Athletes' perceived use of information sources when forming initial impressions and expectancies of a coach: An explorative study

The study aimed to identify the sources of information that athletes perceive as influential during their initial evaluation of coaching ability. University athletes (N = 538) were asked to indicate the influence of 31 informational cues (e.g., gender, body language or gestures, reputation) on the initial impression formed of a coach. Following exploratory factor analysis, a 3-factor model, (i.e., static cues, dynamic cues, and third-party reports) was extracted. Mean scores revealed that although static cues (e.g., gender, race or ethnicity) were rated as relatively unimportant during impression formation, dynamic cues (e.g., facial expressions, body language or gestures) and third-party reports (e.g., coaching qualifications, reputation.) were viewed by athletes as influential factors in the formation of expectancies about coaches. Such findings have implications for the occurrence of expectancy effects in coach-athlete relationships and the way in which coaches seek to present themselves. © 2008 Human Kinetics, Inc

A motivational music and video intervention improves high-intensity exercise performance.

UNLABELLED Music and video are utilised by recreational gym users to enhance their exercise experience. Music and video have not been investigated for their combined ergogenic effect during high intensity exercise. To induce fatigue, this study was performed in warm (~26°C), moist conditions (~50%RH). Six, non-acclimated, male participants took part in the study. Each participant completed three 30-minute exercise bouts on a motorised treadmill under three counterbalanced conditions on separate days: control (CON), motivational music plus video intervention (M), non-motivational intervention (NM). They completed a warm-up (5 km·h(-1) [5 minutes], 9km·h(-1) [10 minutes]) followed by a maximal effort run (15 minutes). Participants did not receive any feedback of time elapsed, distance run or speed. MEASURES Distance covered (metres), heart rate, blood lactate accumulation (B(lac)) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE). Participants in the M condition ran significantly further than in the NM (M: 3524 [388]metres; NM: 3110 [561]metres; CON: 3273 [458]metres) and CON conditions, accumulated more B(lac), but did not increase their peak RPE rating (p < 0.05). The M intervention improved tolerance of high intensity exercise in warm conditions. It was proposed that a change in attentional processing from internal (physical sensations) to external perspective (music and video) may have facilitated this improvement. These findings have strong implications for improving health, fitness and engagement in gym-based exercise programs. Key pointsThe study examined the ergogenic effect of a motivational (M) video and music intervention on high-intensity exercise performance in comparison to a non-motivational (NM) condition and a control (CON).PARTICIPANTS IN THE M CONDITION RAN SIGNIFICANTLY FURTHER THAN IN THE NM (M: 3524 [388]metres; NM: 3110 [561]metres; CON: 3273 [458]metres) and CON conditions, accumulated more B(lac), but did not increase their peak RPE rating (p < 0.05).It was proposed that a change in attentional processing from internal (physical sensations) to external perspective (music and video) may have facilitated this improvement.These findings have strong implications for improving health, fitness and engagement in gym-based exercise programs

Pressure Dependence of Fragile-to-Strong Transition and a Possible Second Critical Point in Supercooled Confined Water

By confining water in nano-pores of silica glass, we can bypass the crystallization and study the pressure effect on the dynamical behavior in deeply supercooled state using neutron scattering. We observe a clear evidence of a cusp-like fragile-to-strong (F-S) dynamic transition. Here we show that the transition temperature decreases steadily with an increasing pressure, until it intersects the homogenous nucleation temperature line of bulk water at a pressure of 1600 bar. Above this pressure, it is no longer possible to discern the characteristic feature of the F-S transition. Identification of this end point with the possible second critical point is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Third Party Reports influence parents’ perceptions of coaching ability: Implications for youth sport coaches.

According to Olson, Roese, and Zanna’s (1996) Model of Expectancy Processes, information conveyed by others can determine our expectancies of people. Furthermore, Third Party Reports (TPRs) such as reputation may influence athletes’ initial expectancies of coaches (e.g., Manley et al., 2008; 2010; Thelwell et al., 2013). Parents are believed to play a fundamental role in the development of coach-athlete relationships (e.g., Jowett & Katchis, 2005) and, in turn, athletic achievement in youth sport (Gould et al., 2008). However, person perception research has not yet examined the impact of cues such as TPRs on the initial impressions and expectancies that parents form of youth sport coaches. The current study addresses this gap in the literature. Athletes’ parents viewed a hypothetical online report describing the appointment of a new coach at a local sports club. The report included a “comments” section, which consisted of “tweets” posted by the newly-appointed coach’s former athletes. Four experimental conditions were created by manipulating the coach’s level of warmth and competence (i.e., high vs. low) as reported through the “comments/tweets” (i.e., TPRs). After reading the online report, participants provided ratings of the coach’s ability using the Coaching Competency Questionnaire (Myers et al., 2006). Participants are currently being recruited via gatekeepers at sports clubs/organisations, as well as through social media. However, based on an initial sample (n = 83), Kruskal-Wallis tests typically revealed that high-warmth/high-competence TPRs resulted in highest evaluations of overall coaching ability, while TPRs low in both warmth and competence received poorest ratings. Interestingly, perceptions of Character-building Competence were highest for high-warmth/low-competence TPRs. These preliminary findings reveal that TPRs can influence parents’ perceptions of coaching proficiency, but that parents may value warmth over competence when assessing a coach’s ability to develop more holistic qualities in youth sport athletes

Instabilities of one-dimensional stationary solutions of the cubic nonlinear Schrodinger equation

The two-dimensional cubic nonlinear Schrodinger equation admits a large family of one-dimensional bounded traveling-wave solutions. All such solutions may be written in terms of an amplitude and a phase. Solutions with piecewise constant phase have been well studied previously. Some of these solutions were found to be stable with respect to one-dimensional perturbations. No such solutions are stable with respect to two-dimensional perturbations. Here we consider stability of the larger class of solutions whose phase is dependent on the spatial dimension of the one-dimensional wave form. We study the spectral stability of such nontrivial-phase solutions numerically, using Hill's method. We present evidence which suggests that all such nontrivial-phase solutions are unstable with respect to both one- and two-dimensional perturbations. Instability occurs in all cases: for both the elliptic and hyperbolic nonlinear Schrodinger equations, and in the focusing and defocusing case.Comment: Submitted: 13 pages, 3 figure

All roads lead to Rome, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Advice on QSEP navigation from the ‘Roman Gods’ of assessment!

