Clare MacMahon

Cognitive Fatigue Effects on Physical Performance During Running

This study investigated the effect of cognitive fatigue on physical performance in a paced running task. Experienced runners (n = 20) performed two 3,000-m runs on an indoor track, once after cognitive fatigue, and once under nonfatigued conditions. Completion times were significantly slower in the cognitive fatigue condition (M = 12:11,88 min, SD = 0:54,26), compared with the control condition (M = 11:58,56 min, SD = 0:48,39), F(1, 19) = 8.58, p = .009, eta2p = .31. There were no differences in heart rate, t(17) = 0.13, p > .05, blood lactate levels, t(19) = 1.19, p > .05, or ratings of perceived exertion F(1, 19) = .001, p > .05. While previous research has examined the impact of cognitive tasks on physical tasks, this is the first study to examine a self-paced physical task, showing that cognitive activity indeed contributes significantly to overall performance. Specifically, cognitive fatigue increased the perception of exertion, leading to lesser performance on the running task.

Sibling dynamics and sport expertise

Family members are known to be highly influential in the development of sport expertise. To date, much of the research in this area has focused on parents, with less known about sibling influences on expertise. This investigation explored associations between sport expertise, sibling characteristics, and sibling participation in sport and physical activity. Athletes representing three skill levels provided details of sibling characteristics and participation in sport and physical activity via the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire. Elite athletes were more likely to be later‐born children, while pre‐elite and non‐elite athletes were more likely to be first‐born. Compared with siblings of non‐elite athletes, siblings of elite athletes were more likely to have participated in regular physical activity and were more likely to have participated in sport at the pre‐elite and elite levels. These results suggest siblings may play a key role in sport expertise development.

The Hot Hand Belief and Framing Effects.

Purpose: Recent evidence of the hot hand in sport—where success breeds success in a positive recency of successful shots, for instance—indicates that this pattern does not actually exist. Yet the belief persists. We used 2 studies to explore the effects of framing on the hot hand belief in sport. We looked at the effect of sport experience and task on the perception of baseball pitch behavior as well as the hot hand belief and free-throw behavior in basketball. Method: Study 1 asked participants to designate outcomes with different alternation rates as the result of baseball pitches or coin tosses. Study 2 examined basketball free-throw behavior and measured predicted success before each shot as well as general belief in the hot hand pattern. Results: The results of Study 1 illustrate that experience and stimulus alternation rates influence the perception of chance in human performance tasks. Study 2 shows that physically performing an act and making judgments are related. Specifically, beliefs were related to overall performance, with more successful shooters showing greater belief in the hot hand and greater predicted success for upcoming shots. Conclusions: Both of these studies highlight that the hot hand belief is influenced by framing, which leads to instability and situational contingencies. We show the specific effects of framing using accumulated experience of the individual with the sport and knowledge of its structure and specific experience with sport actions (basketball shots) prior to judgments.

The Effect of an above Real Time Decision-Making Intervention on Visual Search Behaviour:

The investigation of visual search strategies allows researchers to further understand expertise in sport. This research measured the visual search strategies of six elite Australian Football athletes during the course of a five-week speeded video decision-making training intervention. There were two athletes in each intervention group; normal speed and above real time video, and two athletes in the control group. Athletes were asked to watch a series of video clips of match-day footage and click on the screen where they would place the ball if in possession. Eye movements were collected at the pre-test, third training session, post-test and retention test. Results revealed that following training, regardless of video speed, the fixation duration became longer compared to those who had no video training. This significant finding falls in line with previous research. Furthermore, the above real time training group spent a longer duration fixating on the best option after the retention test, compared to other groups. These results provide a solid base for future research in sport to track changes in eye movements throughout training and learning.

Relative Age Effects in Women's Rugby Union From Developmental Leagues to World Cup Tournaments

Annual age cohort groupings promote relative age effects (RAEs), which often, inadvertently, create participation and attainment biases between relatively older and younger players within the same age cohort. In a globally evolving sport, womens rugby team selection practices may potentially bypass qualified players as a result of maturational differences. Purpose: Our study examined the prevalence of RAEs in womens rugby union. Method: Player data (age range = 4–21+ years) were gathered from the 2006 and 2010 Rugby World Cups (n = 498) and from Canadian (n = 1,497) and New Zealand (NZ; n = 13,899) developmental rugby leagues. Results: Although no evidence of an RAE was found in the World Cup samples, chi-square analyses identified some typical and atypical patterns of RAEs at the developmental levels (w ≥ .3). Younger developmental groups displayed a typical RAE patterning with a greater representation of older players (Canadian 13-year-olds, w = .58; NZ 4-year-olds, w = .35), whereas older developmental groups displayed an atypical RAE patterning with a greater representation of younger players (Canadian 19-year-olds, w = .58; NZ 17-year-olds, w = .32). Further, a traditional RAE emerged in the Canadian 11- to 15-year-old age group, χ2(3) = 10.92, p < .05, w = .30. Conclusion: The lack of homogeneity of traditional RAEs across the sample questions the existence of a single, clear RAE in womens rugby. Some evidence of participation inequalities at the developmental levels suggests that further RAE research in more varied sociocultural contexts may be necessary.

