Coaches' Mind Games: Harnessing Technical Fouls for Psychological Momentum in Basketball.

This study explored the emotional and cognitive dimensions associated with technical fouls (TFs) in basketball coaching. Using in-depth interviews with Israeli first-division basketball coaches, we aimed to uncover the emotional and cognitive intricacies involved in TFs. Through rigorous thematic content analysis, we delved into coaches' ability to perceive and manipulate psychological momentum on the court. We revealed that coaches intentionally use TFs as strategic tools. TFs were employed to elicit specific emotional responses and cognitive shifts in players, affecting their emotional states, arousal levels, motivation, and overall team performance. However, coaches approached TFs with caution due to the associated emotional and cognitive risks. They carefully weighed potential benefits against unforeseen consequences in their decision-making. Furthermore, our research highlighted coaches' belief in the immediate positive impact of TFs on referee decisions, underscoring the interplay between emotional influence and strategic advantage. Nevertheless, this advantage was perceived as short-lived, emphasizing that TFs are a two-edged sword with unpredictable outcomes.

"In your face": The transition from physical to symbolic violence among NBA players.

The NBA has undergone formative changes since commissioner David Stern began his tenure. Stern has endeavored to make the NBA a consumer-friendly and marketable league by implementing sanctions on physical violence. This study takes a closer look at Stern's efforts by examining the interplay between two forms of violence in NBA basketball players on the court: "old fashioned" physical violence (PV) and symbolic violence (SV). Of the 117 NBA finals broadcast for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, a stratified random sample (36 games or 30.8%) of the violations and commentators' comments were coded, providing a wide perspective on forms of violence over time. The findings reveal that although the number of PV incidents decreased, SV increased starting in 2014, to the extent that SV incidents were more frequent than PV. A thematic analysis of the commentators' remarks associated with these incidents showed that they support and encourage PV, whereas SV tends to be perceived as harmless and therefore permissible to ignore. Unlike PV, SV is not perceived to be as worthy of media coverage. The relative lack of commentator interest is indicative of the lack of "glamour" of SV in the NBA league. It is suggested that since viewers of professional sports often emulate the players, the increase of SV within the NBA is likely to be mirrored in fans in their everyday lives and in amateur basketball players. Although the rise in SV causes fewer physical injuries in professional basketball players, it nevertheless can cause psychological harm.

The Effects of Acute Exercise on Driving and Executive Functions in Healthy Older Adults.

The benefits of exercise on cognitive functioning in older adults are well recognized. One limitation of the current literature is that researchers have almost exclusively relied on well-controlled laboratory tasks to assess cognition. Moreover, the effects of a single bout of aerobic exercise in older adults have received limited attention. The proposed study addresses these limitations by assessing the effects of a single bout of exercise on a more ecologically valid task - driving. Seventy-one participants (M age = 66.39 ± 4.70 years) were randomly allocated to 20min cycling at moderate intensity or sitting and watching driving videos. Participants were then tested on their driving performance using a driving simulator. Driving performance was measured with three different scenarios assessing decision making, driving errors, reaction time, and attention. On a subsequent session, all participants were tested on executive functioning before and after a fitness test. Non-significant effects of exercise were observed on driving performance. However, participants performed better on the Trail Making Test (Cohen's d = 0.25) and Stroop test (d = 0.50) after the fitness test compared to their baseline. These results suggest that post-exercise cognitive improvements do not transfer to improved driving performance among healthy older adults. This study also highlights the importance of assessing expectations as a possible moderator of the effects of acute exercise on activities of daily living. Future studies must examine other relevant ecologically valid tasks and ensure similar expectations between experimental and control groups to further advance the knowledge base in the field.

Arterial Stiffness and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Are Associated With Cognitive Function in Older Adults.

