Contextual influences on baseball ball-strike decisions in umpires, players, and controls

Baseball umpires, players, and control participants with no baseball experience were asked to call balls and strikes for video clips. In a basic judgement task, umpires and players were significantly better at calling pitches than controls. In a direct information task, borderline pitches were presented following clips of definite balls and definite strikes. Participants called target pitches closer to the strike end of the scale when viewed after definite balls than when they followed definite strikes. Similarly, when borderline pitches were shown in different pitch counts, participants called pitches more towards the strike end of the scale when there were three balls in the count (3-0, 3-2). These findings indicate that the standard for evaluation changes based on the context in which stimuli are processed. Moreover, the strength of the contextual factors is illustrated in that the effects were shown in observers with and without experience in the task. Overall, however, umpires had a greater tendency to call strikes, indicating that they may use a norm of "hastening the game".     

Seasonal progression and variability of repeat-effort line-drill performance in elite junior basketball players

To determine gender differences, positional differences, and patterns of change in the performance of the basketball line-drill test, 93 male (mean age 16.8 years, s = 1.1) and 95 female (mean age 16.5 years, s = 1.0) basketball players undertook 516 line-drill tests over a 5-year period. Log-transformed performance times were analysed using a mixed model that included quadratic within-participant fixed effects for time in the season and time in the programme. Changes and differences were standardized for interpretation of magnitudes. Mean performance times were 28.0 s (s = 1.3) for males and 30.4 s (s = 1.3) for females. The mean pattern of change in performance within a season differed substantially between the sexes and playing positions: male guards and female centres showed moderate to very large improvements mid-season of 1.1% and 3.5% respectively (90% confidence limits +/-2.1% and +/-3.0%), while female guards and male forwards showed large to very large decrements of -1.6% (+/-2.6%) and -2.4% (+/-2.0%). Over 3 years, males improved performance across all three playing positions by 1.4% (+/-1.3%) and females by 2.9% (+/-1.4%). Males improved performance by 0.2% (+/-0.5%) per year, whereas the performance of females deteriorated by 0.6% (+/-0.4%) per year. The differing patterns of performance change presumably reflect variations in training and competition loads, with short-term fluctuations in performance being managed to promote longer-term improvements.     

Carbohydrate and carbohydrate + protein for cycling time-trial performance

Carbohydrate intake during endurance exercise delays the onset of fatigue and improves performance. Two recent cycling studies have reported increased time to exhaustion when protein is ingested together with carbohydrate. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that ingestion of a carbohydrate + protein beverage will lead to significant improvements in cycling time-trial performance relative to placebo and carbohydrate alone. Thirteen cyclists completed 120 min of constant-load ergometer cycling. Thereafter, participants performed a time-trial in which they completed a set amount of work (7 kJ kg(-1)) as quickly as possible. Participants completed four experimental trials, the first for familiarization and then three randomized, double-blind treatments consisting of a placebo, carbohydrate, and carbohydrate + protein. Participants received 250 ml of beverage every 15 min during the constant-load ride. Time-trial performance for carbohydrate (37.1 min, s = 3.8) was significantly (P < 0.05) faster than placebo (39.7 min, s = 4.6). Time-trial performance for carbohydrate + protein (38.8 min, s = 5.5) was not significantly different from either placebo or carbohydrate. Ingestion of a carbohydrate beverage during two hours of constant-load cycling significantly enhanced subsequent time-trial performance compared with placebo. The carbohydrate + protein beverage provided no additional performance benefit.