Journal of Sports and Motor Development and Learning

Abstract Introduction: Recently, the matter of the influence of mental skills on sports skills performance has become very important. The current research aimed to evaluate and compare the mental preparation of the male fencers of the Iranian national team and the elite male fencers of the world.
Methods: The current research method was experimental. The statistical population of this research included the fencers of the national teams of Iran, Hungary, America, Russia, France, and Ukraine. The research samples were 58 fencers from selected countries. To measure the mental skills of fencers, the original version of the Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool (OMSAT-3) questionnaire was used. To compare the mental skills of athletes from different countries, the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Bonferroni's post hoc test were used.
Results: The results showed that all elite male fencers achieved the highest scores in foundation mental skills including self-confidence, goal setting, and commitment, and the lowest scores were related to refocusing, focusing, and stress control skills. Also, the highest and the lowest scores of mental skills in this research were related to self-confidence and refocusing skills, respectively. Russian fencers scored the highest in all mental skills and Iranian fencers scored the lowest in the stress control skill.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the research, fencers have less proficiency in two sub-skills of cognitive psychological and psychosomatic skills compared with the foundation mental skills. The fencers had lower strength in terms of the mental skill of focusing, refocusing, and stress control. Iranian and non-Iranian fencers were weaker in mental skills of stress control and refocusing.

Abstract Defects such as spasm, concurrent muscle activity, muscle weakness, and range of motion affect the fine and fine motor function of children with cerebral palsy and lead to movement limitations. Despite the potential of using virtual reality in the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy, few studies have been conducted in this area.The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of movement practices in virtual reality environment on range of motion in cerebral palsy children. Twenty children 7-12 years old with cerebral palsy were selected by a convenience sampling method. Participants were homogeneously placed in experimental and control groups based on the average scores. The experimental group performed bowling practice in virtual environment for 3 weeks, but the control group continued their traditional therapy program. Xbox device and universal goniometer were used as instruments. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and Analyze of Covariance (ANCOVA) were used at p < 0.05 level. Based on MACNOVA test results, there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups at least in one dependent variable (shoulder, elbow, & wrist range of motion) (F = 96/43, p= 0/001). Based on the results of ANCOVA test, experimental group achieved higher averages in shoulder, elbow and wrist range of motion than control group. Virtual reality technology can be used as a treatment approach for improving upper extremity range of motion in children with hemiplegic cerebral Palsy.

Abstract Children in preschool are at an optimal time for the development of gross and fine motor skills. Visual-motor integration is an important perceptual-motor skill that children need to acquire in order to function successfully before formal schooling commences. In this study were investigated the effect of three motor intervention programs (gross, fine, & gross-fine)on visual-motor integration in 80 children who presented below average VMI skills scores. From these participants three experimental (n=60)and a control group (n=20)were randomly selected. The experimental groups participated in a 12 week intervention program of three 45 minutes sessions per week. The Beery-Buktenica developmental test of visual-motor integration 6th edition was used to measure the participants VMI skills. Mixed ANOVA with repeated measures and LSD post hoc test was used to analyze effects of motor intervention programs 

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare motor skills and body mass index of male students (7 to 10 years old) with and without internet addiction. Participants included 150 students with internet addiction and 150 students without internet addiction. After their parents filled out the consent forms and the students' personal information was recorded, the groups firstly were identified by the Kimberly Young Internet Addiction Questionnaire. Body mass index of participants were recorded by stadiometer and scale, and then their motor skills were assessed by the Bruininks - Oseretsky test. To classify the data, measures of central tendency and dispersion in the descriptive statistics were used. To analyze the data, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and independent t test were used in the inferential statistics. All research analysis was investigated at the significance level (P<0.05). The results showed significant differences in gross and fine motor skills, motor proficiency as well as body mass index between students with and without internet addiction, that is to say children with internet addiction showed poorer performance in gross and fine motor skills and motor proficiency. Also, they had more body mass index. Internet addiction may be accompanied with obesity and poor performance in gross motor skills. Therefore, it is recommended that the necessary steps should be taken to prevent these problems.

Abstract Numerous studies have examined the effects of focus of attention and quiet eye on motor performance, however the effects of these two variables in different load of task are ambiguous. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of the internal and external focus of attention instructions on quiet eye and accuracy of dart-throwing in two intensity of the secondary task. participants were 20 novice persons in dart-throwing that selected by convenience sampling; and in four dual-task conditions of internal attention-without tone estimation, external attention-without tone estimation, internal attention-with tone estimation, and external attention-with tone estimation performed dart throwing in counterbalance form that at the same time their gaze data recorded by binoculars eye tracking system. The result of accuracy showed that participants in external rather than internal attention condition and low- intensity rather than high-intensity condition had less radial error. The result of quiet eye showed that only the main effect of the secondary task was significant that participants in high-intensity of the secondary task rather low had more quiet eye duration. These results highlight the importance of external focus of attention in low and high secondary task load conditions for dart-throwing performance and direct the future research to explore more deeply the role of the quiet eye and attentional focus effects in dart-throwing performance.

