Cassio Miranda Meira

The most common approach to structuring variable practice in motor learning is known as contextual interference (CI) (Lee & Magill, 1983; Shea & Morgan, 1979). The concept was originally introduced...

Introduction: Perceptions of pain are influenced by individual characteristics, such as personality traits and gender. This study investigated, in professional male and female ballet dancers, the associations between pain catastrophizing and personality traits by calculating correlations and a regression model between scores of pain catastrophizing and extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Methods: Eighty two professional Brazilian ballet dancers (59 women, 23 men; M = 26.8 years, SD = 8.1) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Brazilian version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (B-PCS). Correlational analyses were conducted to assess associations between personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism) and pain catastrophizing. A linear regression model was developed to examine the predictive power of personality traits, using the Enter method. Analyses were stratified by gender. Results: In the total sample, neuroticism was significantly and positively correlated with pain catastrophizing, whereas extraversion and psychoticism showed no significant associations. Among male dancers, neuroticism was moderately correlated with pain catastrophizing; this relationship was not significant in females. The regression model identified neuroticism as the only significant predictor of pain catastrophizing, yielding the predictive equation: Neuroticism = 29.76 + (0.38 × PCS). Conclusion: Neuroticism is a key psychological factor associated with pain catastrophizing in professional ballet dancers, particularly among males. Contrary to prior findings, male dancers reported higher PCS scores than females, and their neuroticism levels more strongly predicted pain catastrophizing. Practical applications include the implementation of routine assessments to identify at-risk individuals, integration of cognitive-behavioral strategies to reduce maladaptive pain responses, and the development of gender-sensitive mental health interventions.

Artistic swimming (AS) choreographies are evaluated by judges who assign scores based on pre-established criteria. Since perception and cognition are key mechanisms involved in scoring AS performances, visual search patterns and pupillary responses may vary according to judges’ levels of expertise. This exploratory study aimed to compare visual search behavior, pupil diameter variability, and scoring between expert and novice AS judges during the evaluation of the Straight Ballet Leg and Rio figures. Six expert and seven novice judges wore an eye-tracker while evaluating 2D video projections of these figures. The results indicated that expert judges exhibited shorter fixations away from the athlete’s body, made more fixations on the athlete’s upper limbs, and fewer fixations on the lower limbs and areas outside the athlete’s body. They also showed greater variability in pupil diameter and assigned higher scores compared to novice judges. Regardless of expertise, judges directed more fixations toward the upper limbs when evaluating the Rio figure and more toward the lower limbs when evaluating the Straight Ballet Leg figure. These findings suggest that expert AS judges display distinct patterns of visual attention - focusing on relevant areas (e.g., upper limbs) while disregarding irrelevant ones (e.g., areas outside the body) - along with greater cognitive load and superior scoring performance, indicative of highly automated cognitive processes.

This study investigated the effects of different practice schedules—static traditional, dynamic traditional, whole with kuzushi preparation, and progressive parts with kuzushi—on the acquisition of the tai otoshi technique in experienced young judokas. Thirty-two children (8.63 ± 0.99 years), each with at least one year of judo training, were randomly assigned to four groups. The protocol included a pre-test, four practice sessions (totaling 160 trials), a post-test, and a retention test. Performance was evaluated via video analysis using a validated checklist assessing global technique, kuzushi movement, and actual opponent unbalancing. All groups improved in global technique and kuzushi movement pattern. However, only the whole practice group showed significant gains in actual kuzushi across post-test and retention phases. Intergroup analysis demonstrated that this group outperformed the others in both global technique and opponent unbalancing, particularly in retention. These findings suggest that whole practice incorporating pre-kuzushi strategies promotes more effective learning than traditional or segmented approaches, even among children with prior experience. The study advances the discussion on whole versus part practice, indicating that tai otoshi, though moderately complex, benefits from high task organization and continuous execution. It also critiques traditional uchikomi, which may neglect realistic fight conditions. Integrating pre-kuzushi appears to improve timing, leverage, and opponent destabilization, key components in successful execution. The results reinforce the value of aligning practice methods with combat demands to optimize motor learning in martial arts.

