Benefits of Enacting and Observing Gestures on Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Funding S.N. is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) as part of Germany’s Excellence Strategy—EXC 2050/1—Project ID 390696704—Cluster of Excellence “Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop” (CeTI) of Technische Universität Dresden. B.M. is supported by a Research Incentive Grant (RIG)—Project 012506—from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

DIFFERENCES IN KICKING DYNAMICS OF FUTSAL AND SOCCER BALL

Differences in equipment influence the execution of a skill. To date, no literature has identified if ball properties influence foot-ball impact of kicking. The aim of this study was to compare kick impact characteristics of a futsal (FB) and soccer ball (SB). A mechanical limb impacted each ball to standardise all kicking characteristics. High speed video camera (4,000 Hz) captured impact characteristics of each ball. Significant differences (P \u3c 0.05) were observed between the two balls. The SB displayed a higher coefficient of restitution, average force and ball velocity. The timing of key events during impact differed; the FB velocity was higher for the first 75% of impact duration, where it was then exceeded by the SB. The SB was characterised by decreased energy losses, notable during the reformation phase. This work identified that ball properties do influence the impact phase of kicking

Response: Commentary: Long-term Practice with Domain-Specific Task Constraints Influences Perceptual Skills

A Commentary on: Commentary: Long-term Practice with Domain-Specific Task Constraints Influences Perceptual Skills by Yiannaki, C., Carling, C., and Collins, D. (2018). Front. Psychol. 9:1214. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg. 2018.0121

Scaling sports equipment for children promotes functional movement variability

© 2020, The Author(s). Scaling sports equipment to match the physical development of children allows motor skills to be performed with greater success and with more desirable movement patterns. It is unknown, however, how scaled equipment affects movement variability – a key factor associated with coordination. Our aim was to identify whether scaled sports equipment facilitates coordination and functional movement variability in children when performing a hitting for accuracy task in tennis. Twenty-five children were asked to execute a forehand stroke with the aim of hitting the ball to a target located 10 metres away. Participants performed the task in two conditions – a scaled equipment condition and a full-sized equipment condition. Scaled equipment led to superior hitting accuracy and greater temporal stability of the swing compared to full-sized equipment. Scaled equipment also afforded the emergence of a functional coupling between upper arm and forearm movement variability which helped regulate the distance between the shoulder and the racket. Comparatively there was a lack of coupling when full-sized equipment was used. Hence, scaled equipment promoted functional movement variability, whereas full-sized equipment resulted in the freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom. This suggests that children’s skill acquisition could be hindered and potentially regress when using inappropriately sized equipment

Expertise-related differences in the performance of simple and complex tasks: an event-related potential evaluation of futsal players

Background: In recent years, anecdotal evidence has pointed to the importance of futsal as a significant activity for the development of perceptual and technical skills, possibly due to the intensity of the game providing a multitude of different stimuli to the players. However, no scientific evidence to date exists regarding the processes that may underpin such benefits. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in electro-cortical activity and reaction time (RT) between expert and recreational futsal players. Methods: 11 expert and 12 recreational futsal players (mean age: 28.7 ± 4.9 years) performed congruent and incongruent trials of a modified Flanker task on a customised computer screen. RT generated by an index-finger mouse press was recorded via a customised micro-processing system and electro-cortical activity was recorded by electroencephalography during task performance. Results: There was a significant difference in RT and error rate in congruent and incongruent task performance, and difference in electro-cortical activity showing an enhanced N1 ERP mean amplitude within the parietal region in the expert compared to recreational group. Conclusion: Similar to previous research, a greater level of expertise leads to recruitment of brain areas necessary for the efficient integration and processing of information required to produce desired goal-directed behaviour

Deliberate Practice and Motor Learning Principles to Underpin the Design of Training Interventions for Improving Lifting Movement in the Occupational Sector: A Perspective and a Pilot Study on the Role of Augmented Feedback

Spine posture during repetitive lifting is one of the main risk factors for low-back injuries in the occupational sector. It is thus critical to design appropriate intervention strategies for training workers to improve their posture, reducing load on the spine during lifting. The main approach to train safe lifting to workers has been educational; however, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have shown that this approach does not improve lifting movement nor reduces the risk of low back injury. One of the main limitations of this approach lies in the amount, quality and context of practice of the lifting movement. In this article, first we argue for integrating psychologically-grounded perspectives of practice design in the development of training interventions for safe lifting. Principles from deliberate practice and motor learning are combined and integrated. Given the complexity of lifting, a training intervention should occur in the workplace and invite workers to repeatedly practice/perform the lifting movement with the clear goal of improving their lifting-related body posture. Augmented feedback has a central role in creating the suitable condition for achieving such intervention. Second, we focus on spine bending as risk factor and present a pilot study examining the benefits and boundary conditions of different feedback modalities for reducing bending during lifting. The results showed how feedback modalities meet differently key requirements of deliberate practice conditions, i.e., feedback has to be informative, individualized and actionable. Following the proposed approach, psychology will gain an active role in the development of training interventions, contributing to finding solutions for a reduction of risk factors for workers