Johann Issartel

Unintended interpersonal co-ordination: "can we march to the beat of our own drum?"

The main purpose of this article was to identify whether an interpersonal motor co-ordination emerges between two participants when they intentionally tried to not co-ordinate their movements between each other. To do this we conjointly examined both the emergence of the motor co-ordination (collective properties) between the two participants, and the maintenance of the individual intrinsic motor properties present in the interpersonal co-ordination. Six pairs of participants performed three situations where they freely moved their right forearm with no instructions (nor restrictions) on frequency or relative phase. The goal of the first two situations was for participants to intentionally co-ordinate (P-on) or not co-ordinate (P-off) their movements between each other. In order to determine his/her individual motor properties, each participant performed this task alone, in a third condition. The cross-wavelet transform (CWT) revealed in the P-off condition the emergence of an unintended co-ordination in the frequency domain. Moreover, random distribution of the relative phase appeared, in this condition, whereas in the P-on condition, we observed a collective organization especially at a relative phase around 0 degrees . Conjointly, the wavelet transform (WT) showed the presence of individual intrinsic motor properties (motor signature) in the three conditions. These results indicate that, when there was information sharing, participants could not avoid (unintentionally) coordinating with someone. This study suggests that, in daily life, interactions with other people lead the individual motor behavior to adapt unintended motor co-ordination.

A life course examination of the physical environmental determinants of physical activity behaviour: A “Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity” (DEDIPAC) umbrella systematic literature review

Background Participation in regular physical activity is associated with a multitude of health benefits across the life course. However, many people fail to meet PA recommendations. Despite a plethora of studies, the evidence regarding the environmental (physical) determinants of physical activity remains inconclusive. Objective To identify the physical environmental determinants that influence PA across the life course. Methods An online systematic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and SPORTDiscus. The search was limited to studies published in English (January 2004 to April 2016). Only systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of observational studies, that investigated the association between physical determinants and physical activity outcomes, were eligible for inclusion. The extracted data were assessed on the importance of determinants, strength of evidence and methodological quality. Results The literature search identified 28 SLRs and 3 MAs on 67 physical environmental characteristics potentially related to physical activity that were eligible for inclusion. Among preschool children, a positive association was reported between availability of backyard space and outdoor toys/equipment in the home and overall physical activity. The availability of physical activity programs and equipment within schools, and neighbourhood features such as pedestrian and cyclist safety structure were positively associated with physical activity in children and adolescents. Negative street characteristics, for example, lack of sidewalks and streetlights, were negatively associated with physical activity in adults. Inconsistent associations were reported for the majority of reviewed determinants in adults. Conclusion This umbrella SLR provided a comprehensive overview of the physical environment determinants of physical activity across the life course and has highlighted, particularly amongst youth, a number of key determinants that may be associated with overall physical activity. Given the limited evidence drawn mostly from cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies are needed to further explore these associations. Registration PROSPERO CRD42015010616

The relevance of the cross-wavelet transform in the analysis of human interaction – a tutorial

This article sheds light on a quantitative method allowing psychologists and behavioral scientists to take into account the specific characteristics emerging from the interaction between two sets of data in general and two individuals in particular. The current article outlines the practical elements of the cross-wavelet transform (CWT) method, highlighting WHY such a method is important in the analysis of time-series in psychology. The idea is (1) to bridge the gap between physical measurements classically used in physiology – neuroscience and psychology; (2) and demonstrates how the CWT method can be applied in psychology. One of the aims is to answer three important questions WHO could use this method in psychology, WHEN it is appropriate to use it (suitable type of time-series) and HOW to use it. Throughout these explanations, an example with simulated data is used. Finally, data from real life application are analyzed. This data corresponds to a rating task where the participants had to rate in real time the emotional expression of a person. The objectives of this practical example are (i) to point out how to manipulate the properties of the CWT method on real data, (ii) to show how to extract meaningful information from the results, and (iii) to provide a new way to analyze psychological attributes.