Abstract  
The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of Paaryaad training program on the development of motor skills of children aged between 6 and 8 who suffered from high function autism (HFA). For this purpose, 30 girls with HFA (mean age 7.1 ± 0.6 yr) were randomly selected from special schools of Sanandaj city. Then, according to the pretest scores, were assigned to control and experimental groups. Pretest and posttest scores were measured by Bruininks-Oseretsky test. Motor intervention program included 16 sessions of Paaryaad training. The K-S test was used to determine data distribution and Levin and ANCOVA tests were used to compare means. The results showed that Paaryaad training program affected significantly the development of the subscales of running speed and agility, balance, bilateral coordination and strength (P<0.05). But, the effect of this training program on the subscales of response speed, visual- motor control and upper limb speed and dexterity was not significant (P>0.05). According to these results, it could be argued that this training program may improve the fundamental skills of children with HFA.

Abstract The purpose of this current study was to investigate the influence of perceptual-motor trainings on motor skills of girls with trainable mental retardation. so 20 girls with trainable mental retardation in the town of Marivan welfare organization with the average of 8/3 ±1/11 years and IQ of 39/14±6/84 with purposive sampling method were studied. All girls were pretested. Then samples based on sampling method divided into two 10 groups and considered as the control and experimental groups purposefully .In this research, for assessing the gross and fine motor skills we used sections of Bruininks _ oseretsky test . The experimental group did the perceptual-motor training for 24 sessions of practice, in a week .After 24 sessions of practice both groups were post‒test .In order to study the research hypothesis, nonparametric Wilcoxon and U Mann Whithney test were used. The results of the statistical tests showed significant difference on gross motor skills in training groups (p<0.05). while the impact of this training course on gross skills was not significant statistically. The findings showed that training program used in this current research is to improve the gross motor skills in girls with trainable mental retardation and can be useful

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of perceptual-motor and music enrichment of environment on the development of fine and gross motor movements in infants. 32 healthy infants (5 to 8 months old) participated in this study and were divided homogenously into four groups (each group 8 subjects): three experimental groups and one control group. Experimental groups had 36 training sessions, 60 minutes per session in their specific enriched environments. Infants in group A were assigned to a perceptual-motor and music enriched environment, infants in group B to a perceptual-motor enriched environment and infants in group C to a music enriched environment. Peabody motor development scale (second edition) was used to evaluate fine and gross motor skills. Data were analyzed using the variables of age equivalent of this scale. The obtained data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results showed a significant difference in mean age equivalent scores in gross motor movements (P=0.001) and in fine motor movements (P=0.001) between experimental and control groups. These findings showed that perceptual-motor and music experience had a positive effect on motor development generally and on age equivalents of fine and grossmotor movements specifically. In other words, environmental condition and experience were positive factors in fundamental and basic motor skill development in infants who participated in the three experimental groups.

Abstract Learning motor tasks is one of the fundamental attributes of mankind's
experiences and is a collection of sensitive, cognitive and motor processes. Many
of complex motor behaviors are performed based on a type of order or sequence.
In the present study, the developmental differences in motor sequence learning
were examined in three groups of children (age range 7,8,10 yr) and one control
group of adults. For this purpose, the professional software of sequential stimuli,
time record and response error was designed in C++. 48 right-handed participants
(3 groups of 12 children and 1 group of 12 adults) who were healthy in their
nervous system and had no prior experience of the mentioned task participated in
this study. The intervention included 10 stages (8 stages for acquisition and 2
stages for retention). Performance was assessed by examining changes in accuracy
and response coordination. The data were analyzed with factor analysis of
variance and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The results showed a developmental
progression in motor sequence learning in all groups. Interestingly, different
developmental trajectories were observed in response accuracy and coordination.
There was a significant difference in response accuracy between 7,8-year-old
groups and adults and 10-year-old groups in the acquisition phase but no
significant difference was observed between adults and 10-year-old-group. For
response coordination, adults responded to the stimuli more synchronously than all
children and 10-year-old group responded more quickly than 6-year-old group. In
the retention test, for response accuracy, 10-year-old group's performance was
similar to adults and for response coordination, adults performed more  synchronously than all groups but 7-year-old group had a delay in response
coordination compared to the other groups. Overall, the differences observed in
response accuracy and coordination was consistent with the hypothesis that
accuracy may rely on cortical pathways that show their greatest maturation
between ages of 7 and 10 whereas coordination may rely on subcortical pathways
that continue to develop into young adulthood. The findings suggested that in one
hand, various aspects of motor development influence motor learning and on the
other hand during the learning of different components of a task, parameters that
are more difficult with regard to motor control ( for example response
coordination) are acquired and maintained in a longer process.