We aimed to investigate the impact of smartphone use during intertrial intervals within a distributed practice regime on mental fatigue, performance, and learning of a balance motor skill. One hundred and thirty-six participants were randomly divided into two groups: the smartphone use group (SMARTPHONE) and the control group (CONTROL). The SMARTPHONE accessed social media during the rest periods within a distributed practice of a balance task, whereas the CONTROL rested passively during the rest periods. The participants practiced the toe-touch task. The participants underwent a pretest consisting of one trial. Subsequently, the participants were engaged in practice, completing six trials interspersed with 2-min intervals of either rest or smartphone use. Following the practice phase, a posttest was conducted, and after 24 hr, we administered a retention test and a transfer test. The number of touches and the number of errors (contacting the ground with the free leg to regain balance) were performance measures. We evaluated the participants’ mental fatigue after the practice session using a visual analog scale. The groups demonstrated similar mental fatigue after practice. Our results suggest that using social media on smartphones during rest periods within a distributed practice impairs performance but not motor learning.

BACKGROUND: Attention and cognitive effort during postural control can be influenced by under threatening situations, such as pain, particularly in anxious individuals when visually tracking a target. AIM: This study aimed to investigate the effects of anxiety, visual target type, and acute lumbar muscle pain on gaze behavior during a visual pursuit/postural control task. METHOD: Nine young adult participants underwent testing over three time periods: (1) pre-infusion, (2) intramuscular (multifidus muscles) infusion of hypertonic (acute pain)/isotonic (placebo) solution, and (3) post-infusion (after 40 minutes after pain is vanished). The two sessions were separated by one week, in a counterbalanced order. During each session, participants performed a postural control task with visual pursuit, focusing on three targets (fixed, stochastic, and deterministic - 3 trials per target) while wearing an eye-tracker. STAI/IDATE was used to assess the participants' level of state anxiety: n=4 high-anxious and n=5 low-anxious. Continuous time of gaze on target (CTGT) and pupil diameter variability (PDV) were grouped into blocks of 3 trials. RESULTS: High-anxious participants exhibited greater variability in PDV during the infusion period. The deterministic target required less visual attention (shorter CTGT) compared to the fixed and stochastic targets. Both injected solutions (hypertonic and isotonic) had similar effects on CTGT and PDV. CONCLUSION: During the postural control task with visual pursuit: (1) high-anxious participants exerted greater cognitive effort, (2) participants deflected visual attention on the deterministic target, (3) acute and placebo muscle pain did not affect visual attention and cognitive effort.

The principle of Fitts’ law explains that the difficulty of movement increases when targets are farther away and narrower in width, particularly when touching two parallel targets as quickly as possible. Understanding the differences in motor and gaze behaviors between extroverts and introverts when performing tasks that require speed and accuracy is crucial for the development of sensor-based interfaces for games and rehabilitation. This study aimed to investigate such differences in a computer task that assesses the speed–accuracy trade-off (Fitts’ task). Twenty introverts and seventeen extroverts wore an eye tracker and an accelerometer attached to their hand while performing 12 trials through six levels of difficulty presented on a computer screen. The results showed that introverts had longer visual fixations at the higher difficulty levels and reduced pupil diameter variability when difficulty was intermediate, suggesting that their gaze behavior may be different from that of extroverts. However, no significant differences were found in the speed and accuracy performance or kinematic variables between extroverts and introverts. These findings have important implications for the design of interventions that require both speed and accuracy in movement, such as in the development of virtual reality/games for rehabilitation purposes. It is important to consider individual differences in motor and gaze behaviors, particularly in those who may struggle with longer visual fixations, for the design of sensor-based applications and to promote successful interventions and recovery.