Age-related cognitive impairment has been associated with arterial stiffening and decreased cardiorespiratory fitness. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to compare cognitive function domains and cardiovascular parameters in older adults (≥ 65 years old) with high and normal aortic stiffness (via carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV) and to explore relationships among cfPWV, carotid intima-media thickness, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cognitive function. Vascular and cognitive function were measured in older adults with either normal or high cfPWV. Cognitive function was measured via an intensive one-time neuropsychological battery, while cfPWV by applanation tonometry, carotid intima-media thickness and function (i.e., distensibility) by ultrasonography, and cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e., VO2peak) by a submaximal exercise test. Correlations among age, VO2peak, carotid intima-media thickness, cfPWV, and cognitive function were performed along with a series of multivariate analyses of variance. Compared with NAS, participants with HAS had greater aortic, carotid, and brachial blood pressures but similar cardiorespiratory fitness and carotid intima-media thickness and distensibility. Participants with NAS exhibited better neuropsychological performance in executive function and attention and overall cognitive function than those with HAS. When controlling for age, visual scanning and perception scores were correlated with cfPWV and VO2peak. Our findings suggest that certain cognitive domains for older adults are associated with their cardiorespiratory fitness and aortic stiffness.

Increase in Volitional Muscle Activation from Childhood to Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Children's maximal muscle strength is consistently lower than adults', even when normalized to body size. Lower volitional muscle activation (VA) in children is often considered one of the main reasons for age-related differences in muscular performance. However, some recent studies have reported similar VA in children and adults, bringing into question whether there is indeed an age-related increase in VA. The purpose of this review was to determine the effect of age on VA during maximal isometric contractions. METHODS: Literature examining VA differences, using twitch interpolation in children (7-14 yr) and adults (16-28 yr), was systematically reviewed. Of the 1915 studies initially identified, 19 data sets were eligible for inclusion in the qualitative analysis and 14 in the quantitative meta-analysis (comprising 207 children and 193 adults). RESULTS: Significantly lower VA in children was reported in 9/19 (47%) studies. A random-effects meta-analysis found a strong effect of age on VA, supporting lower VA in children compared with adults (Hedges' g = 1.55; confidence interval: 0.9-2.13). Moderator analysis included muscle group, sex, children's age, stimulation number (singlet, multiple), type (electric, magnetic), and location (muscle, nerve), of which only muscle group was significant (P < 0.001). A significant Egger's regression test and asymmetrical funnel plot suggest that publication bias may be present. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these findings suggest that compared with adults, children activate their motor-unit pool less compared with adults. Moreover, that the degree of VA increase with age may be influenced by the muscle examined (upper vs lower extremity). However, more research is needed to elucidate the influence of this possible factor, as the current review contains limited data from upper body muscles. The developmental mechanism responsible for children's lower VA requires further research.

Effects of control strategies on the activation of unwanted intrusive thoughts in elite athletes.

Unwanted intrusive thoughts (UITs) are negative ruminations that occur commonly and show similar characteristics between clinical and nonclinical forms. Despite their prevalence and impact, the control processes of UITs remain unclear. This study aimed to capture the effects of three thought-control strategies on UITs through an interventional design with individualized choking thoughts among Elite athletes, while measuring behavioral and brain responses. Ninety athletes recollected recent "choking" experiences prior to being randomized into one of three groups that used either acceptance, suppression, or passive monitoring (control condition). The activation of choking thoughts during and after the thought control intervention was gauged through three measurement approaches, including conscious presence in mind, priming, as well as the amplitudes of the P3b and N400 event-related potentials (ERPs). To strengthen the causal inferences concerning thought control strategies, athletes' working memory capacity was measured and controlled at baseline. Results indicated that, relative to passive monitoring, suppression led to enhanced priming and reduced conscious presence of UITs, whereas acceptance resulted in an opposite pattern of reduced priming and increased conscious presence of UITs. Moreover, UIT-related stimuli elicited less negative-going N400 amplitudes and more positive-going P3b amplitudes than UIT-irrelevant stimuli, although no effect of thought control strategies was identified on the ERPs. These findings contribute to the theoretical and mechanistic understanding of UIT control processes by revealing subtle effects of two fundamental UIT control strategies: suppression and acceptance. Such insights also bear meaningful applied implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of strawberries on bone biomarkers in pre- and stage 1-hypertensive postmenopausal women: a secondary analysis.

