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ABSTRACTThe benefits of self-talk on motor performance are well documented. However, there is a gap in the literature on basic research into the mechanisms underlying the performance outcomes of self-talk. The purpose of this study was to determine the neuromuscular mechanisms underlying the effects of instructional and motivational self-talk. Fifteen young females participated in a within-subject counterbalanced design under control, instructional, and motivational self-talk conditions. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was recorded from active (the right biceps and triceps brachii) and passive (the frontalis and left biceps brachii) muscles during reproduction of the elbow flexion angle (90°) in the joint position sense test. The self-talk conditions led to a significantly lower EMG activity of the right biceps muscle, decreased co-contraction ratio of right biceps activity to right triceps activity, and reduced absolute error for the elbow joint position sense compared to the control condition. Also, EMG gradients in the passive muscles were observed in the self-talk conditions but not in the control condition. These findings suggest that attention and motivation are the mechanisms that justify the relationship between self-talk and performance.

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.Dalvandpour, N, Zareei, M, Abbasi, H, Abdoli, B, Mohammadian, MA, Rommers, N, and Rössler, R. Focus of attention during ACL injury prevention exercises affects improvements in jump-landing kinematics in soccer players: a randomized controlled trial. J Strength Cond Res37(2): 337–342, 2023—Anterior cruciate ligament tears are severe and complex knee injuries that commonly occur in soccer. Prevent injuries enhance performance (PEP) is an exercise-based prevention program to effectively reduce anterior cruciate ligament injuries. It is, however, unclear how the delivery of the program contributes to its effectiveness. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of the focus of attention that was emphasized during the delivery of the PEP program on jump-landing kinematics in male, elite-level, U21 soccer players. Forty-two players participated in this randomized controlled trial and were allocated to (a) the internal focus of attention (IF) group, receiving instructions focusing on the execution of the exercise (b), the external focus of attention (EF) group, receiving instructions focusing on the outcome of the exercise, or (c) the control group. Before and after the 8-week intervention, players performed a jump-landing task during which we measured hip and knee angles at the initial contact, peak knee flexion, and peak vertical ground reaction force using a 3-dimensional motion analyzer. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to compare groups over time. Significant time-by-group interaction effects with large effect sizes were found for hip flexion at all moments (p< 0.032; η2> 0.15) and for the knee flexion angle at initial contact and maximum knee flexion (p< 0.001; η2> 0.35), all in favor of the EF group. This shows that EF during PEP improves hip and knee joint kinematics in the sagittal plane more than IF. Therefore, EF during PEP instructions is preferred to increase the effectiveness of this injury prevention program.

Introduction.The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of unstable resistance training with blood flow restriction (URT with BFR) on short-term memory, strength and dynamic balance in older adults.

Recent studies on intergenerational transmission of learning and memory performances demonstrated that parental spatial training before fertilization could facilitate learning and memory in the offspring, but many questions remain unclarified. Essential issues regarding whether and how long the effects of parental training in a task can last in several generations, and whether learning a task repeated in the successive generations can enhance a load of multigenerational effects. In the present study, the spatial performances of F1 and F2 generations of male offspring of fathers or grandfathers spatially trained in the Morris Water Maze were evaluated and compared with the performance of a control sample matched for age and sex. Further, to investigate the memory process in F1 and F2 male offspring, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), p-ERK1/2 and acetylated histone 3 lysine 14 (H3K14) expression levels in the hippocampus were analyzed. The findings showed that paternal training reduced escape latencies and increased time spent in the target quadrant by F1 and F2 male offspring. Besides, paternal spatial training repeated in two generations did not enhance the beneficial effects on offspring’s spatial performances. These findings were supported by neurobiologic data showing that paternal training increased BDNF and p-ERK1/2 in the hippocampus of F1 and F2 male offspring. Furthermore, the hippocampal level of acetylated H3K14 increased in the offspring of spatially trained fathers, reinforcing the hypothesis that the augmented histone acetylation might play an essential role in the inheritance of spatial competence.

The aim of this research was to survey the relationship between the number of crowds with anxiety and the function of the soccer premier leaguecircle2s referee. 45 Iranian soccer premier leaguecircle2s referees demanded to take part voluntarily and they completed two questionnaires including Trait Anxiety (SCAT) and State Anxiety (CSAI-2) in three phases: the day before the game, before the game and after the game. Getting the number of crowds from the boss of the stadium and the supervisor of the matches, in the end of each game, we took the evaluation paper of each referee from the matchcircle2s superintendent and registered the mark. The analysis of data showed that the number of crowds does not have a meaningful relation with small scales of State Anxiety before and after game, but about the function is a meaningful negative relation. Also, there was a meaningful negative relation between function and cognitive anxiety and there was a meaningful positive Anxiety with self-confidence before the game. However, the experiencecircle2 referees with State Anxiety before the game show a meaningful negative relation.