Effects of acute endurance,strength, and coordination exercise interventions on attention in adolescents: A randomized controlled study

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to compare three different modes of an acute bout of exercise – endurance, strength, and coordination – in their effects on adolescents' attention.DesignThis was a preregistered, prospective, randomized intervention study with four groups and two distinct measurement occasions.MethodEighty adolescent students aged 15–18 years were randomized to one of three exercise intervention groups (endurance, strength, coordination) or to a non-exercise, control group. The exercise interventions lasted for 25 min. The random assignment to the study groups was stratified according to participants' age and gender. Before and after the exercise intervention, all participants completed the revised d2-test of attention. A 4 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA with contrast-coded test was used as the main analysis method.ResultsAttentional test performance increased from before to after the exercise intervention for all exercise groups, as compared with the control group. The three exercise groups improved equally and did not differ in their attentional scores after the intervention.ConclusionsAn acute bout of exercise was in general beneficial for adolescent students' attention, while the mode of the provided exercise training was not decisive. School directors and teachers are encouraged to incorporate exercise-related breaks into their school plan.     

Resilience characterized and quantified from physical activity data: A tutorial in R

Consistent physical activity is key for health and well-being, but it is vulnerable to stressors. The process of recovering from such stressors and bouncing back to the previous state of physical activity can be referred to as resilience. Quantifying resilience is fundamental to assess and manage the impact of stressors on consistent physical activity. In this tutorial, we present a method to quantify the resilience process from physical activity data. We leverage the prior operationalization of resilience, as used in various psychological domains, as area under the curve and expand it to suit the characteristics of physical activity time series. As use case to illustrate the methodology, we quantified resilience in step count time series (length = 366 observations) for eight participants following the first COVID-19 lockdown as a stressor. Steps were assessed daily using wrist-worn devices. The methodology is implemented in R and all coding details are included. For each person’s time series, we fitted multiple growth models and identified the best one using the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). Then, we used the predicted values from the selected model to identify the point in time when the participant recovered from the stressor and quantified the resulting area under the curve as a measure of resilience for step count. Further resilience features were extracted to capture the different aspects of the process. By developing a methodological guide with a step-by-step implementation, we aimed at fostering increased awareness about the concept of resilience for physical activity and facilitate the implementation of related research.     

EVOLUTION IN THERMODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE: A HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANGLE

Abstract. The recently suggested reformulation of Darwinian evolutionary theory, based on the thermodynamics of self-organizing processes, has strong philosophical implications. My claim is that the main philosophical merit of the thermodynamic approach, made especially clear in J.S. Wicken's work, is its insistence on the law-governed, continuous nature of evolution. I attempt to substantiate this claim following a historical analysis of beginning-of-the-century ideas on evolution and matter-life relationship, in particular, the fitness-of-the-environment-for-life theory of the Harvard physiologist L.J. Henderson. In addition, I point to an epistemological common ground underlying the studies of the “thermodynamics school” and other currently active research groups focusing on the emergence and evolution of biological organization.     

Attention to important versus trivial tasks and salience of fatigue-related symptoms for coronary prone individuals

The present study tested the hypothesis that individuals with the Type A coronary prone behavior pattern focus their attention more on important tasks, and less on trivial tasks than do Type B's. The study used a paradigm in which some subjects worked on math problems (important task) and rated intervening mood items (trivial task), whereas others rated mood items they were to memorize (important task) and worked on intervening math problems (trivial task). All subjects were later tested on recall of mood items. Results indicated that Type A's performed better on math problems and recalled more fatigue-related mood items when the task was important than when it was trivial; for Type B subjects, there was no difference in the number of math problems solved correctly or number of mood items recalled between important and trivial task conditions. Moreover, Type A's reported greater fatigue when mood recall was the important task than when math was the important task, whereas fatigue ratings of Type B's did not differ across these conditions. The findings suggest that Type A's suppress their attention to fatigue-related symptoms only when symptoms are not the objects of focus.     

