The effect of learner-adapted practice schedule and task similarity on motivation and motor learning in older adults

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of learner-adapted practice schedule and task similarity on intrinsic motivation and motor learning in older adults. For this purpose, 60 right-handed older adults were randomly divided into six groups of blocked-similar, learner-adapted-similar, random-similar, blocked-dissimilar, learner-adapted-dissimilar, and random-dissimilar. Sequential timing was used as the task, and the intrinsic motivation questionnaire was used for measuring individuals' motivation. The learner-adapted practice was included performing the task in a combination of blocked, serial, and random orders according to error number in each block. The results showed that the learner-adapted practice significantly outperformed than other practice schedules in motivation and motor learning measures in similar and dissimilar conditions. Also, the random schedule resulted in superior performance than the blocked schedule in similar and dissimilar conditions. These findings were discussed according to the challenge point framework.     

The vertical excursion of the body visceral mass during vertical jumps is affected by specific respiratory maneuver

Most of the inverse modeling of body dynamics in sports assumes that every segment is ‘rigid’ and moves ‘as a whole’, although we know that uncontrolled wobbling masses exist and in specific condition their motion should be optimized, both in engineering and biology. The visceral mass movement within the trunk segment potentially interferes with respiration and motion acts such as locomotion or jumping. The aim of this paper is to refine and expand a previously published methodology to estimate that relative motion by testing its ability to detect the reduced vertical viscera excursion within the trunk. In fact, a respiratory-assisted jumping strategy is expected to limit viscera motion stiffening the abdominal content of the bouncing body. Six subjects were analyzed, by using inverse dynamics incorporating wobbling masses, during repeated vertical jumps performed before and after a specific respiratory training period. The viscera excursion, which showed consistent intra-individual time courses, decreased by about 30% when the subjects had become familiarized with the trunk-stiffening maneuver. We conclude that: (1) present methodology proved to detect subtle visceral mass movement within the trunk during repetitive motor acts and, particularly, (2) a newly proposed respiratory maneuver/training devoted to stiffening the trunk segment can reduce viscera vertical displacement.