Postmenopausal women experience an increase in bone remodeling with the rate of bone resorption superseding the rate of bone formation. This results in a net bone loss with a subsequent increased risk for osteoporosis and fractures. High blood pressure (BP) has been associated with loss of bone mineral density and increased propensity to fractures. Strawberries are rich in polyphenols, which have been shown to have anti-hypertensive and bone-protective properties. Thus, we examined whether daily intake of strawberries would positively affect biomarkers of bone metabolism in postmenopausal women with pre- and stage 1-hypertension. Participants (age: 59 ± 6 years; body mass index: 31.5 ± 4.1 kg m-2; systolic BP: 140 ± 13 mmHg) were randomly assigned to consume (1) 50 g of freeze-dried strawberry powder (FDSP), (2) 25 g FDSP + 25 g of placebo powder, or (3) 50 g placebo powder for eight weeks. Results indicate a significant time-by-treatment interaction (P = 0.04) for serum insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, a hormone that plays a major role in bone formation. Serum concentrations of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, a marker of bone formation, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-5b, a specific marker of bone resorption, were not affected by FDSP compared to placebo. Although not statistically significant, after eight weeks, osteocalcin increased in the 50 g FDSP group with a large effect size (d = 0.6) when compared to the placebo-control group. Adiponectin increased by 5% and 6% in the 25 g and 50 g FDSP groups, respectively, while it declined in the placebo-control group by 25% (P = 0.03 for time-by-treatment interaction). Our findings suggest that consumption of 25 g FDSP increases IGF-1 in postmenopausal women with pre- and stage 1-hypertension. However, further studies are needed to assert the effectiveness of a strawberry intervention for bone health.

Cognitive-Perceptual-Affective-Motivational Dynamics During Incremental Workload Accounting for Exertion Tolerance.

Inquiry of the psychological states during the exercise experience failed to fully account for the role of motivation to adhere and the disposition of exertion tolerance (ET). The current study expands the scope of the integrated cognitive-perceptual-affective framework by measuring the motivation to sustain effort in two physical tasks and accounting for ET. Thirty male participants performed cycling and isometric handgrip tasks to assess the progression of the rating of perceived exertion, attentional focus, affective responses, and motivation to adhere, along with an incremental workload. The ET was determined by a handgrip task time to voluntary exhaustion. The findings indicated significant time effects and linear trends for perceived exertion, attentional focus, affect, and perceived arousal but not motivation to adhere during the handgrip and cycling tasks. The ET played a key role in the integrity of the model, particularly in perceptual, attentional, and affective responses. The intended model serves to stimulate new research into adaptation mechanisms.

A Bio-Physio-Psychological Investigation of Athletes' Burnout.

Purpose: Changes in biophysiological markers related to perceived burnout and self-comfort were tested in this study. Method: Forty-two student-athletes from middle and high school grades were evaluated for burnout, salivary cortisol levels, measures of arousal-related physiological markers (i.e., blood volume pulse; BVP), galvanic skin response (GSR), and respiratory rate, and self-comfort variables during the last two weeks of the season. Using self-comfort theory as its conceptual framework, we examined burnout through a conceptual model in which feeling of discomfort with the self was related to biophysiological markers affecting perceived burnout. The proposed model was tested by using a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: The main findings indicate that increased self-discomfort is significantly (p < .001) associated with increased salivary cortisol (ß = - 0.189) along with a significant (p = .050) decrease in GSR (ß = - 0.259). Increased salivary cortisol is significantly (p < .001) associated with increased burnout (ß = 0.242). Conclusion: The findings partially support the model and encourage further effort to capture the burnout syndrome through the integration of biological and psychological markers.