Performance analysis and prediction in triathlon

Abstract Performance in triathlon is dependent upon factors that include somatotype, physiological capacity, technical proficiency and race strategy. Given the multidisciplinary nature of triathlon and the interaction between each of the three race components, the identification of target split times that can be used to inform the design of training plans and race pacing strategies is a complex task. The present study uses machine learning techniques to analyse a large database of performances in Olympic distance triathlons (2008–2012). The analysis reveals patterns of performance in five components of triathlon (three race “legs” and two transitions) and the complex relationships between performance in each component and overall performance in a race. The results provide three perspectives on the relationship between performance in each component of triathlon and the final placing in a race. These perspectives allow the identification of target split times that are required to achieve a certain final place in a race and the opportunity to make evidence-based decisions about race tactics in order to optimise performance.

Using transdisciplinary research to examine talent identification and development in sport

Abstract Effective sport talent identification and development (TID) programmes are integral to a nation’s success in international sport. Using a transdisciplinary approach that involved sport practitioners and researchers with diverse theoretical perspectives, we investigated TID factors in four Australian sports (Australian rules football, cricket, kayaking and tennis). A transdisciplinary approach allowed us to isolate and explore a range of factors critical to successful sport TID. This methodological article explores how this project moved TID research beyond its paradigmatic, quantitative, sport science lens and advanced knowledge and practice in TID from both theoretical and applied perspectives. The use of a transdisciplinary approach in future TID research is recommended.

Laterality in Sports: More Than Two Sides of the Same Coin

So, in the muscular exercises of tennis, racket, and fives, a man with an inert left hand would not score well in the game. Unless Esmeralda or La Sylphide could pirouette on the left tiptoe as well as on the right, she would be found wanting. Unless those really hard-working men who imperil their lives, day after day, in performing feats of rope dancing, rope swinging, trapeze performances, aerial leaping, globe climbing, and the like—unless such men could use the left arm and leg as rapidly and as firmly as the right, their lives would not be worth many months’ purchase in the estimation of an insurance office actuary. And so the juggler, who tosses up his balls, cups, plates, and knives, does just as much work with the left hand as with the right. We therefore know that, whatever Nature did or did not intend, training will, to some extent, bring about equi-handedness and equal action in the two feet or legs.

Focus of attention and automaticity in handwriting.

This study investigated the nature of automaticity in everyday tasks by testing handwriting performance under single and dual-task conditions. Item familiarity and hand dominance were also manipulated to understand both cognitive and motor components of the task. In line with previous literature, performance was superior in an extraneous focus of attention condition compared to two different skill focus conditions. This effect was found only when writing with the dominant hand. In addition, performance was superior for high familiarity compared to low familiarity items. These findings indicate that motor and cognitive familiarity are related to the degree of automaticity of motor skills and can be manipulated to produce different performance outcomes. The findings also imply that the progression of skill acquisition from novel to novice to expert levels can be traced using different dual-task conditions. The separation of motor and cognitive familiarity is a new approach in the handwriting domain, and provides insight into the nature of attentional demands during performance.

Does framing the hot hand belief change decision-making behavior in volleyball?

Purpose: Previous discussions of the hot hand belief, wherein athletes believe that they have a greater chance of scoring after 2 or 3 hits (successes) compared with 2 or 3 misses, have focused on whether this is the case within game statistics. Researchers have argued that the perception of the hot hand in random sequences is a bias of the cognitive system. Yet most have failed to explore the impact of framing on the stability of the belief and the behavior based on it. Method: The authors conducted 2 studies that manipulated the frame of a judgment task. In Study 1, framing was manipulated via instructions in a playmaker allocation paradigm in volleyball. In Study 2, the frame was manipulated by presenting videos for allocation decisions from either the actor or observer perspective. Results: Both manipulations changed the hot hand belief and sequential choices. We found in both studies that the belief in continuation of positive or negative streaks is nonlinear and allocations to the same player after 3 successive hits are reduced. Conclusions: The authors argue that neither the hot hand belief nor hot hand behavior is stable, but rather, both are sensitive to decision frames. The results can inform coaches on the importance of how to provide information to athletes.