Commitment, enjoyment and motivation in young soccer competitive players

Building upon Deci's and Ryan (1985) Self-determination theory as well as the sportive behavioral correlates of the model of Commitment (Scanlan et al., 1976), this study tries to establish the relationship between motivation and commitment in youth sport. For this purpose 454 young competitive soccer players answered the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) during the regular season. The SMS measures the three dimensions of the Motivational continuum (the Amotivation, the Extrinsic Motivation and the Intrinsic Motivation). The SCQ measures the Sportive Commitment and its composing factors such as the Enjoyment, the Alternatives to the sport, and the Social Pressure. Our findings provided a clear pattern of the influence of motivation in sport enjoyment and commitment, outlining the positive contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enjoyment and commitment. Amotivation, contributes positively to alternatives to sport and negatively to enjoyment and commitment, It should be noted that extrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to enjoyment whereas intrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to commitment.     

THE REEDUCATION OF APHASICS: THE PROBLEM OF THE REEDUCATION STRATEGIES

Aside from the different schools of therapy in reeducational neuropsychology, an overview of the main strategies used by therapists allows us to distinguish three principal techniques: reestablishing strategies, reorganisation strategies, and the use of mental prothèses. It seems to us less a question of choosing the correct strategy than of carefully considering the different pathological contexts in which they will be applied. The concern with strategies indicates, of course, that there is a certain contradiction in wishing to combine their use in the treatment of the same problem. Reestablishing strategies are undoubtedly adequate in pathological contexts with rapidly evolving semiology and where the qualitative analysis of the recovery seems to indicate that there is in fact a progressive renewal of conditions prior to the cerebral attack. The reorganisation strategies are indicated where it seems possible to circumvent the defective processes in the midst of a functional network with clearly defined contours. Their effectiveness is, it seems, subordinate to the selective nature of the problems. Finally, the strategies involving the use of prothèses should not be attempted except as a last resort where no progress can be expected by direct intervention.     

A case of prosopagnosia with some preserved covert remembrance of familiar faces

This paper presents the detailed analysis of a case of prosopagnosia in a 54-year-old male farmer following bioccipital vascular disease. In-depth clinical investigations confirmed the diagnosis of prosopagnosia and revealed the absence of any associated defect, except for a slight aspecific disturbance of the short-term memory. Further study of this case indicated that the trouble was not concerned with the class of complex visual stimuli, was not even concerned with facial expressions or unknown faces, was not a perceptual defect, but was related mainly to the operation of individualization. The memory hypothesis was thus retained and supported. Moreover, exploration of the difficulty indicated that the deficiency was limited to defective access to conscious information concerning faces and information associated with these faces (name, context, etc.), effectively stored in memory.     

Association between bullying victimization and physical fitness among children and adolescents

Background/ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between being bullied and the physical fitness components, and to determine whether a healthy physical fitness level is related with lower victimization in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity compared to unfit overweight/obese peers. Method:The present cross-sectional study included a total of 7,714 youths (9-17 years), categorized as normal-weight or overweight/obese and fit or unfit according to sex-specific handgrip strength and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) cut-points. Bullying (physical, verbal, social exclusion, sexual harassment, and cyberbullying) was assessed through the Standard Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey questions. Results:Boys and girls that were categorized as fit (healthy level of CRF) showed lower traditional bullying compared to unfit counterparts. Also, a healthy level of CRF could be a protective factor of traditional bullying among overweight/obese youths compared to unfit overweight/obese peers. Conclusions:CRF is related with lower risk for experiencing traditional bullying in Latino youths with and without obesity, thus emphasizing the role of fitness even among youth with excess of adiposity.     

A single exposure to severe stressors causes long-term desensitisation of the physiological response to the homotypic stressor

Although some laboratories have reported that a single session of stress is able to induce a long-lasting sensitisation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response to further exposures to stress, we have found that a single exposure to severe emotional (immobilisation, restraint or shock) or systemic (endotoxin) stressors reduces the responsiveness of the HPA to the same, but not to a novel (heterotypic), stressor, in which case a slight sensitisation was observed. Long-term desensitisation has been found to reduce not only secretion of peripheral HPA hormones (ACTH and corticosterone), but also to reduce responses of central components of the HPA axis (c-fos and CRF gene expression at the level of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, PVN). In addition, desensitisation also applies to the impact of the stressor on food intake and, probably, to stress-induced hyperglycaemia. The development of long-term desensitisation of the HPA axis does not appear to be a universal consequence of exposure to severe stressors as it was not observed in response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. Whether or not the development of long-term effects of stress depend on the specific pathways activated by particular stressors remains to be tested. The observed desensitisation of the HPA axis in response to the homotypic stressor shows two special features which makes it difficult to be interpreted in terms of an habituation-like process: (a) the effect increased with time (days to weeks) elapsed between the first and second exposure to the stressor, suggesting a progressive maturational process; and (b) the stronger the stressor the greater the long-term desensitisation. Therefore, it is possible that desensitisation of the HPA axis is the sum of two different phenomena: long-term effects and habituation-like processes. The contribution of the former may be more relevant with severe stressors and longer inter-stress intervals, and that of the latter with mild stressors and repeated exposures. Long-term stress-induced changes may not take place at the level of the PVN itself, but in brain nuclei showing synaptic plasticity and putatively involved in the control of the HPA axis and other physiological responses. As for the precise areas involved, these remain to be characterized.     

Reports of attempted suicide among Brazilian addicts

Both substance dependence and depressive mood seem to be associated with increased suicide risk. Clinical information on suicide attempts and depressive symptoms were obtained from a sample of 211 psychoactive substance dependents attending a university clinic program for addicts in Brazil. 49 subjects (23.4%) had attempted suicide at least once, and the frequency of reporting attempts was 4.32 times greater among women than among men. Male addicts also tended to engage in potentially more dangerous attempt methods than women. Depressive male addicts were 2.17 times more likely to have attempted suicide than nondepressive addicted men. Among women, no association could be established between having attempted suicide and the presence of depression. Substance addicts have a relatively high risk of attempting suicide and the co-occurrence of depression seems to increase prevalence of suicidal behavior among men.