Tony Morris

The relationship between corticospinal excitability during motor imagery and motor imagery ability

It is commonly reported that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex during action observation and motor imagery results in increases in the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in muscles specific to the observed or imagined action. This study aimed to determine whether MEP amplitude was related to the motor imagery ability of participants. Participants were 15 healthy, right-handed adults (five male), with a mean age of 29.7 years. Motor imagery ability was measured using the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VMIQ-2) and a hand rotation task. TMS was delivered during observation and imagery of a finger-thumb opposition sequence and MEPs were measured in the abductor pollicis brevis. Significant increases in MEP amplitude, from baseline, were recorded during observation and imagery conditions. The change in amplitude to both observation and imagery was expressed as a percentage of baseline amplitude. There was a significant correlation between MEP change for the imagery condition and imagery ability, with greater change linked to more vivid images and faster response times. The relationship between MEP change for the observation condition and imagery ability was less salient. This is the first study to show that the strength of corticospinal activation during imagery, which may be a determinant of the effectiveness of imagery training, is related to imagery ability in the general population, and has implications for clinical programs.

Self-consciousness and trait anxiety as predictors of choking in sport

The present study was designed to examine dispositional self-consciousness and trait anxiety as predictors of choking in sport. Sixty-six basketball players completed the Self-Consciousness Scale and the Sport Anxiety Scale prior to completing 20 free throws in low-pressure and high-pressure conditions. A manipulation check showed that participants experienced significantly higher levels of state anxiety in the high-pressure condition. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported the hypothesis that self-conscious athletes were more susceptible to choking under pressure. The best predictors of choking were private self-consciousness and somatic trait anxiety that together accounted for 35% of the explained variance. We discuss a number of possible explanations regarding the discrepancy between the present results and previous studies mainly relating to task characteristics, skill level of participants and manipulations of pressure.

Psychological Intervention Programs for Reduction of Injury in Ballet Dancers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two psychological interventions designed to reduce injury among dancers by enhancing coping skills. Participants were 35 ballet dancers. They were assigned to three conditions: control (n = 12), autogenic training (n = 12), and a broad-based coping skills condition, including autogenic training, imagery, and self-talk (n = 11). The 12-week interventions were designed on the basis of results from previous studies. For the 12 weeks following the intervention, participants were asked to practice their respective interventions three times a week. During the 24-week period (12 weeks training plus 12 weeks practice), training staff at the dance academies recorded injuries on a record sheet each day. Participants wrote injury records by themselves for another 24 weeks. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and univariate tests for each dependent variable showed that the broad-based coping skills condition enhanced coping skills, in particular, peaking under pressure, coping with adversity, having confidence and achievement motivation, and concentrating. Separate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), one using preintervention injury frequency as the covariate and one using preintervention injury duration as the covariate, revealed that participants in the broad-based coping skills condition spent less time injured than participants in the control condition.

Alleviating choking: the sounds of distraction.

“Choking” is defined as a critical deterioration in the execution of habitual processes as a result of an elevation in anxiety levels under perceived pressure, leading to substandard performance. In the current study, music was used in a “dual-task” paradigm to facilitate performance under pressure. Three “choking-susceptible” experienced female basketball players were purposively sampled from 41 screened players. Participants completed 240 basketball free throws in a single-case A1-B1-A2-B2 design (A phases = “low-pressure” and B phases = “high-pressure”), with the music intervention occurring during the B2 phase. Following completion of the phases, an interview was conducted to examine perceptions of choking and cognitions associated with the effects of the music lyrics. Participants improved performance in the B2 phase, and explained that choking resulted from an increase in public self-awareness (S-A). The music intervention decreased S-A, and enabled participants to minimize explicit monitoring of execution and reduce general distractibility.

Relaxation and Health-Related Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis: The Example of Autogenic Training

This study was a pilot project to explore the effect of an autogenic training program (AT; a relaxation intervention) on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and well-being for people with multiple sclerosis. Participants either met weekly for sessions in AT for 10 weeks (n = 11) or were assigned to the control group (n = 11). The AT group was also asked to practice the technique daily at home. Scales designed to measure HRQOL and aspects of well-being (mood and depressed affect) were taken preintervention and at week 8 of the 10-week program. ANCOVAs using a measure of social support and pretest scores as covariates revealed that at the posttest the AT group reported more energy and vigor than the control group and were less limited in their roles due to physical and emotional problems. Future research should involve studies conducted over an extended period, together with sufficiently sized samples to explore the effect of frequency of practice of relaxation training on HRQOL and well-being for people with multiple sclerosis.

