The impact of physical load on duration estimation in sport.

We investigated whether physical load has an influence on the accuracy of duration estimation of sporting activities presented in real time and slow motion. 86 participants were studied in two single sessions of 45 min each. Our results showed no general effects for physical load, when comparing physical load versus rest. However, we could replicate findings of past research (Schütz et al., 2021), showing that the duration of sports performance is estimated more accurately when presented in real time compared to slow motion. Further we found, that under physical load, participants perceiving the physical exercise as hard (RPE ≥15) estimated time significantly shorter and more accurately compared to participants perceiving the physical exercise as light or moderate (RPE <15). Thus, our results suggest that using slow motion may worsen the assessment of sports performance. Additionally, we could show that intense physical exertion contributes to reducing the overestimation of time.

The introduction of the Video Assistant Referee supports the fairness of the game - An analysis of the home advantage in the German Bundesliga.

The introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR) was a landmark in soccer history, yet it is not empirically examined whether the technology contributes to the most supreme value of the game: fair play. Because referees are said to be one driving cause of the home advantage (HA), the aim of this study was to examine whether the HA changed in the German Bundesliga since the implementation of the VAR in the season 2017/18. We examined a total of 2448 games during the four seasons before and after the implementation of the VAR with regards to the game outcomes (i.e., goals and points) as well as indicators of referee bias (i.e., fouls, yellow cards, 2nd yellow cards, red cards, and penalty kicks) for both the home and the away teams. Findings indicate that the VAR influences game outcomes to a fairer degree. Specifically, (i) we found statistical evidence for the HA before, but not after the implementation of the VAR. However, (ii) these results need to be interpreted with caution because direct assessments of the change induced by the introduction of the VAR are not statistically significant. Finally, (iii) with the implementation of the VAR, fewer fouls were committed by both the home and the away team.

Psychological readiness is related to return to sport in judo injuries: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of a judoka's psychological readiness in relation to his ability to return to sport. At the present time, the relationship between physical and psychological readiness to return to sport has not been adequately elucidated. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. An online survey was distributed via social networks and the German Judo Association collecting data from competitive and recreational judo athletes. The survey collected data on participants' characteristics, history of injury, and psychological readiness to return to sport after injury as determined by either the Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Return to Sport after Injury Scale, the Shoulder Instability-Return to Sport after Injury Scale, or a modified version of the Return to Sport after Injury Scale depending on the respective type of injury. RESULTS: The study included 383 judo athletes (272 competitive judo athletes and 112 recreational judo athletes). Regardless of injury location, athletes who achieved return to sports (M = 70.67; SD = 16.47) had higher RSI scores than athletes that did not return to sports (M = 53.88; SD = 19.12; p < 0.0001). Male athletes (M = 65.60; SD = 19.34) did show significantly higher RSI scores than female athletes (M = 60.45; SD = 19.46). The RSI score differed for different time loss categories, F(7, 375) = 11.309, p < 0.001, η2 = .174 with decreasing RSI scores for longer time loss and lowest RSI scores in athletes, who never returned to sports. RSI scores of athletes with knee injuries differed from athletes with other injury locations (10.23, 95% CI [4.08, 16.38]). After adjusting for time loss due to injury, competitive athletes had higher RSI scores than competitive athletes (F (1, 382) = 7.250, p < 0.001, partial η2 = .02). Conservatively treated athletes (M = 66.58; SD = 18.54) had higher RSI scores than surgically treated athletes (M = 59.05; SD = 20.01; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Based on the data of this study, type of injury, sport level, treatment method, and gender appear to influence psychological readiness on judoka and their ability to return to sport. The multiple factors that influence a judoka and their ability to return to sport argue for individualized treatment of judoka and their psychological state after injury in the return to sport process.

The Impact of Video Speed on the Estimation of Time Duration in Sport.

The authors investigated the impact of video speed on judging the duration of sport performance. In three experiments, they investigated whether the speed of video presentation (slow motion vs. real time) has an influence on the accuracy of time estimation of sporting activities (n1 = 103; n2 = 100; n3 = 106). In all three studies, the time estimation was more accurate in real time than in slow motion, in which time was overestimated. In two studies, the authors initially investigated whether actions in slow motion are perceived to last longer because the distance they cycled or ran is perceived to be longer (n4 = 92; n5 = 106). The results support the hypothesis that the duration of sporting activities is estimated more accurately when they are presented in real time than in slow motion. Sporting officials' judgments that require accurate time estimation may thus be biased when based on slow-motion displays.

Implicit Motives, Laterality, Sports Participation and Competition in Gymnasts.

The implicit motivational needs for power, achievement, and affiliation are relevant for sports performance. Due to their hypothesized association with functions of the right hemisphere (McClelland, 1986), they may influence lateralized perceptual and motor processes. And due to their interactions with motive-specific incentives, they may influence performance conditional on the presence of suitable incentives. This preregistered study, conducted mostly online, examines motivational needs using a standard picture-story exercise (PSE) and their associations with indicators of perceptual and motor laterality and sports performance in gymnasts (N = 67). Further it explores how implicit motives interact with suitable motivational incentives in the prediction of sports performance. Results partly confirm a link between indicators of cerebral rightward laterality and implicit motives: the implicit affiliation and achievement motives are positively associated with an indicator of emotional-perceptional laterality (chimeric-faces task), but not with an indicator of motor laterality (turning bias). Moreover, the implicit achievement motive was positively correlated with training hours. The implicit affiliation motive was negatively associated with the highest attained competition level. The presence of achievement incentives (perceived control, failure) and affiliation incentives (training together or alone) did not interact with corresponding motives to predict sports performance.

Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins are regulators of the NIS gene in thyroid cells.

The uptake of iodide into the thyroid, an essential step in thyroid hormone synthesis, is an active process mediated by the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS). Despite its strong dependence on TSH, the master regulator of the thyroid, the NIS gene was also reported to be regulated by non-TSH signaling pathways. In the present study we provide evidence that the rat NIS gene is subject to regulation by sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs), which were initially identified as master transcriptional regulators of lipid biosynthesis and uptake. Studies in FRTL-5 thyrocytes revealed that TSH stimulates expression and maturation of SREBPs and expression of classical SREBP target genes involved in lipid biosynthesis and uptake. Almost identical effects were observed when the cAMP agonist forskolin was used instead of TSH. In TSH receptor-deficient mice, in which TSH/cAMP-dependent gene regulation is blocked, the expression of SREBP isoforms in the thyroid was markedly reduced when compared with wild-type mice. Sterol-mediated inhibition of SREBP maturation and/or RNA interference-mediated knockdown of SREBPs reduced expression of NIS and NIS-specific iodide uptake in FRTL-5 cells. Conversely, overexpression of active SREBPs caused a strong activation of the 5'-flanking region of the rat NIS gene mediated by binding to a functional SREBP binding site located in the 5'-untranslated region of the rat NIS gene. These findings show that TSH acts as a regulator of SREBP expression and maturation in thyroid epithelial cells and that SREBPs are novel transcriptional regulators of NIS.