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the interactional effects of various video shows (skilled and self-model) and feedback type on performance and learning of dart throwing skill. 90 volunteers were randomly divided into 6 groups including self-control, experimenter control and yoked feedback that received either skilled model or self-model. Three groups who watched the skilled model observed dart throwing by a member of dart national team at first and at rest intervals whereas self-model groups watched their own performance as a recorded movie. Selfcontrol groups requested feedback from the examiner during their performance. Yoked groups received feedback in those attempts on which self-control groups requested feedback and experimenter-control groups received feedback by examiner. Subjects trained for six days and then participated in the retention (after 48 hours) and transfer (immediately after retention) tests. The method of the study was semi-experimental and data were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures, two-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni and Tukey post hoc tests. Results showed that all six groups improved from pretest to acquisition, retention and transfer. Regardless of the role of feedback, there was no difference between skilled and self-model in any stages. Experimenter control feedback had more efficiency than other feedbacks in the acquisition while self-control feedback was better in retention and transfer. Furthermore, results showed that those subjects who received self-control feedback had more learning when they observed self-model. The main reason why self-model-self-control feedback group was better than other groups could be the effect of motivational processes resulted from this interaction and more coordination of this feedback with subjects’ demands.

Abstract The main aim of the present study was to examine the mediation effect of sport self-efficacy on the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism and competitive anxiety in a sample of Iranian athletes. 233 volunteer athletes (145 boys, 88 girls) from different sport fields participated in this study. All participants were required to complete the Competitive Perfectionism Scale (CPS), the Multidimensional Competitive Anxiety Questionnaire (MCAQ) and the Sport Self – Efficacy Scale (SSES). The results revealed that striving for perfection (positive perfectionism) was negatively associated with cognitive and somatic anxiety, and positively associated with self – confidence. The results also revealed that negative reaction to imperfection (negative perfectionism) was positively associated with cognitive and somatic anxiety, and negatively associated with self – confidence. Analysis of the data revealed that sport self – efficacy mediated the relationship between positive and negative dimensions of perfectionism and competitive anxiety.

Abstract This research aimed to examine the effect of sequential stimuli technique on acquisition, retention and transfer of ocular motor sequence. First sequential stimuli, time record, response error software was designed. 60 right-handed novices (15-18 years) were divided into five groups (blocked – explicit, blocked – implicit, random – explicit, random-implicit and control). All groups performed a pretest and then (except control group) participated in five training sessions and in each session performed three blocks of ten trials with blocked and random methods. In explicit groups, participants were aware of the aim of task but in implicit groups, they were unaware. During the acquisition phase, control group were only in lab environment and the day after the acquisition, participants took part in retention and transfer tests. The data were analyzed using student-t, repeated measures and two-way analysis of variance tests. The finding showed that the subjects significantly improved in accuracy and time of response in the acquisition phase (P>0.05); but there was no significant different among groups. However, implicit learning groups progressed as much as the explicit learning groups; this finding explained the effectiveness of implicit knowledge in motor skills learning. The retention test showed that random practice was better than blocked practice in movement accuracy but the type of practice did not affect the retention of sequential reaction time. In transfer test, all groups showed transfer to the new sequence only in accuracy but not response time. However, findings showed blocked practice led to sensorimotor integration and timing, whereas random practice led to better stimulus-response association. Overall findings of this research supported this idea that learning that occurs in the context of interference can show retention and transfer to another task.

Abstract The purpose of this research was to study growth hormone (GH) response to a session of maximal exercise in active adolescents. For this purpose, 15 subjects (8 females: age 13± 0.5 yrs, height 153.25± 3.73 cm, weight 43± 5.10 kg and 7 males: age 14± 0.5 yrs, height 166.86± 6.07 cm, weight 52.86± 5.61 kg) performed an incremental exercise protocol on a treadmill with an increasing grade until volitional exhaustion. Blood samples were collected from venous blood of the subjects before and immediately after the exercise. T-test and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. The results showed a significant increase in serum GH concentration after exercise in both boys and girls (P<0.05). Also, no significant difference was found before exercise in both groups (1.99 vs. 1.12 ng/ml; P>0.05). But GH response was significantly higher in girls than boys (12.39 ng/ml, 4.23 ng/ml respectively). Regression analysis revealed no significant correlation between BMI and GH responses before exercise in girls and boys. Results from the present investigation indicated an increase in GH concentration after exercise and that women had greater GH release.