Psychosocial factors and ballet injuries

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate whether psychosocial factors, such as stress, anxiety, social support, and coping skills, could predict injuries (frequency and duration) among 105 ballet dancers (101 females; 4 males). The dancers were professional ballet dancers (n = 27), university ballet students (n = 19), and ballet institute students (n = 59), with a mean age of 20.46 years (SD = 5.50). They completed a modified version of the Adolescent Perceived Event Scale (APES) and Sport Experiences Survey (SES), which address life and dance stress respectively, the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory‐28 (ACSI‐28), and a social support for dance measure. Injuries were recorded (frequency and duration of injuries) for the 10‐month period following completion of the surveys. From the correlation matrix of psychosocial scales and injury, we selected for regression analysis, variables that showed at least moderate correlations with the frequency and duration of injury (i.e., peaking under pressure, goal setting/mental preparation, freedom from worry, confidence, negative dance stress, negative life stress). One regression analysis identified freedom from worry and confidence as significant predictors for frequency of injury. A second regression analysis identified freedom from worry and negative dance stress as significant predictors for duration of injury.

Text messaging for exercise promotion in older adults from an upper-middle-income country: randomized controlled trial

Background Mobile technology to promote exercise is effective; however, most evidence is from studies of younger groups in high-income countries. Investigating if short message service (SMS) texting can affect exercise participation in older adults from an upper-middle-income country is important considering the proliferation of mobile phones in developing regions and the increased interest of older adults in using mobile phones. Objective The main objective was to examine the short- and long-term effects of SMS text messaging on exercise frequency in older adults. Secondary objectives were to investigate how SMS text messages impact study participants’ exercise frequency and the effects of the intervention on secondary outcomes. Methods The Malaysian Physical Activity for Health Study (myPAtHS) was a 24-week, 2-arm, parallel randomized controlled trial conducted in urban Malaysia. Participants were recruited via health talks in resident associations and religious facilities. Older Malaysians (aged 55-70 years) who used mobile phones and did not exercise regularly were eligible to participate in the study. Participants randomly allocated to the SMS texting arm received an exercise booklet and 5 weekly SMS text messages over 12 weeks. The content of the SMS text messages was derived from effective behavior change techniques. The non-SMS texting arm participants received only the exercise booklet. Home visits were conducted to collect outcome data: (1) exercise frequency at 12 and 24 weeks, (2) secondary outcome data (exercise self-efficacy, physical activity–related energy expenditure, sitting time, body mass index, grip and leg strength) at baseline and at 12 and 24 weeks. Intention-to-treat procedures were applied for data analysis. Semistructured interviews focusing primarily on the SMS text messages and their impact on exercise frequency were conducted at weeks 12 and 24. Results In total, 43 participants were randomized into the SMS texting arm (n=22) and the non-SMS texting arm (n=21). Study-unrelated injuries forced 4 participants to discontinue after a few weeks (they were not included in any analyses). Overall retention was 86% (37/43). After 12 weeks, SMS texting arm participants exercised significantly more than non-SMS texting arm participants (mean difference 1.21 times, bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap [BCa] 95% CI 0.18-2.24). Interview analysis revealed that the SMS text messages positively influenced SMS texting arm participants who experienced exercise barriers. They described the SMS text messages as being encouraging, a push, and a reminder. After 24 weeks, there was no significant difference between the research arms (mean difference 0.74, BCa 95% CI –0.30 to 1.76). There were no significant effects for secondary outcomes. Conclusions This study provides evidence that SMS text messaging is effective in promoting exercise in older adults from an upper-middle-income country. Although the effects were not maintained when SMS text messaging ceased, the results are promising and warrant more research on behavioral mobile health interventions in other regions. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02123342; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02123342 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6eGSsu2EI).

