The effects of contingent feedback on perceived control and performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on students’ performance of three contingent feedback strategies used by teachers. Contigency means that the feedback strongly corresponds with task behaviour that can be controlled by the students. Elementary school students (N=296) received individualized feedback about their performance during a series of five lessons. Within this contingent feedback structure, three strategies were applied which were assumed to enhance the perceived controllability of the task situation: (1) enhancing the perceptibility of the contingency between feedback and task behavior; (2) explicit reference to effort as part of the feedback, and (3) setting of goals. As predicted, the three contingent feedback strategies had a significant positive effect on perceived controllability, and led to better task performance.     

Three dimensional musculoskeletal modelling of the seated biceps curl resistance training exercise

The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits and limitations of using three dimensional (3D) musculoskeletal modelling (LifeModeler?) in assessing the safety and efficacy of exercising on a seated biceps curl resistance training machine. Three anthropometric cases were studied, representing a 5^th percentile female, 50^th percentile and 95^th percentile male. Results indicated that the LifeModeler? default model was not adequate to solve the forward dynamics simulations. Therefore adjustments had to be made to the default model to successfully complete the forward dynamics simulations. The software was able to sufficiently highlight the shortcomings of the biceps curl machine's engineered adjustability in relation to the anthropometric dimensions of the studied cases, as the 5^th percentile female could not be accommodated suitably on the machine. High lumbar spine anterior/posterior shear forces for all anthropometric cases and maximum muscle tensions for the female and 50^th percentile male indicate that the seated biceps curl exercise may pose risks for injuries. To conclude, it appears that 3D musculoskeletal modelling can be used to evaluate resistance training equipment such as the seated biceps curl machine. However the limitations as indicated by this study must be taken into consideration, especially when using the default LifeModeler? model.     

Electromyography and the study of sports movements: A review

Within electromyography (EMG), a particular speciality has been developed wherein the aim is to use EMG for the study of muscular function and co‐ordination. This area of research is usually called kinesiological EMG. The general aims of kinesiological EMG are to analyse the function and co‐ordination of muscles in different movements and postures, in healthy subjects as well as in the disabled, in skilled actions as well as during training, in humans as well as in animals, under laboratory conditions as well as during daily or vocational activities. This is often done by a combination of electromyographical and kinesiological or biomechanical measurement techniques.

Because there are over 400 skeletal muscles in the human body and both irregular and complex involvement of the muscles may occur in neuromuscular diseases and in voluntary occupational or sports movements, it is impossible to sample all of the muscles of the entire body during the performance of complex motor skills. In addition, the measurement of kinesiological EMG in sport and specific field circumstances, such as the track and/or soccer field, the alpine ski slope, the swimming pool and the ice rink, demands a specific technological and methodological approach, adaptable to both the field and the sport circumstances.

Sport movement techniques and skills, training approaches and methods, ergonomic verification of the human‐machine interaction have, amongst others, a highly specialized muscular activity in common. The knowledge of such muscular action in all its aspects, its evaluation and its feedback should allow for the optimization of movement, of sports materials, of training possibilities and, in the end, of sports performance.

Drawing conclusions from a review of the EMG research of 32 sports, covering over 100 different complex skills, including methodological approaches, is an impossible task. We have attempted to set standards concerning the EMG methodology at the beginning of this review. Electromyography and sports is a vast area and a complete review is impossible, as information will be found scattered in many different journals, including those on the sports sciences, ergonomics, biomechanics, applied physiology, in different congress proceedings, and so on. Consequently, many important aspects and possibly important publications may have been omitted from this review.     

Acquiring an Attacking Forehand Drive: The Effects of Static and Dynamic Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Two groups of 10 novice subjects each were trained to perform attacking forehand drives in table tennis and land the balls as fast and as accurately as possible onto a target on the opposite side of the net under two different training conditions. Under the static training condition, the balls were to be struck from a constant position, and under the dynamic training condition, balls approached the subjects in a normal way. Both groups were tested under dynamic conditions prior to and after four days of training, during which they received 1,600 practice trials. Both groups of subjects were shown to increase the number of balls that landed on the target, and learning was also evident from an increased consistency of the direction of travel of the bat at the moment of ball/bat contact. However, no increase in consistency was found for the location of the bat at the moment of ball/bat contact and for the movement times. Thus, learning can occur in the absence of externally generated time-to-contact information, but this is not due to the establishment of a consistent movement form. Learning appears to progress from control at the moment of ball/bat contact backward, toward the moment of initiation.     

Hybrid e-learning tool TransLearning: video storytelling to foster vicarious learning within multi-stakeholder collaboration networks

E-learning and storytelling approaches can support informal vicarious learning within geographically widely distributed multi-stakeholder collaboration networks. This case study evaluates hybrid e-learning and video-storytelling approach ‘TransLearning’ by investigation into how its storytelling e-tool supported informal vicarious learning, while it was applied in multi-stakeholder collaborations called ‘Regional Ateliers’. TransLearning was meant to supplement learning within RAs about running rural sustainable innovation projects. The e-tools’ video-stories were thematically coded for content analysis. Stakeholder workshops in which the e-tool was used, as well as gathered user experiences, were transcribed, analysed inductively and juxtaposed. Findings indicate that stakeholders vicariously learned by (1) creative association and (2) collaborative creation of new stories, based on watching individual or multiple videos, respectively. However, the e-tool’s learning content seemed rife with conceptual knowledge, indicating an absence of concrete experiences that are essential for rich(er) vicarious learning. Storytelling e-tools developed for vicarious learning in novice collaborations may inherently encounter this. To conclude, hybrid storytelling approaches like TransLearning seem to support informal vicarious learning best if they employ (1) processes in which learners actively co-create content (selection of topics and storytellers), (2) extensive storyboarding (3) and learning facilitators that encourage learners to collaboratively compare videos and think associatively.