Vicente Luis del Campo

Description of the finger mechanical load of climbers of different levels during different hand grips in sport climbing

AbstractCurrently, direct empirical evidence exists about the amount of mechanical load that climbers apply to each finger during several hand grips specific to sport climbing, but not yet in a specific hanging position.The objectives of this study are a) to draw and build a solid and rigid support that simulates the real action of a hand grip in a hanging position in sport climbing, to enable the measurement of the mechanical load endured by the fingers in a hanging position and in addition, b) to describe the distribution of mechanical load among fingers as a function of the level of climbing during different hand grips in a hanging position.Thirty young male participants took part in the initial phase of reliability of the measurements, while another 64 male climbers participated in the subsequent study phase to check the relations between independent and dependent variables. The level of on sight climbing and the total practice experience were used to define the groups. The research task consisted of ...Abstract Currently, direct empirical evidence exists about the amount of mechanical load that climbers apply to each finger during several hand grips specific to sport climbing, but not yet in a specific hanging position. The objectives of this study are a) to draw and build a solid and rigid support that simulates the real action of a hand grip in a hanging position in sport climbing, to enable the measurement of the mechanical load endured by the fingers in a hanging position and in addition, b) to describe the distribution of mechanical load among fingers as a function of the level of climbing during different hand grips in a hanging position. Thirty young male participants took part in the initial phase of reliability of the measurements, while another 64 male climbers participated in the subsequent study phase to check the relations between independent and dependent variables. The level of on sight climbing and the total practice experience were used to define the groups. The research task consisted of performing hanging positions on the created support in order to measure the mechanical load endured by the fingers in the three most characteristic hand grips in climbing (crimp, half crimp and slope). It has been concluded that the performance level of the climbers had no influence on the production of a pattern of differentiated finger mechanical load during the research task.

The resonant system: Linking brain–body–environment in sport performance☆

The ecological dynamics approach offers new insights to understand how athlete nervous systems are embedded within the body-environment system in sport. Cognitive neuroscience focuses on the neural bases of athlete behaviors in terms of perceptual, cognitive, and motor functions defined within specific brain structures. Here, we discuss some limitations of this traditional perspective, addressing how athletes functionally adapt perception and action to the dynamics of complex performance environments by continuously perceiving information to regulate goal-directed actions. We examine how recent neurophysiological evidence of functioning in diverse cortical and subcortical regions appears more compatible with an ecological dynamics perspective, than traditional views in cognitive neuroscience. We propose how athlete behaviors in sports may be related to the tuning of resonant mechanisms indicating that perception is a dynamic process involving the whole body of the athlete. We emphasize the important role of metastable dynamics in the brain-body-environment system facilitating continuous interactions with a landscape of affordances (opportunities for action) in a performance environment. We discuss implications of these ideas for performance preparation and practice design in sport.

La percepción de la información situacional probabilística en el deporte: Una aproximación desde la psicología

El objetivo del estudio es realizar, desde una perspectiva psicologica, un analisis del termino informacion situacional probabilistica (ISP) en el deporte. En concreto, se realiza una delimitacion conceptual y revision de estudios; asi como una interpretacion de resultados, con perspectiva criticointerdisciplinar, en base a la aproximacion psicologica cognitiva y ecologica de la percepcion visual. Los estudios analizados concluyen que los deportistas de mayor nivel usan esta ISP; contribuyendo a mejorar su rendimiento en la tarea (e.g., los procesos anticipatorios de accion). Las aportaciones del estudio son valorar la ISP como una informacion que: i) compara la informacion visual presente con la pasada (aproximacion cognitiva) o que relaciona deportista-contexto (aproximacion ecologica), ii) es entrenable, siendo util en aquellos deportes donde haya que tomar rapidas y precisas respuestas

Exploring Visual Patterns and Judgments Predicated on Role Specificity: Case Studies of Expertise in Gymnastics

This study assessed the influence of sensorimotor experiences, predicated on role specificity, on visual search patterns and performance judgments in three experts in gymnastics (i.e., gymnast, coach and judge). They observed video recordings of six trials demonstrating three different gymnastic skills, while their visual behaviors were recorded with the ASL SE5000 system. Participants judged the quality of the gymnastic skill, identifying execution errors after each trial based on the Code of Points employed by the International Gymnastics Federation (2014). Results showed that the gymnast participant developed a different perceptual pattern compared to the other participants, but no differences were observed between the judge and coach. Additionally, the judge reported higher judgement accuracy (53.47%), followed by the coach (40.33%) and gymnast (37.58%). These data suggested that the participants fixated on different information sources when making judgements on performance scores, based on their different previous visual and motor experiences to evaluate gymnastic skills.