Pouya Biabani; Amir Dana
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of educational and motivational self-talk on dart throwing performance with different difficulties. A total of 60 beginners and right-handers with an age range of 22 to 28 years were randomly selected and randomly divided into three groups of ...
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The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of educational and motivational self-talk on dart throwing performance with different difficulties. A total of 60 beginners and right-handers with an age range of 22 to 28 years were randomly selected and randomly divided into three groups of educational self-talk, motivation and control. The study groups performed 5 groups of 12 attempts according to their instructions. All throws were performed at low difficulty level at a distance of 1.80 m, at medium difficulty level at a distance of 2.37 m and at high difficulty level at a distance of 2.87 m from the dartboard. The performance measurement index was evaluated based on the amount of radial error (distance of the dart from the center). The statistical method of two factor analysis of variance analysis was used with repeated measurements in the difficulty level factor for testing hypotheses. The results showed that educational and motivational self-talk led to significant improvement in the dart throw performance. Also, the effect of difficulty was significant, and finally, the interactive effect of self-talk and difficulty on the performance of the dart throwing was significant. In simple tasks, due to the nature of the skill, educational self-talk based on related cues seems to improve the skill well, but at a moderate difficulty level, the role of motivational self-talk seems to become more prominent because the situation requires more effort for success, and this is consistent with the relationship between task difficulty and performance.
Amir Dana; Saleh Rafiee
Abstract
Reaching and grasping is one of the most basic fundamental skills. The aim of this study was to address the differences of movement variability and movement smoothness in reaching and grasping in children and adults. 60 children (age range: 8-13 years old) were divided into 6 groups. The task used in ...
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Reaching and grasping is one of the most basic fundamental skills. The aim of this study was to address the differences of movement variability and movement smoothness in reaching and grasping in children and adults. 60 children (age range: 8-13 years old) were divided into 6 groups. The task used in the study included reaching and grasping a cube with the dimension of 3.6 cm
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which provided the palmar grasp for all children. Subjects had to grasp the cube with their dominant hands and brought it near their mouth. In addition, a group of adults participated in this study (age range: 24+1.2). Participants performed 10 trials and kinematic variables including mean squared jerk, dimensionless jerk, range of motion of elbow joint, and variability in coordination pattern were calculated. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data in each variable. The results showed that the 13-year-old group was significantly different than adult group in the mean squared jerk and dimensionless jerk. It was observed that 8- and 9-year-old groups had significant differences with other groups in range of motion of elbow joint and variability in coordination pattern; however, there was no differences among other groups. Overall, the results showed that the growth process of reaching and grasping is not limited to the early childhood. These results were interpreted according to the development of motor control and asynchronous acquisition of kinematic variables in the process of movement skill learning.
Amir Dana; Zynalabedin Fallah; Jalil Moradi; Akbar Ghalavand
Abstract
Introduction and aims: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as one of the factors associated with neuromuscular performance and cognitive function is reduced with increasing age. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of aerobic and cognitive training on the dynamic balance, ...
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Introduction and aims: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as one of the factors associated with neuromuscular performance and cognitive function is reduced with increasing age. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of aerobic and cognitive training on the dynamic balance, attention and serum BDNF levels in elderly men. Methods: In a quasi-experimental study, 60 healthy elderly men were selected through the purposeful sampling and were randomly divided into 4 groups including aerobic training, cognitive training, combinational training (cognitive aerobics) (cognitive training), and control. Training was performed during eight weeks at three sessions per week. T-test and one way ANOVA were used to analyze the data (P≤0.05). Results: at the end of the period, a significant increase was observed in BDNF serum in the intervention group compared to the control group (P ≥0.001). Also, there was a significant increase in the ratio of the correct response on the target and non-target stimuli. In addition, a significant decrease was observed in commission errors and omission errors, and reaction time in intervention groups compared to control groups (P<0.05). It can be added that the significant improvement was observed in dynamic balance in aerobic and combination groups compared to the control (P<0.001) and cognitive training (P<0.05). Conclusion: Cognitive and aerobic training lead to improving the attention and balance performance in the elderly with increasing BDNF, and it is better to use a combination of physical and cognitive training for the elderly.