Acquisition, Retention, and Transfer Effects of Landing Training to Increase Foot Progression Angle During Bilateral Drop Landings.

Foot position during landing directly influences knee mechanics. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine success in practicing, repeating, and transferring a desired foot progression angle (FPA) during landing, as well as changes in knee mechanics. Twenty females were randomly assigned to a control or verbal instruction group.

Associations among Motor Competence, Physical Activity, Perceived Motor Competence, and Aerobic Fitness in 10-15-Year-Old Youth.

(1) Background: The developmental model describes possible mechanisms that could impact the trajectory of children and adolescents' health behaviors related to obesity; however, few data are available that support this model in the adolescent population. This study investigated the associations among motor competence (MC), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), perceived motor competence (PMC), and aerobic fitness in children and adolescents and the mediating and moderating effects of PMC, aerobic fitness, and weight status on the MC-MVPA relationship. (2) Methods: Participants included 47 adolescents (12.

Reduction of Feedback Availability Limits Self-Control Effects.

A growing body of research has demonstrated that providing learners with self-control over aspects of the learning environment facilitates the learning of a motor skill. In applied group settings, however, the provision of feedback is at times constrained by factors such as instructor availability. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to examine how learners ostensibly provided self-control over feedback responded when the actual availability of feedback was constrained by a predetermined schedule of a virtual coach's availability to provide feedback.

Effects of an expert-modeled attentional focus cue structure on skilled jump rope performance and learning.

Instructions that direct attention externally have been shown to enhance motor performance. However, research on skilled performers and on learning effects has produced some distinct findings. Further, many studies have presented an overly simplistic view of attention and learning, such that all-internal focus protocols are contrasted with all-external focus protocols.

Cognitive Loading During and After Continuous Task Execution Alters the Effects of Self-Controlled Knowledge of Results.

Previous research has repeatedly demonstrated that providing learners with self-control (SC) over their feedback schedules enhances motor skill learning. Increased information processing under SC conditions has been shown to contribute to these benefits. However, the timing of critical information processing for SC participants during the acquisition of continuous tasks is unknown.

Self-controlled amount and pacing of practice facilitate learning of a sequential timing task.

Allowing learners to control the number of practice trials has been shown to facilitate motor learning (Lessa & Chiviacowsky, 2015; Post et al., 2011; 2014). However, it is uncertain the extent to which prior findings were influenced by the combined effects of allowing participants to control both the and -of-practice.

Seeing Is Believing: Blind Putting Drills Confer No Advantage to the Novice Golfer.

: Golf coaches may recommend "blind" putting drills in which golfers close their eyes to improve their feel. Research on specificity of learning suggests, however, that adding or removing a source of sensory information after practicing under differing circumstances can cause performance decrements. Specificity of learning is also dependent upon specific task requirements.

Increased cognitive load during acquisition of a continuous task eliminates the learning effects of self-controlled knowledge of results.

Previous research has demonstrated that providing learners with self-control over some aspect of practice enhances motor learning (for a review see Wulf, 2007). One explanation for the self-control effect is that learners engage in deeper information processing when they are allowed to make choices during practice. Recent research has supported this line of thinking by showing that the self-control effect was eliminated for learners who engaged in a cognitive load task during the interval following completion of discrete task trials (Carter & Ste-Marie, 2017).

An Examination of the Deliberate Practice Framework in Quad Rugby.

The deliberate practice framework was forwarded to account for the characteristics and developmental experiences of individuals who have acquired exceptional performance in any domain. This framework proposed that experts undergo an extensive acquisition period involving the accumulation of thousands of hours of deliberate practice while overcoming various constraints that serve as functional barriers to the achievement of expertise. Although the deliberate practice framework has been examined in the context of a range of domains, disability sport remains relatively unstudied.

Expert and Novice Performers Respond Differently to Attentional Focus Cues for Speed Jump Roping.

Directing attention to an external focus has been shown to facilitate motor performance. For expert performers, however, results have been mixed. Additionally, little is currently known about how focus cues affect the performance of complex continuous whole-body coordination tasks involving object manipulation such as jump roping.

Postural Control Entropy Is Increased When Adopting an External Focus of Attention.

Falls in older adults are a public health challenge due to their influence on well-being and health-care costs. One way to address this challenge is to discover new methods to enhance postural control in older adults so they are better prepared to maintain an upright stance. Older and younger adults (N = 32) performed a static balance task on a force plate with no instructions, internal focus instructions, or external focus instructions.

Wide step width reduces knee abduction moment of obese adults during stair negotiation.

