Attentional capture by spoken language: effects on netballers’ visual task performance

Abstract

In two experiments, participants performed visual detection, visual discrimination and decision-making tasks, in which a binary (left/right) response was required. In all experimental conditions, a spoken word (“left”/“right”) was presented monaurally (left or right ear) at the onset of the visual stimulus. In Experiment 1, 26 non-athletes located a target amongst an array of distractors as quickly as possible, in both the presence and absence of spoken cues. Participants performed superiorly in the presence of valid cues, relative to invalid-cue and control conditions. In Experiment 2, 42 skilled netballers completed three tasks, in randomised order: a visual detection task, a visual discrimination task and a netball decision-making task – all in the presence of spoken cues. Our data showed that spoken auditory cues affected not only target detection, but also performance on more complex decision-making tasks: cues that were either spatially or semantically invalid slowed target detection time; spatially invalid cues impaired discrimination task accuracy; and cues that were either spatially or semantically valid improved accuracy and speeded decision-making time in the netball task. When studying visual perception and attention in sport, the impact of concomitant auditory information should be taken into account in order to achieve a more representative task design.     

Early Football and the Emergence of Modern Soccer,c. 1840–1880

The origins of the modern football codes have attracted considerable attention from historians of sport over the past two decades, resulting in a vigorous debate between the self-described ‘revisionists’, led by Adrian Harvey, and the followers of Eric Dunning, dubbed by their opponents as the ‘orthodox’ view. However, this article argues that both sides commit the same methodological errors: an overestimation of the importance of written rules, an ahistoric view of culture and continuity, and a tendency to view the past through the lens of the present. By re-examining the historical record of early forms of football and presenting a broader contextual perspective for the emergence of the football codes in the 1840 to 1880 period, the article aims to address some of the key historiographical issues that confront historians of sport today.     

Practice and play as determinants of self-determined motivation in youth soccer players

Abstract

Based upon predictions derived from the Developmental Model of Sports Participation, we tested whether hours in domain-specific play (self-led activities) and practice (coach-led activities) during childhood (~5–12 year) in an elite group of youth soccer players from the UK (N = 144) were related to motivation. Independent analysis of three different age groups (Under 13, 15 and 17 year) did not show relations between play and practice activities during childhood and global measures of motivation. However, secondary analysis showed that when controlling for years in soccer, years in the UK Academy system were negatively related to global indices of self-determined motivation (SDI) and positively related to controlled motivation for the oldest players. Despite predictions, there was no evidence that play during childhood was positively related to more SDI. Prospective research is recommended to enable more robust conclusions about the role of early developmental practice activities, especially early specialisation in a high-performance system, on both skill and psychosocial development.     

Energy substrate metabolism during dual work rate exercise: Effects of order

Changes in workload are evident during many physical activities. The aim of this study was to assess total substrate metabolism when the temporal placement of a period of higher-intensity work (75% VO 2max ) was varied within a low-intensity exercise session (50% VO 2max ). One experimental trial (higher intensity first) comprised 5 min low-intensity work, followed by 15 min high-intensity work, followed by 40 min low-intensity work. The other trial (low intensity first) comprised 40 min low-intensity work, followed by 15 min high-intensity work, followed by 5 min low-intensity work. The trials were designed to achieve an identical total energy expenditure. Energy expenditure, fat and carbohydrate utilization were estimated by expired gas analysis and compared between conditions. Mean total energy expenditure during the higher-intensity phase was 1076 kJ and 1128 kJ in the high-intensity first and low-intensity first trials respectively (t 6 = -3.76, P = 0.0047). Mean total energy expenditure for the whole trial was 3356 kJ and 3452 kJ in the high-intensity first and low-intensity first trials respectively (t 6 = -3.48, P = 0.0065). Mean whole-trial fat utilization was 1753 kJ and 1857 kJ in the high-intensity first and low-intensity first trials respectively (t 6 = -0.76, P = 0.24). Our findings suggest that changing the temporal placement of higher-intensity work within a low-intensity exercise session has a significant effect on total energy expenditure but not on the rate of fat oxidation.     

Effects of Two Instructional Approaches on Skill Development,Knowledge, and Game Performance

Two instructional approaches that have been of interest in promoting sport have been the Sport Education Model (SEM) and the Traditional Style (TS) of teaching physical education. The purpose of this study was to investigate how SEM and TS would affect skill development, knowledge, and game performance for volleyball at the secondary level. A 2 × 3 (group × time) research design was utilized on 47 secondary students testing volleyball skills, knowledge, and game performance. Participants were placed in either the SEM or the TS via stratified randomization, and then were tested pre, mid, and post intervention through the 20-lesson volleyball unit. The 2 × 3 repeated measures Analysis of Variances (ANOVAs) with Bonferroni correction revealed no significant difference between models for skills and knowledge, but there was for game performance for group [F(1, 45) = 10.27, p < .008, η² = .19], time [F(2, 90) = 8.62, p < .008, η² = .16], and group × time interaction [F(2, 90) = 8.43, p < .008, η² = .16]. If the goal of the physical education program is to promote quality game play, the SEM may be more effective than the TS.     

The Pass Survey: school‐based preferences of 500 + adolescent consumers

Survey sheets requiring three responses, written in order of preference, to each of 10 items regarding various aspects of school, were administered to 595 secondary school students attending three rural and four urban comprehensive schools. Data were assembled from the highest preference responses only, and compiled into three levels of rank‐order for incentive preferences regarding good behaviour, incentive preferences regarding good work, preferences for teacher support of good behaviour, preferences for teacher support of good work, observed teacher qualities, projected teacher qualities, preferred changes to the school environment, and reasons for attending school.

Results revealed that an almost universal level of support existed for the use of incentives linked directly to good social behaviour and or academic performance. Overall, social outcomes were preferred for good behaviour, and tangible outcomes were preferred for good schoolwork. However, age, sex, and ability effects provided some qualification of these trends. Academic outcomes were very poorly supported throughout. In terms of feedback preferences, overt feedback received significantly more support than covert feedback overall, and was linked significantly more often to social behaviour than schoolwork. This sample also favoured teachers who show empathy and explain well.

The majority of these adolescents indicated that they would like their schools to be redecorated more than any other physical change they could think of, and almost without exception exhibited positive reasons for attending school.     

NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR HOME‐BASED LEARNING: THE CHALLENGE TO CAMPUS‐BASED INSTITUTIONS

Although there may be little expansion for conventional higher education on campus in the next decade, there is an unmet and growing need to provide home‐based continuing education. This will require an effective means of delivering learning materials to homes on a greater scale than can be handled by broadcasting alone, as well as the production of high quality software appropriate both to the means of delivery and the needs of students. There are several developments in technology which hold out promise for home use; these need to be developed as part of a wider learning system. Campus‐based institutions are well placed both to develop the hardware and to produce suitable learning materials, but this means that higher education institutions must show a much more flexible attitude to continuing education and to co‐operation with other organisations.