Shared mental models and intra-team psychophysiological patterns: A test of the juggling paradigm

We explored implicit coordination mechanisms underlying the conceptual notion of "shared mental models" (SMM) through physiological (i.e., breathing and heart rates) and affective-cognitive (i.e., arousal, pleasantness, attention, self-efficacy, other's efficacy) monitoring of two professional jugglers performing a real-time interactive task of increasing difficulty. There were two experimental conditions: "individual" (i.e., solo task) and "interactive" (i.e., two jugglers established a cooperative interaction by juggling sets of balls with each other). In both conditions, there were two task difficulties: “easy” and “hard”. Descriptive analyses revealed that engaging in a dyadic cooperative motor task (interactive condition) required greater physiological effort (Median Cohen’s d = 2.13) than performing a solo motor task (individual condition) of similar difficulty. Our results indicated a strong positive correlation between the jugglers’ heart rate for the easy (r = .87) and hard tasks (r = .77). The relationship between the jugglers’ breathing rate was significant for the easy task (r = .73) but non-significant for the hard task. The findings are interpreted based on research on SMM and Theory of Mind. Practitioners should advance the notion of “shared-regulation” in the context of team coordination through the use of biofeedback training

Coordination Cost and Super-Efficiency in Teamwork: The Role of Communication, Psychological States, Cardiovascular Responses, and Brain Rhythms

To advance knowledge on the psychophysiological markers of “coordination cost” in team settings, we explored differences in meta-communication patterns (i.e., silence, speaking, listening, and overlap), perceived psychological states (i.e., core affect, attention, efficacy beliefs), heart rate variability (i.e., RMSSD), and brain rhythms (i.e., alpha, beta and theta absolute power) across three studies involving 48 male dyads (Mage = 21.30; SD = 2.03). Skilled participants cooperatively played three consecutive FIFA-17 (Xbox) games in a dyad against the computer, or competed against the computer in a solo condition and a dyad condition. We observed that playing in a team, in contrast to playing alone, was associated with higher alpha peak and global efficiency in the brain and, at the same time, led to an increase in focused attention as evidenced by participants’ higher theta activity in the frontal lobe. Moreover, we observed that overtime participants’ brain dynamics moved towards a state of “neural-efficiency” or “flow”, characterized by increased theta and beta activity in the frontal lobe, and high alpha activity across the whole brain. Our findings advance the literature by demonstrating that (1) the notion of coordination cost can be captured at the neural level in the initial stages of team development; (2) by decreasing the costs of switching between tasks, teamwork increases both individuals’ attentional focus and global neural efficiency; and (3) communication dynamics become more proficient and individuals’ brain patterns change towards neural efficiency over time, likely due to team learning and decreases in intra-team conflict

Visual and Auditory Effects on Perceived Exertion and Attentional Styles

Razon S, Basevitch I, Land WM, Thompson B, Tenenbaum G. Visual and Auditory Effects on Perceived Exertion and Attentional Styles. Presented at the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (SEACSM), Greenville, South Carolina

Acute Effects of Exercise on Cognition in Young Adults: Strength vs. Endurance Protocols

Please see the pdf version of the abstract

Pacing accuracy during an incremental step test in adolescent swimmers

Adrian Scruton, James Baker, Justin Roberts, Itay Basevitch, Viviane Merzbach, Dan Gordon Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Group, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK Abstract: To assess pacing accuracy in a group of adolescent swimmers during an incremental step test. Fifteen well-trained swimmers (age 15±1.5 years; height 170.2±8.8 cm; mass 60.2±6.6 kg), completed two 7×200 m tests, separated by ~72 hours. They swam to a predetermined incrementally increasing pace per step and were instructed to swim at even pace. Upon completion of each step, rating of perceived exertion, heart rate and blood lactate were recorded. Significant differences observed for both trials between actual and predicted swim time (P<0.05). Significant differences also observed between the first and second 100 m of each step in trial 1 for step 1 (P=0.001, effect size [ES] =0.54), step 2 (P=0.0001, ES =0.57), step 4 (P=0.0001, ES =0.53), step 5 (P=0.005, ES =0.65), step 6 (P=0.0001, ES =0.50), and step 7 (P=0.0001, ES =0.70). Similar responses witnessed for trial 2 (P<0.05). Findings suggest that the finite anaerobic capacity was engaged sooner than would normally be anticipated, as a function of an inability to regulate pace. This is proposed to be a consequence of the volume of exposure to the biological and psychological sensations and cognitive developmental status. Given the apparent error in pacing judgment exhibited in this population group, caution should be applied when adopting such tests to monitor training responses with adolescent athletes, and alternate means of modulating pace be investigated. Keywords: effort regulation, children, exercise testing, perceptio

Imagery Effects on Attention, Perceived Exertion, and Effort Duration

Razon S, Basevitch I, Filho E, Land WM, Thompson B, Tenenbaum G. Imagery Effects on Attention, Perceived Exertion, and Effort Duration. Presented at the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (SEACSM), Greenville, South Carolina

Imaged external/internal attention effects on perceived exertion, attention allocation, and effort duration

Razon S, Basevitch I, Filho E, Land WM, Thompson B, Tenenbaum G. Imaged external/internal attention effects on perceived exertion, attention allocation, and effort duration. Presented at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), Austin, Texas

Differential Imagery Effects on Perceived Pain and Task Adherence

Razon S, Basevitch I, Filho E, et al. Differential Imagery Effects on Perceived Pain and Task Adherence. Presented at the 13th Annual European Congress of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC), Madeira Island, Portugal

Associative and dissociative imagery effects on perceived exertion and task duration

Razon S, Basevitch I, Filho E, et al. Associative and dissociative imagery effects on perceived exertion and task duration. Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity. 2010;5(1)