were found in self-efficacy. Finally, the improvements in tactical performance were not predicted by self-efficacy and/or self-regulative skills. Conclusion: The advantage of self-controlled video feedback extends to the learning of a complex tactical task in tennis. Future research should verify the observed benefits of a self-controlled learning environment in comparison to a coach-controlled learning environment.
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Desempenho Atlético , Destreza Motora , Autoeficácia , Tênis , Humanos , Tênis/fisiologia , Masculino , Destreza Motora/fisiologia , Feminino , Adulto Jovem , Desempenho Atlético/fisiologia , Aprendizagem , Gravação em Vídeo , Adulto , AdolescenteRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The effects of audiences in boosting the performance of the home team (i.e., home advantage) in sports like soccer have been studied extensively. However, much less attention has been paid to how audiences influence the performance of individual team members. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the effect of audiences on the performance of home and away teams during penalty kicks. METHODS: The current study compared in-game penalty kicks taken by home and away teams in eight major European leagues with audiences in the 2018-2019 season to kicks taken without audiences in the 2020-2021 season during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The results indicated no unequivocal evidence for home or away team advantage with respect to penalty outcome (i.e., goal, no goal). Yet, results did show that the number of missed penalties of home teams (i.e., penalties kicked at or outside the frame of the goal) significantly reduced when no audience was present. This supports the hypothesis that home audiences increase anxiety of penalty takers and thus the likelihood of choking. However, the reduced number of missed penalties did not significantly increase penalty outcome of home teams when playing without audiences, suggesting additional, unidentified effects of audiences, possibly also including opponent goalkeepers. Finally, when no audience was present, away teams demonstrated significantly poorer penalty outcome. Future research investigating the effects of audiences on the penalty kick should consider more detailed performance measures of both penalty takers and goalkeepers."
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Background: It is desirable that (more) children continue swimming after having completed their swimming lessons to preserve their swimming skills and water safety, and as part of an active, healthy lifestyle. This may be encouraged by stirring children's intrinsic motivation for swimming during swimming lessons. However, it is currently unknown how intrinsically motivating swimming lessons are in Western countries. Purpose: This study examined to what extent swimming instructors in the Netherlands cater to the basic needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which, according to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), promote intrinsic motivation. Additionally, it examined whether an SDT-based teaching program prompts instructors to better meet these needs, and to what extent the teaching program, the education and experience of the instructor, and the group size predict the employment of SDT in swimming lessons. Methods: A total of 128 swimming lessons given by equally many instructors were observed in the Netherlands and rated on a modified version of the SDT teaching style scale to assess autonomy, competence, and relatedness support. The swimming lessons referred to four teaching programs, one of which was explicitly based on SDT. Results: Instructors exhibited autonomy-thwarting, weakly competence-supportive, and relatedness-supportive behaviors. The SDT-based teaching program scored higher on the provision of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in lessons. This finding was significant for autonomy. Teaching program was the only significant predictor of SDT employment by instructors. Conclusion: Further improvement is desirable in catering to the basic needs, particularly autonomy, which can be achieved by deliberately implementing the principles of SDT into teaching programs for swimming.
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In adult football, small-sided games are associated with increased action variability and suggested to promote more creative actions compared to regular 11v11 formats. This aligns with predictions from an ecological approach to perception and action that creative actions emerge in environments that grant variability in action, instead of being an expression of the individual player's ability to generate ideas. To further evidence for this prediction, the current study aimed to expand this observation to elite youth football players. To this end, the number of different and creative actions in 4v4 small-sided game and a 11v11 regular-sided game among 10- to 12-year-old elite football players were examined. We analyzed a total of 7922 actions, which were categorized for type and creativity. Based on a subset of these actions, a panel of elite football coaches judged action types occurring below 0.5% as significantly more creative than more frequent action types. Hence, we used an occurrence of 0.5% as threshold to distinguish creative actions from non-creative actions. The results showed that the total number of actions, the number of different action types, the number creative actions and the number of different creative action types was significantly higher for the small-sided game format than the regular-sided game. In conclusion, this study confirms that in elite youth football, small-sided games induce a more variable and creative action repertoire. This shows that practitioners can design learning environments that promote the emergence of creative actions.
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Futebol Americano , Adulto , Adolescente , Humanos , Criança , Julgamento , Aprendizagem , Agitação PsicomotoraRESUMO
Attackers are supposed to take advantage of producing deceptive actions in competitive ball sports, particularly in penalty situations. We conducted a scoping review of the experimental literature to scrutinize whether penalty takers do indeed benefit from using deceptive actions in penalty situations, especially by increasing the likelihood to score a goal. Studies using video-based and in-situ tasks in which soccer and handball goalkeepers try to save a penalty were evaluated. Results showed that penalty takers' manipulation of spatial information available to the goalkeeper during deception (i.e., by using misleading and/or disguising actions) is less effective in in-situ than video-based studies. We argue that this difference occurs because goalkeepers adapt differently to the spatiotemporal constraints in the video-based and in-situ tasks. Goalkeepers appear to prioritize picking up spatial information in video-based tasks while prioritizing temporal information in-situ tasks. Therefore, the manipulation of spatial information appears to be less effective in the more representative in-situ studies than in video-based studies. In order to deceive, penalty takers are advised to manipulate temporal information during on-field penalty situations.