Purpose: An increased likelihood of developing obesity-related knee osteoarthritis may be associated with increased peak internal knee abduction moments (KAbM). Increases in step width (SW) may act to reduce this moment. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of increased SW on knee biomechanics during stair negotiation of healthy-weight and obese participants.

The effects of attentional focus in the preparation and execution of a standing long jump.

Attentional focus research suggests an external focus leads to improved motor performance compared to an internal focus (Wulf in Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol 6:77-104, 2013), but skilled athletes often report using an internal focus (Fairbrother et al., Front Psychol 7:1028, 2016) and sometimes shifting between different foci in the preparation and execution phases of performance (Bernier et al. in J Appl Sport Psychol 23:326-341, 2011; Bernier et al.

Self-Reported Responses to Player Profile Questions Show Consistency with the Use of Complex Attentional Strategies by Expert Horseshoe Pitchers.

The advantages on an external focus of attention have been demonstrated for a variety of sport tasks. The constrained action hypothesis (Wulf et al., 2001) argues that focusing externally on the movement effect results in the use of automated processes for movement control.

Self-control over combined video feedback and modeling facilitates motor learning.

Allowing learners to control the video presentation of knowledge of performance (KP) or an expert model during practice has been shown to facilitate motor learning (Aiken, Fairbrother, & Post, 2012; Wulf, Raupach, & Pfeiffer, 2005). Split-screen replay features now allow for the simultaneous presentation of these modes of instructional support. It is uncertain, however, if such a combination incorporated into a self-control protocol would yield similar benefits seen in earlier self-control studies.

CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE AND INTROVERSION/EXTRAVERSION IN MOTOR LEARNING.

The Introversion/Extraversion dimension may interact with contextual interference, as random and blocked practice schedules imply distinct levels of variation. This study investigated the effect of different practice schedules in the acquisition of a motor skill in extraverts and introverts. Forty male undergraduate students (M = 24.

Self-control behaviors during the learning of a cascade juggling task.

This study examined the self-control behaviors of participants learning a 3-ball cascade juggle. Participants chose when they would receive one of four types of instructional assistance: (a) instructions; (b) video demonstration; (c) knowledge of performance (KP); and (d) knowledge of results (KR). Juggling proficiency was divided into three categories based on catches per attempt during retention and transfer testing.

Effects of increased step width on frontal plane knee biomechanics in healthy older adults during stair descent.

Background: Peak internal knee abduction moment is a common surrogate variable associated with medial compartment knee loading. Stair descent has been shown to yield a greater peak knee abduction moment compared to level-walking. Changes in step width (SW) may lead to changes in frontal plane lower extremity limb alignment in the frontal plane and alter peak knee abduction moment.

The effects of a home-based instructional program aimed at improving frontal plane knee biomechanics during a jump-landing task.

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To determine the effects of instruction to improve frontal plane knee biomechanics during a jump-landing task.

Background: Technique training is a common component of knee injury-prevention programs.

The effects of self-controlled video feedback on the learning of the basketball set shot.

Allowing learners to control some aspect of instructional support (e.g., augmented feedback) appears to facilitate motor skill acquisition.

Self-controlled feedback facilitates motor learning in both high and low activity individuals.

The purpose of this study was to determine if high and low activity individuals differed in terms of the effects of self-controlled feedback on the performance and learning of a movement skill. The task consisted of a blindfolded beanbag toss using the non-preferred arm. Participants were pre-screened according to their physical activity level using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire.

Self-controlled amount of practice benefits learning of a motor skill.

Self-control over factors involving task-related information (e.g, feedback) can enhance motor learning. It is unknown if these benefits extend to manipulations that do not directly affect such information.

Simple verbal instruction improves knee biomechanics during landing in female athletes.

Knee injuries are highly prevalent in athletic populations, particularly among female athletes. Many of these injuries occur during landing from a jump. Various comprehensive knee injury prevention programs have been developed to date.

The effects of repeated retention tests can benefit as well as degrade timing performance.

In this study, we examined the effects of interference and repeated retention tests by comparing groups that performed (a) one or two tests, or (b) two tests separated by interpolated tasks. The task involved pressing five keys in 925 ms. Constant error increased after Block 1 of the second test for the group completing the interpolated tasks.

The effects of switching between targets on the performance of a simple motor skill.

Little direct evidence has emerged regarding the influence of switching between tasks on the performance of skills studied in the motor domain. The present study reported the results of two experiments that examined the effects of task switching on a simple object projection task, which presumably emphasized processes related to response planning and execution. The experimental task required participants to gently tap a knob to make it travel along two parallel rods until it reached a specified target distance.