Skill-set,success outcome,and mania as determinants of the illusion of control

The illusion of control, the tendency for individuals to approach chance tasks with skill-appropriate strategies, was studied. Subjects premeasured on a mania scale were classified as either high (HM) or low (LM) in mania. In the first phase of the study, HM and LM subjects performed 30 trials on either a skill (verbal associates) or chance (coin-toss) task and were given either 20, 50, or 80% success feedback. After Task 1 was completed, subjects filled out an attribution questionnaire. In the final phase of the study, subjects anticipated 30 more trials either on a skill or chance task. Subjects' predicted successes were measured. It was hypothesized that predicted successes on anticipated skill and chance tasks would be affected more by outcomes on a previous skill task than by outcomes on a previous chance task. The results for the anticipated skill task directly supported the hypothesis. On the anticipated chance task, the hypothesis was confirmed for HM subjects only. The results are discussed in terms of how previous skill experiences may induce a set to control ungovernable situations for individuals with manic reactions.     

Exercise is medicine… when you enjoy it: Exercise enjoyment,relapse prevention efficacy,and health outcomes for youth within a drug and alcohol treatment service

ObjectiveEvidence for the effectiveness of exercise as therapy for youth substance use disorder (SUD) is scarce. In this study, we investigated associations between exercise enjoyment and recovery outcomes for youth undergoing residential SUD treatment.MethodUsing ecological momentary assessment, each week participants reported perceptions of exercise enjoyment, relapse prevention efficacy, self-esteem, and physical health, and associations between these variables were assessed at both between- and within-person levels. There were 97 participants (age: M = 17.5, SD = 1.57, range = 14 to 21; 37 female, 60 male), with a final sample of 64 due to participants (n = 33) discontinuing treatment within 2 weeks of commencement. Of the remaining sample, 50% (n = 32) completed 3 or more assessments, 40% (n = 26) completed 5 or more, and 25% (n = 16) completed 7 or more.ResultsRelapse prevention efficacy, self-esteem, and perceived physical health increased over time in the program. Youth who, on average, enjoyed exercise more had higher self-esteem, perceived physical health, and relapse prevention efficacy than those who enjoyed it less. Additionally, on occasions when youth enjoyed exercise more (relative to their own average), they reported higher self-esteem, perceived physical health, and relapse prevention efficacy than on occasions when they reported enjoying it less.ConclusionParticipation in—and importantly, enjoyment of—exercise was linked to key health indices and predictors of relapse for youth during SUD treatment. These findings demonstrate that participation in enjoyable structured exercise may provide an important component of successful SUD treatment.     

Social identity leadership in sport and exercise: Current status and future directions

The social identity approach is fast becoming a prominent framework for understanding effective leadership in sport and exercise contexts. The last five years, in particular, has seen a proliferation of research informed by the identity leadership approach, with a focus on two broad outcomes: performance and health. Using these two key outcomes as an organising framework, we provide a critical narrative review of research that has examined the presence, role, and benefits of identity leadership in sport and exercise contexts, and identify fruitful avenues for future research. Applying a broader lens, we then make five key recommendations for future identity leadership research in sport and exercise contexts. Specifically, we highlight the need for research (a) using more rigorous and varied research designs, (b) using stronger measures, (c) comparing the effects of identity leadership to the effects of other types of leadership, (d) assessing further potential mediators of relationships between identity leadership and key outcomes, and (e) exploring the possible dark side of identity leadership.     

Genetic basis for male aggression and survivorship in wild house mice (Mus domesticus)

Work on the genetic region of the house mice known as the t-complex has produced the hypothesis that mice heterozygous for t-haplotypes (+/t) may have a selective advantage over wild-type (+/+) males owing to the greater aggressiveness of +/t males. We tested this hypothesis by examining the behavior of +/+ and +/t mice placed in four large outdoor enclosures. We found that +/t males were dominant over +/+ males. Furthermore, in the outdoor enclosures +/t males had higher survivorship than +/+ males, both as adults and juveniles. However, males of the two genotypes did not differ in home range size. We suggest that t-haplotypes may be, in part, maintained in mouse populations because of a selective advantage in heterozygous males. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.