Fundamental movement skill proficiency amongst adolescent youth

Background: Literature suggests that physical education programmes ought to provide intense instruction towards basic movement skills needed to enjoy a variety of physical activities. Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are basic observable patterns of behaviour present from childhood to adulthood (e.g. run, skip and kick). Recent evidence indicates that children have the developmental potential to master most FMS by 6 years of age during physical education, physical activity (PA) and sport. Purpose: With a noticeable absence in the literature relating to adolescent movement patterns, the present study assessed the performance of 9 FMS during physical education class amongst 12- to 13-year olds. The study further assessed the range of FMS at the behavioural component level with a view to identifying weaknesses within performance across individual skills. Participants and setting: Baseline data were collected in 2010 as part of a larger longitudinal study evaluating the effectiveness of a prescribed adolescent physical education intervention. Participants included all (N = 242) first-year post-primary youth in a specific geographical area of Ireland. Data collection: The following 9 FMS were assessed during an 80-minute physical education lesson time period using a reliable instrument protocol; run, skip, horizontal jump, vertical jump, kick, catch, overhand throw, strike and stationary dribble. Each of the nine FMS was assessed in conjunction with the behavioural components from three established instruments, namely the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD), TGMD-2 and the Victorian Fundamental Motor Skills manual. To ensure participant consistency, no feedback from any of the trained field staff was given during skill performance. Data analysis: Prior to data analysis, the trained field staff were required to reach a minimum of 95% inter-observer agreement for all nine skills on a pre-coded data set to ensure that all testers were competent. The FMS data set was analysed using SPSS version 17.0 for Windows using appropriate statistical analysis. Findings: Overall, 11% was scored as either mastery or near mastery for all nine FMS. There was a significant difference in the overall mean composite FMS score (object control and locomotor) between genders, with adolescent males scoring higher (p = .015). There were marked differences in the number of participants who failed to obtain mastery level across the range of the nine FMS (e.g. vertical jump 87% and run 13%) and their associated behavioural components. Conclusions: It is alarming that adolescents aged between 12 and 13 years entering their first year of post-primary physical education do not display proficiency across nine basic movement patterns. This finding indicates that adolescents may have a difficult time in making the successful transition towards more advanced skills within the sport-specific stage. Implications from this study potentially indicate that targeting the weakest skill components during physical education and outside of school hours may prove a valuable strategy in increasing the current FMS levels and the subsequent PA levels amongst adolescent youth.

The relationship between adolescents’ physical activity, fundamental movement skills and weight status

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine if a potential relationship among physical activity (PA), fundamental movement skills and weight status exists amongst early adolescent youth. Participants were a sample of 85 students; 54 boys (mean age = 12.94 ± 0.33 years) and 31 girls (mean age = 12.75 ± 0.43 years). Data gathered during physical education class included PA (accelerometry), fundamental movement skills and anthropometric measurements. Standard multiple regression revealed that PA and total fundamental movement skill proficiency scores explained 16.5% (P < 0.001) of the variance in the prediction of body mass index. Chi-square tests for independence further indicated that compared with overweight or obese adolescents, a significantly higher proportion of adolescents classified as normal weight achieved mastery/near-mastery in fundamental movement skills. Results from the current investigation indicate that weight status is an important correlate of fundamental movement skill proficiency during adolescence. Aligned with most recent research, school- and community-based programmes that include developmentally structured learning experiences delivered by specialists can significantly improve fundamental movement skill proficiency in youth.

Behavioral determinants of physical activity across the life course: a “DEterminants of DIet and Physical ACtivity” (DEDIPAC) umbrella systematic literature review

BackgroundLow levels of physical activity (PA) are a global concern and increasing PA engagement is becoming a priority in current public health policies. Despite the large number of studies and reviews available, the evidence regarding the behavioral determinants of PA is still inconclusive. Thus, the aim of this umbrella systematic literature review (SLR) was to summarize the evidence on the behavioral determinants of PA across the life course.MethodsA systematic online search was conducted on MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus databases. The search was limited to studies published in English from January, 2004 to April, 2016. SLRs and meta-analyses (MAs) of observational studies that investigated the behavioral determinants of PA were considered eligible. The extracted data were assessed based on the importance of the determinants, the strength of evidence, and the methodological quality. The full protocol is available from PROSPERO (PROSPERO 2014:CRD42015010616).ResultsSeventeen reviews on 35 behavioral determinants of PA were eligible for this umbrella SLR. Regardless of age, the most investigated determinants were those related with ‘screen use’ and ‘smoking’. For youth, probable positive evidence emerged for ‘previous PA’ and ‘independent mobility and active transport’ among children and adolescents. For the adult population, ‘transition to university’ and ‘pregnancy/having a child’ showed probable negative associations.ConclusionsAlthough the majority of the evidence was limited and most of the determinants were not associated with PA, this umbrella SLR provided a comprehensive overview of the associations between behavioral determinants and PA. Youth should be physically active in the early years and increase active transportation to/from school, independent mobility, and ‘free-range activities’ without adult supervision, whilst adult PA behaviors are mostly influenced by the life events. Finally, more research is needed that incorporates prospective study designs, standardized definitions of PA, objective measurement methods of PA assessment, and the use of interactionist and mediational approaches for the evaluation of different behavioral determinants influencing PA behaviors.