Rome was the point of convergence of all the main roads of the Roman Empire. When Roman emperor Caesar Augustus erected the ‘Milliarium Aureum’ (Golden Milestone) in the heart of Ancient Rome, all roads were designed to begin at the monument. Metaphorically, the ancient proverb ‘All roads lead to Rome’ means there are many different ways of reaching the same goal or conclusion. QSEP training is a bit like that, with trainees engaging with so many different types of clients, settings, cultures, approaches and interventions that no two portfolios of work look alike. Yet, the competency demonstration ‘end goal’ is the same. The ancient Romans were also wise; they knew that in building their Roman empire (or for us building relationships and competence as Sport and Exercise Psychologists), doing something important or creating a masterpiece takes the time it takes; ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ and, metaphorically, QSEP is not something to rush or smear with impatience either

Psychological determinants of whole-body endurance performance

Background: No literature reviews have systematically identified and evaluated research on the psychological determinants of endurance performance, and sport psychology performance-enhancement guidelines for endurance sports are not founded on a systematic appraisal of endurance-specific research. Objective: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify practical psychological interventions that improve endurance performance and to identify additional psychological factors that affect endurance performance. Additional objectives were to evaluate the research practices of included studies, to suggest theoretical and applied implications, and to guide future research. Methods: Electronic databases, forward-citation searches, and manual searches of reference lists were used to locate relevant studies. Peer-reviewed studies were included when they chose an experimental or quasi-experimental research design, a psychological manipulation, endurance performance as the dependent variable, and athletes or physically-active, healthy adults as participants. Results: Consistent support was found for using imagery, self-talk, and goal setting to improve endurance performance, but it is unclear whether learning multiple psychological skills is more beneficial than learning one psychological skill. The results also demonstrated that mental fatigue undermines endurance performance, and verbal encouragement and head-to-head competition can have a beneficial effect. Interventions that influenced perception of effort consistently affected endurance performance. Conclusions: Psychological skills training could benefit an endurance athlete. Researchers are encouraged to compare different practical psychological interventions, to examine the effects of these interventions for athletes in competition, and to include a placebo control condition or an alternative control treatment. Researchers are also encouraged to explore additional psychological factors that could have a negative effect on endurance performance. Future research should include psychological mediating variables and moderating variables. Implications for theoretical explanations of endurance performance and evidence-based practice are described

Cognitive performance is associated with cerebral oxygenation and peripheral oxygen saturation, but not plasma catecholamines, during graded normobaric hypoxia

What is the central question of this study? What are the mechanisms responsible for the decline in cognitive performance following exposure to acute normobaric hypoxia? What are the main findings and their importance? We found that 1) performance of a complex central executive task (n-back) was reduced FiO 0.12; 2) there was a strong correlation between performance of the n-back task and reductions in SpO and cerebral oxygenation; and 3) plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol, and copeptin were not correlated with cognitive performance. It is well established that hypoxia impairs cognitive function; however, the physiological mechanisms responsible for these effects have received relatively little attention. This study examined the effects of graded reductions in fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO ) on oxygen saturation (SpO ), cerebral oxygenation, cardiorespiratory variables, activity of the sympathoadrenal system (adrenaline, noradrenaline) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (cortisol, copeptin), and cognitive performance. Twelve healthy males (mean [SD], age: 22 [4] yrs, height: 178 [5] cm, mass: 75 [9] kg, FEV /FVC ratio: 85 [5] %) completed a 4-task battery of cognitive tests to examine inhibition, selective attention (Eriksen Flanker), executive function (n-back) and simple and choice reaction time (Deary-Liewald). Tests were completed before and following 60 minutes of exposure to FiO 0.2093, 0.17, 0.145, and 0.12. Following 60 minutes of exposure response accuracy in the n-back task was significantly reduced in FiO 0.12 compared to baseline (82 [9] vs. 93 [5] %; p < 0.001) and compared to all other conditions at the same time point (FiO 0.2093: 92 [3] %, FiO 0.17: 91 [6] %, FiO 0.145: 85 [10] %, FiO 12: 82 [9] %; all p < 0.05). The performance of the other tasks was maintained. Δ accuracy and Δ reaction time of the n-back task was correlated with both Δ SpO (r (9) = 0.66; p < 0.001 and r (9) = - 0.36; p = 0.037 respectively) and Δ cerebral oxygenation (r (7) = 0.55; p < 0.001 and r (7) = - 0.38; p = 0.045 respectively). Plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol and copeptin were not significantly elevated in any condition or correlated with any of the tests of cognitive performance. These findings suggest that reductions in peripheral oxygen saturation and cerebral oxygenation, and not increased activity of the sympathoadrenal system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, as previously speculated, are responsible for a decrease in cognitive performance during normobaric hypoxia