School-Based Neurofeedback Training for Sustained Attention.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether in situ neurofeedback training can be used as a tool to build sustained attention in the general student population and whether gains in attention translate to more effective work habits and learning skills. METHOD: Students participated in attention training game-based neurofeedback in situ for a period of 35 sessions of 25 min each. The study was built as a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. RESULTS: This study supports that classroom-based neurofeedback may be an effective tool to build sustained attention and translate these gains into observable work habits and learning behaviors including planning and organization. CONCLUSION: Neurofeedback has shown specificity in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Published research has not, however, focused on its efficacy in developing attentional capacities in the general population. The promising results of this exploratory investigation warrant further applied research.

March Mammal Madness and the power of narrative in science outreach.

March Mammal Madness is a science outreach project that, over the course of several weeks in March, reaches hundreds of thousands of people in the United States every year. We combine four approaches to science outreach - gamification, social media platforms, community event(s), and creative products - to run a simulated tournament in which 64 animals compete to become the tournament champion. While the encounters between the animals are hypothetical, the outcomes rely on empirical evidence from the scientific literature. Players select their favored combatants beforehand, and during the tournament scientists translate the academic literature into gripping "play-by-play" narration on social media. To date ~1100 scholarly works, covering almost 400 taxa, have been transformed into science stories. March Mammal Madness is most typically used by high-school educators teaching life sciences, and we estimate that our materials reached ~1% of high-school students in the United States in 2019. Here we document the intentional design, public engagement, and magnitude of reach of the project. We further explain how human psychological and cognitive adaptations for shared experiences, social learning, narrative, and imagery contribute to the widespread use of March Mammal Madness.

The relationship between extension of the metatarsophalangeal joint and sprint time for 100 m Olympic athletes.

Selected kinematic variables of the foot segments and the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint were investigated in relation to sprinting performance among 100 m sprint athletes at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. It was hypothesized that the kinematics of the MTP joint, and forefoot and rearfoot segments, are related to sprint performance for both male and female athletes. Kinematic sagittal plane data were collected using two digital video cameras recording at 120 fields per second. It was determined that faster male sprinters experienced higher maximal rates of MTP extension, and faster female sprinters touch down with higher posterior sole angles and take off with lower posterior sole angles.

The influence of multiple obstacles in the travel path on avoidance strategy.

Obstacle avoidance strategy was analysed as participants were subjected to varied quantities and positions of obstacles in their travel path. Kinematic data were collected with three optoelectric cameras sampling at 100 Hz. Calculated from this data were toe-elevation and take-off distance for both lead and trail limbs. Each subject completed a total of 120 randomly assigned trials (15 repetitions in each of eight test conditions). Test conditions were as follows: no obstacle (C1), a single obstacle at 0 (C2), 1 (C3), 1.5 (C4), and 2 m (C5) positions and double obstacles at 0 and 1 (C6), 0 and 1.5 (C7) and 0 and 2 m (C8) positions. Avoidance strategy was defined in terms of take-off distance and toe-elevation at obstacle crossing. Single obstacle trials demonstrated that take-off distance and toe-elevation are gait parameters, which are controlled in successful obstacle clearance. Double obstacle trials revealed that presence and position of a second obstacle in the travel path influences trail limb take-off distance for both first and second obstacles.