Sensorimotor synchronization with audio-visual stimuli: limited multisensory integration

Understanding how we synchronize our actions with stimuli from different sensory modalities plays a central role in helping to establish how we interact with our multisensory environment. Recent research has shown better performance with multisensory over unisensory stimuli; however, the type of stimuli used has mainly been auditory and tactile. The aim of this article was to expand our understanding of sensorimotor synchronization with multisensory audio-visual stimuli and compare these findings to their individual unisensory counterparts. This research also aims to assess the role of spatio-temporal structure for each sensory modality. The visual and/or auditory stimuli had either temporal or spatio-temporal information available and were presented to the participants in unimodal and bimodal conditions. Globally, the performance was significantly better for the bimodal compared to the unimodal conditions; however, this benefit was limited to only one of the bimodal conditions. In terms of the unimodal conditions, the level of synchronization with visual stimuli was better than auditory, and while there was an observed benefit with the spatio-temporal compared to temporal visual stimulus, this was not replicated with the auditory stimulus.

Fine motor skill proficiency in typically developing children: On or off the maturation track?

Fine motor skill proficiency is an essential component of numerous daily living activities such as dressing, feeding or playing. Poor fine motor skills can lead to difficulties in academic achievement, increased anxiety and poor self-esteem. Recent findings have shown that childrens gross motor skill proficiency tends to fall below established developmental norms. A question remains: do fine motor skill proficiency levels also fall below developmental norms? The aim of this study was to examine the current level of fine motor skill in Irish children. Children (N=253) from 2nd, 4th and 6th grades (mean age=7.12, 9.11 and 11.02 respectively) completed the Fine Motor Composite of the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd Edition (BOT-2). Analysis revealed that only 2nd grade children met the expected level of fine motor skill proficiency. It was also found that despite childrens raw scores improving with age, childrens fine motor skill proficiency was not progressing at the expected rate given by normative data. This leads us to question the role and impact of modern society on fine motor skills development over the past number of decades.

Physical self-confidence levels of adolescents: Scale reliability and validity.

OBJECTIVES To establish reliability, content validity and concurrent validity of the physical self-confidence scale among adolescents. Demonstrate the use of this scale to assess the physical self-confidence of adolescents across genders at performing specific fundamental movement skills (FMS). DESIGN Three hundred and seventy six adolescents were involved in this study. A 15 item scale was developed to assess physical self-confidence. METHODS The scale was developed based on 15 specific FMS. Experts in the field reviewed the scale to ensure content validity. The reliability of the scale was assessed on a sub-sample of 67 participants who answered the scale 7-days apart. Concurrent validity was assessed on the sub-sample using the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP) as a comparative tool. 376 adolescents completed the physical self-confidence scale (mean age=13.78, SD=±1.21, males n=193) to assess gender differences, and also their levels of physical self-confidence across all skills. RESULTS An Intra Class Correlation indicated excellent test retest reliability for the scale with an overall r=0.92. Content validity and concurrent validity were also good, with the scale achieving a correlation coefficient of 0.72 with the PSPP. Males possess significantly higher physical self-confidence than females across all items. CONCLUSIONS This scale is the first reliable and valid tool which specifically measures physical self-confidence in performing FMS among adolescents. The results highlight gender differences in physical self-confidence and emphasise the importance of measuring this at skill level as differences were task specific. This scale will facilitate future research examining the relationship between self-confidence, FMS proficiency and physical activity participation.

The supplementation of spatial information improves coordination

Vision plays an important role in allowing the development of coordinated movements and often acts as the dominant perceptual modality for every day movements. This visual information is often presented in the spatio-temporal domain but the specific role of spatio-temporal information has not been specifically assessed in the literature. This experiment used two visual stimuli to assess the reliance on spatio-temporal integration and the effect of supplementing spatial information to a temporal stimulus on coordination. Participants manipulated a hand held pendulum at three frequencies in coordination with these stimuli. The results revealed that the supplementation of spatial information significantly improved coordination. Interestingly, the absence of spatial information still produced good levels of coordination indicating a resilience of motor coordination to adapt to changes in the environment.