Effects of music tempo on perceived exertion, attention, affect, heart rate, and performance during isometric strength exercise.

This study examined the effects of slow and fast music tempi on effort-related thoughts, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), affect, heart rate, and performance during isometric strength exercises. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (no-music control, fast-tempo music, and slow-tempo music) and performed two isometric strength exercises (wall-sit and plank). RPE, attention allocation, and affect were measured during each exercise task. Participants in both the fast- and slow-tempo music conditions maintained a dissociative state for longer than those in the no-music control condition during the wall-sit exercise; however, this effect did not manifest during the plank exercise. Neither music condition influenced HR, RPE, time to volitional exhaustion, or affect. Within the first few minutes of exercise, participants exhibited an increase in HR and perceived exertion, as well as a corresponding shift towards associative attention and a high arousal state. The results are discussed with reference to potential underlying mechanisms and current theories pertaining to RPE, attention allocation, and affect.

Implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) as a Career Change-Event: The Israeli Premier League Case Study.

The inclusion of the video assistant referee (VAR) in the Laws of the Game [International Football Association Board (IFAB)] reflects a historic action in the world of soccer. The VAR was designed to reduce critical errors in soccer referees' decision-making (DM), thereby increasing the social perceptions of justice. From the referees' perspective, the implementation of the VAR represents a technical-technological career change-event. This case study adopted an intrinsic mixed-methods methodology to investigate the implementation of the VAR system within the Israeli Premier League context. The results indicated that the initial VAR performance rates of the Israeli referees were not high compared with data from other countries (e.g., Italy). The Israeli referees perceived the VAR implementation as a moderate change-event in their careers. The largest effects were in pre-match preparation, players' management, public perception, and DM. The referees felt that their perceived pressure during the matches decreased. This change-event produced off-field demands mostly related to the educational process and on-field demands mainly related to developing VAR proficiency. The referees also experienced off-field (e.g., lack of clear goals and rewards system) and on-field barriers (e.g., errors of the VARs). To effectively cope with these new demands and barriers, most of them initially consulted with others and then made a decision to apply all necessary adjustments in response to the new situation. They also received considerable support yet perceived their cooperation with the professional committee as moderate. The referees showed some professional improvements; still they experienced scrutiny from the clubs, the media, and the Referee Union. Thus, three of them perceived the outcome of this change process favorably, four naturally, and four negatively. The discussion presents reflections of these findings in light of the recently emerging literature on technological officiating aids in sport. Recommendations are provided for referee unions who aspire to integrate the VAR system into their operation.

The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic as a Change-Event in Sport Performers' Careers: Conceptual and Applied Practice Considerations.

The Coronavirus experience (CE) presents a highly challenging period for sport performers (e.g., athletes, coaches, referees), with potential effects on their lives and career trajectories. In this article, we initially conceptualize the CE using the scheme of change for sport psychology practice (Samuel and Tenenbaum, 2011a). Within this framework, the CE is understood as a longitudinal, multifaceted, unpredicted, non-controlled change-event, with four distinct stages: (a) a pre-Coronavirus stage with unique career contextual conditions (i.e., stable engagement or a transitional period), (b) Coronavirus stage-A accompanied by instability and confusion, emotional response, and cognitive appraisal, (c) Coronavirus stage-B characterized by active coping or regression, and (d) Coronavirus stage-C; instability endures or decreases, depending on career trajectory. The CE presents sport performers with modifications in various dimensions, including physical and physiological, motor skills, psycho-social and self-identity, relationships, performance and achievement, motivation and aspirations, organizational-occupational, and micro- and macro-cultural issues. Sport performers can exhibit several emotional responses (i.e., positive, negative, neutral), and consequential coping endeavors. The development of the change process is underlined by key decisions, manifested in sport performers' attempts to implement responsive change in these dimensions (e.g., adapt their diets, sleep routines, and exercise regimen). The second part of the article discusses applied practice considerations, presenting various techniques and methodologies which practitioners can apply while consulting from a change-based perspective. Ethical issues pertaining to the formation of effective therapeutic relationships during this period are also assessed. The conclusions offer future avenues for researchers and practitioners when attempting to evaluate and cope with this global phenomenon.