“I don’t have the heart”: a qualitative study of barriers to and facilitators of physical activity for people with coronary heart disease and depressive symptoms

BackgroundPhysical activity has been shown to reduce depression in people with coronary heart disease (CHD), however many people with CHD do not engage in sufficient levels of physical activity to reap its positive effects. People with depression and CHD are at particular risk of non-adherence to physical activity. Little is known about the barriers to and facilitators of physical activity for people with CHD and depressive symptoms. Using qualitative interviews, the aim of this study was to explore the barriers to and facilitators of physical activity for cardiac patients with depressive symptoms.MethodsFifteen participants with CHD and depressive symptoms (assessed using the Cardiac Depression Scale) participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The interviews were focussed on investigating participants’ experiences of physical activity since their cardiac event. Interviews were content analysed to determine major themes.ResultsParticipants identified a number of barriers to and facilitators of physical activity. Barriers included having negative perceptions towards health and life changes as a result of the cardiac event, having low mood and low motivation to exercise, feeling physically restricted towards or fearful of exercise, lacking knowledge regarding exercise and perceiving external barriers. Facilitators included having a reason for exercising, being able to identify the psychological benefits of exercise, having positive social support and using psychological strategies. ‘Inactive’ participants reported more barriers and fewer facilitators than did ‘active’ participants.ConclusionsThe barriers reported in this study were highly salient for a number of participants. Health professionals and researchers can use this information to assist people with CHD and depressive symptoms to identify and possibly overcome barriers to physical activity. Relevant barriers and facilitators could be taken into account to increase their effectiveness when designing interventions to encourage physical activity maintenance in this population.

An Implicit Basis for the Retention Benefits of Random Practice

ABSTRACT The cognitive effort explanations of contextual interference (CI) and implicit motor learning represent a paradox in which cognitive involvement is seen to be advantageous or disadvantageous for learning. The authors aimed to resolve this paradox by measuring cognitive effort and working memory dependence during low and high CI practice on two Australian Rules Football tasks (kicking and handball). Measures of cognitive effort included: kicking and handball outcome performance during acquisition and during a test of retention, performance on a probe reaction time task during a sample of acquisition trials, and self-reported levels of cognitive effort. Measures of implicit and explicit learning included kicking and handball performance during a secondary task transfer, and self-report verbal protocols (number of verbal rules and hypotheses reported). The results suggest that high CI may cause an implicit mode of learning, perhaps due to the interference caused by task switching. However, these findings are restricted to the more complex of the 2 tasks (kicking).

Modelling of diabetes knowledge, attitudes, self-management, and quality of life: a cross-sectional study with an Australian sample

BackgroundQuality of life (QoL) is an important aspect of wellbeing for people with chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, making it a noteworthy outcome. Knowledge about diabetes, attitudes, and self-management of diabetes are key factors that might directly or indirectly impact QoL. However, little is known about the inter-relationships between diabetes knowledge, attitudes, self-management and QoL among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of this study was to examine a model describing the relationship between diabetes knowledge, attitudes, self-management, and QoL of people with T2DM that is based on previous research linking pairs of these variables.MethodsA cross-sectional study design was employed in this research. A total of 291 participants, 192 males and 99 females, with T2DM, whose mean age was 55.8 (standard deviation = 11.09) completed questionnaires measuring diabetes knowledge (Diabetes Knowledge Scale), attitudes (Diabetes Integration Scale -19), self-management (Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities Scale), including the aspects of diet, exercise, blood glucose testing, and foot care, and QoL (Diabetes Quality of Life Scale), comprising the aspects of satisfaction and impact on QoL respectively. To examine the model we proposed relating these variables, data were analysed using the path analysis.ResultsIn the final model, diabetes knowledge was a significant predictor for attitudes and self-management in terms of blood glucose testing. Attitudes was a significant predictor for self-management in terms of diet. In addition, self-management in terms of blood glucose testing was a significant predictor of impact of QoL, and self-management in terms of diet was a significant predictor of satisfaction and impact of QoL. Self-management in terms of exercise was a significant predictor of satisfaction in QoL. The final model reflected a good fit (χ2 (14) = 22.52, p = 0.069; CFI = 0.983; GFI = 0.983; RMSEA = 0.046).ConclusionsDiabetes knowledge, attitudes, and self-management are important factors that can impact the QoL among people with type 2 diabetes.