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Desempenho Psicomotor , Futebol , Humanos , Adaptação Fisiológica , EnganaçãoRESUMO
The aim of the current study is to examine if the top-down controlled response inhibition on a stop-signal task (SST) can be trained. Results from previous studies have been equivocal, possibly because signal-response combinations are often not varied across training and test phases, allowing bottom-up signal-response associations to be formed that may improve response inhibition. The current study compared the response inhibition on the SST in a pre-test and post-test in an experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). In between tests, the EG received ten training sessions on the SST with varying signal-response combinations that were also different from the combinations in the test phase. The CG received ten training sessions on the choice reaction time task. Results failed to reveal a decrease in stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) during and after training, with Bayesian analyses revealing anecdotal and substantial evidence for the null hypothesis during and after training, respectively. Yet, the EG did show smaller go reaction times (Go_RT) and stop signal delays (SSD) after training. The results indicate that the top-down controlled response inhibition is difficult or impossible to improve.
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Inibição Psicológica , Humanos , Teorema de Bayes , Tempo de Reação/fisiologia , Testes NeuropsicológicosRESUMO
Purpose: In climbing, exceptional levels of fingertip strength across different holds and body positions are considered essential for performance. There is no commonly agreed upon way to measure such "grip strength variability." Furthermore, the accurate and reliable monitoring of strength is necessary to achieve safe, progressive improvement in strength. Therefore, this study aimed to develop reliability and criterion validity for assessment of grip strength across multiple holds and body positions. Methods: Twenty-two advanced toelite climbers (age = 28.5 ± 8.6 years) performed maximal voluntary isometric contractions on two occasions (for test-retest reliability). Conditions included two hold types (edge and sloper) tested in two postures (elbow flexion [90°] and self-preferred). Climbing performance was determined on two "difficulty" routes (difficulty increases with each hold): one route composed of only edges and another only of slopers. Results: Test-retest reliability was high (ICC between 0.94-0.99). Significant positive correlations were observed for the forces produced on the sloper test and climbing distance on the sloper route (r = 0.512,p < .05), and for the forces produced on the edge test and climbing distance on the edge route (ρ = 0.579, p < .01). Conclusion: These findings support reliability and validity of the method used to measure grip strength variability with different holds and body positions and suggest that improving strength across different grasping types supports adaptive climbing performance.
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Montanhismo , Humanos , Adulto Jovem , Adulto , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Dedos , Postura , Força da MãoRESUMO
This study examined the effects of explicit versus implicit learning methods on motor learning and self-efficacy of 11-to 14-year old students (n = 81) practicing the basketball layup during physical education. The main aim was to test the effects of students' verbal working memory capacity (WMC) and propensity for conscious motor processing (CMP) on explicit and implicit learning outcomes. The students practiced basketball layups for three weeks (one session/week) during regular PE classes under practice conditions that either promoted explicit or implicit learning. Verbal WMC and CMP propensity were measured separately. At the posttest, students had significantly improved their layup performance and technique, and self-efficacy, but no differences were noted between the intervention groups (explicit vs. implicit). Students' verbal WMC and CMP propensity did not differentially predict the learning outcomes for the explicit or implicit learning groups. Therefore, in this PE setting, both explicit and implicit learning methods seemed to similarly improve movement skill. Further study is needed to examine under which conditions individual constraints such as verbal WMC and propensity for conscious processing influence the effects of explicit and implicit learning.
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Individualidade , Memória de Curto Prazo , Adolescente , Criança , Humanos , Aprendizagem , Educação Física e TreinamentoRESUMO
We examined the effects of number of and separation between support lines on handwriting characteristics of primary school students with satisfactory and unsatisfactory handwriting. Students (mean age 7.9 years) copied a text on paper with a baseline and with two or four support lines with a separation of 3 or 4 mm between the central lines. Handwriting size, velocity, and smoothness were determined for the four conditions relative to baseline. Children with unsatisfactory handwriting wrote larger and had more lifts during baseline condition. Writing between support lines, especially with small separation, immediately reduced the size of handwriting, but also adversely affected velocity and smoothness. Future research is needed to assess long-term effects.
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Escrita Manual , Estudantes , Criança , HumanosRESUMO
Movements are often modulated by the meaning of cue words. We explore the interaction between verbal and visual constraints during a movement by investigating if spoken words during movement execution bias late movement control of swiping actions on a tablet when vision of the target is removed during the movement. Verbalization trials required participants to vocalize the spatial directions 'LEFT', 'MIDDLE', or 'RIGHT' of the active target, relative to the other presented targets. A late influence of semantics emerged on movement execution in verbalized trials with action endpoints landing more in the direction of the spoken word than without verbalization. The emergence of the semantic effect as the movement progresses reflects the temporal unfolding of the visual and verbal constraints during the swiping action. Comparing our current results with a similar task using a variant verbalization, we also conclude that, larger semantic content effects are found with spatial direction than numerical magnitude verbalization.
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Movimento , Semântica , HumanosRESUMO
Children who learn to cycle at a young age do this by using training bicycles that simplify control requirements compared with regular bicycles, such as bicycles with training wheels or balance bikes without pedals. The primary purpose of the current study was to investigate whether the two types of training bicycles result in a different age of onset of independent cycling on a regular bicycle. We asked parents of 4- to 6-year-old children (n = 173) to complete a questionnaire regarding their child's bicycling history. The results showed that children who had practised with a balance bicycle started practising at a younger age, had shorter practice duration, and were able to cycle independently at a younger age in comparison to children who had practised with a bicycle with training wheels (or with both training bicycles). We argue that the observed advantage of balance bicycle is associated with the balance bicycle actively challenging postural control. Further research is needed to uncover the impact of training bicycles on the further development of the foundational skill of cycling.