Deconstructing celebratory acts following goal scoring among elite professional football players.

Goal celebration in sport is mostly spontaneous and is manifested via vocal expressions and bodily gestures aimed at communicating emotions. The aim of this study is to deconstruct the celebratory acts among elite professional football players in the European Champions League following scoring a goal, and to capture the multiple acts and functions of the celebrations. In examining the 2018/19 season of the European Champions League tournament, we draw attention to the players' celebrations and their corresponding social and individual functions. All goals/celebrations (K = 366) were used for the analyses. To analyze the goal celebration acts, a socio-psychological model was established which is comprised of several theories. To describe the goal celebration acts across the competition stages (e.g., preliminary and final), match location (i.e., home or away), time phase (0-15, 15-45, 45-75, 75-90, 90+ minutes), scoring mode (i.e., prior to the goal, after the goal), and players' continent origin (Europe, Africa, Asia, South/Central, and North America), the number and percent of all the celebratory acts were counted and presented in their respective mode (i.e., single, double, and team). The main findings indicate that (a) most of the goal celebration acts were performed interactively by the scoring player and his teammates, (b) the interactive modes of celebration lasted longer than the modes which were performed non-interactively, (c) the celebration lasted longer following goal scoring in the final stage than in the preliminary stage, (d) the celebration duration lasted the longest time when the goal was scored during the overtime phase (90+ min) of the final but not the preliminary stage, and (e) players from Africa and South America demonstrated religious acts more than their European counterparts. We assert that our conceptual model enables the categorization of a variety of personal and social meanings to the celebrations on the field during the most thrilling moments of the game.

Anticipation and Situation-Assessment Skills in Soccer Under Varying Degrees of Informational Constraint.

The authors tested the notion that expertise effects would be more noticeable when access to situational information was reduced by occluding (i.e., noncued) or freezing (i.e., cued) the environment under temporal constraints. Using an adaptation of tasks developed by Ward, Ericsson, and Williams, the participants viewed video clips of attacking soccer plays frozen or occluded at 3 temporal points and then generated and prioritized situational options and anticipated the outcome. The high-skill players anticipated the outcomes more accurately, generated fewer task-irrelevant options, and were better at prioritizing task-relevant options than their low-skill counterparts. The anticipation scores were significantly and positively correlated with the option prioritization and task-relevant options generated but not with the total options generated. Counter to the authors' prediction, larger skill-based option-prioritization differences were observed when the play was frozen than when it was occluded. These results indicate that processing environmental information depends on temporal and contextual conditions.

Does the League Table Lie? The Development and Validation of the Perceived Performance in Team Sports Questionnaire (PPTSQ).

Objective performance measures are vastly used in sport psychology despite their inherent limitations (e.g., unaccounted baseline differences). Founded on the nature of group goals in team sports, we aimed at developing the Perceived Performance in Team Sports Questionnaire (PPTSQ) to capture the team members' perception of their team's performance. Accordingly, three dimensions were hypothesized: effort investment, skills execution, and perceived outcome. To measure these dimensions, items were generated to address the players' perception of their team performance as a whole. Four samples of athletes were used to test the psychometric properties of the PPTSQ: professional (n = 231), collegiate (n = 222), professional-retest (n = 89), and mixed professional-collegiate (n = 139). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to estimate construct and content validities. These procedures revealed a better data fit to a two-dimensional model that consists of effort investment and perceived outcome. The reliability analyses for the PPTSQ provide satisfactory evidence that the questionnaire is a reliable measure of perceived performance in team sport. Adequate internal consistency emerged for both dimensions (0.75 < ω < 0.89). Furthermore, a high correlation was obtained for temporal stability. Concurrent validity was addressed by correlating the PPTSQ scores with the Group Environment Questionnaire and the Team Assessment Diagnostic Instrument. Correlational analysis between the PPTSQ and an objective measure of performance was used to test its predictive validity. The correlations strongly support the concurrent and predictive validities of the PPTSQ. We conclude that our perceived performance questionnaire can address various objective measures shortcomings (e.g., considering base-rate biases) resulting in a more meaningful team performance metric. Implication of the PPTSQ for sport psychology research and applied work enhancement are discussed in detail.

