Time-Referenced Effects of an Internal vs. External Focus of Attention on Muscular Activity and Compensatory Variability

The paralysis-by-analysis phenomenon, i.e., attending to the execution of one's movement impairs performance, has gathered a lot of attention over recent years (see Wulf, 2007, for a review). Explanations of this phenomenon, e.g., the hypotheses of constrained action (Wulf et al., 2001) or of step-by-step execution (Masters, 1992; Beilock et al., 2002), however, do not refer to the level of underlying mechanisms on the level of sensorimotor control. For this purpose, a “nodal-point hypothesis” is presented here with the core assumption that skilled motor behavior is internally based on sensorimotor chains of nodal points, that attending to intermediate nodal points leads to a muscular re-freezing of the motor system at exactly and exclusively these points in time, and that this re-freezing is accompanied by the disruption of compensatory processes, resulting in an overall decrease of motor performance. Two experiments, on lever sequencing and basketball free throws, respectively, are reported that successfully tested these time-referenced predictions, i.e., showing that muscular activity is selectively increased and compensatory variability selectively decreased at movement-related nodal points if these points are in the focus of attention

Effects of unilateral dynamic handgrip on reaction time and error rate

Quick and accurate reactions to environmental stimuli are often required. Researchers have investigated ways to improve these reactions, which are critical components of perceptual-motor abilities. To optimize individual performance, different techniques, such as embodied interventions and brain stimulation, have been examined. The evidence from EEG studies shows that upper limb muscle contractions lead to changes in brain oscillations associated with changes in mental states and behavioral outcomes. Much research has been conducted on whether muscle contractions of a particular hand have a greater effect on a perceptual-motor ability, as a trigger to facilitate cortical processes (a mediator) for skilled motor performance. While previous studies have shown that left- (vs. right-) hand contractions can lead to greater alpha activation, we hypothesized that left dynamic handgrips have different impacts on motor performance, reflected by simple RT (SRT) and choice RT (CRT). We recruited 64 right-handers, for a within/between-subjects experiment consisting of performance measurements in SRT and CRT tasks after the intervention (either right or left dynamic handgrip approximately twice a second for 30 s for each hand) or assignment to paired passive control groups. We did not find left-hand contractions improve response accuracy in neither SRT nor CRT tasks. Further, left-hand contractions did not affect RTs. The findings indicate that the effects of dynamic handgrips are smaller on behavioral outcomes such as RTs than what can be inferred from published studies. More research is needed to establish the effect of dynamic handgrips on optimizing performance. © 2022, The Author(s)

Slides Good Scientific Practice

Slides to Introductory Lectures and Workshops on Good Scientific Practic

Sleep, dreams, and athletic performance

Sleep is generally regarded as a valuable resource for psychological and physiological well-being. In recent years, sleep as a resource of recovery has increasingly been recognised as part of the preparation of peak performance—not only by athletes but also by coaches. In the previous chapter by Caia, Kelly, and Halson, the role, of sleep in maximizing performance in elite athletes was described. In the first part of this chapter we will review in more detail how sleep is measured and the basic methods of sleep recording. In the second part, interesting areas where sleep medicine and sport science are closely intertwined are presented. Anecdotal evidence about a bad night’s sleep prior to a sport event have been reported quite often; however, systematic surveys are scarce. Empirical data on poor sleep and distressing dreams before competition and their relation to competitive anxiety will be discussed. In the third part, the phenomenon of lucid dreaming will be introduced. A lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer is aware of the dream state, and lucid dreamers are able to execute complex actions within the dream. The possible application of this phenomenon in sports (e.g., motor learning or psychophysiological correlates of dreaming as well as induction techniques for lucid dreams will be presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved

The role of nocturnal dreams in performance and recovery of athletes

Athletes often dream about their sport. This is not surprising, but exactly what the continuity hypothesis in dream research predicts: Dreams reflect thoughts and actions that a person experiences during wakefulness. Moreover, the content of dreams has an impact on waking life: Distressing dreams and nightmares can tremendously worsen daytime mood, but dreams can also have positive effects on performance in wakefulness. This chapter will focus on sports-related dreams and which role they might play in the context of performance and recovery of athletes. For this purpose, in the first part of this chapter we will introduce some basics methods of dream research and how dreams are analysed. In the second part, interesting areas where dream research and sport science are closely intertwined are presented. In the third part, we will focus on dreams, in which the dreamer is aware of the dream state (called lucid dream) and in which he is able to execute complex actions within the dream