Is soy protein effective in reducing cholesterol and improving bone health?

Hyperlipidemia associated with cardiovascular health, and bone loss with regard to osteoporosis contribute to increased morbidity and mortality and are influenced by diet. Soy protein has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, and its isoflavones may improve bone health. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of soy protein on lipid profiles and biomarkers of bone metabolism and inflammation. Ninety men and women (aged 27-87) were randomly assigned to consume 40 g of soy or casein protein daily for three months. Both soy and casein consumption significantly reduced bone alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.011) and body fat % (P < 0.001), tended to decrease tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (P = 0.066), and significantly increased serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) (P < 0.001), yet soy increased IGF-1 to a greater extent (P = 0.01) than casein. Neither treatment affected total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, or C-reactive protein. These results demonstrate that daily supplementation of soy and casein protein may have positive effects on indices of bone metabolism and body composition, with soy protein being more effective at increasing IGF-1, an anabolic factor, which may be due to soy isoflavones' role in upregulating Runx2 gene expression, while having little effect on lipid profiles and markers of inflammation.

Allocation of Attention to Visual and Nonvisual Perceptual Channels by Marksmen During Aiming: Skill-Level Differences.

This study examined attention allocation in 30 marksmen categorized into 3 skill levels ranging from expert to novice. Each shooter performed 336 shooting trials. Half of the trials were performed under an occluded-vision condition and the rest under regular, unoccluded conditions. Immediately after completion of a random subset of shots (96 trials), shooters estimated the actual location of each shot, and on a random subset of trials (48 trials), shooters gave retrospective verbal reports. A mixed 3 × 2 factorial analysis of variance revealed that the expert marksmen performed and estimated their shots more accurately than the intermediate and novice marksmen, the intermediates performed like the experts under the full-vision condition and like novices under the occluded-vision condition, and the experts reported attending more to nonvisual information while they estimated their shots than did the novices. The findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms mediating expertise.

Ironic and overcompensating processes under avoidance instructions in motor tasks: An attention imbalance model with golf-putting evidence.

Thought-suppression research showed, when asked to suppress a given thought (e.g., a white bear), people ironically report thinking more of the suppressed thought. Testing motor performance given avoidance goals (e.g., avoid putting the ball short of the target in golf) represents an interest to transfer thought-suppression findings to motor tasks. However, instead of revealing an ironic process, motor studies showed mixed results, suggesting a coexistence of ironic and overcompensating processes. The present study investigates the coexistence of ironic and overcompensating processes induced by avoidance goals in motor tasks. Adopting a dual-process framework, an attention imbalance model (AIM) was proposed to conceptualize such a coexistence. Four golf-putting experiments were conducted to test the AIM by manipulating the degree of attentional imbalance. Results indicated the factor of attentional imbalance moderates the likelihood between ironic and overcompensating processes in golf putting, and such a moderating effect exists in both between- and within-individual variation of task performance but demands task-specific considerations. In addition, performance feedback confounded the putting performance by reducing the likelihood of overcompensating process. The implications of the AIM are discussed in an extended context of motor performance under avoidance goals and thought suppression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).