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In the current study we aimed to investigate the effect of specific dual task training (SDTT) compared to conventional soccer training (CST) on motor and cognitive performances in U13 elite soccer players. Twenty-four young soccer players (all males) participated in this study. We measured their change of direction ability (CODA) and cognitive performances (cognitive flexibility and inhibition) before and after four weeks in either the SDTT group or the CST group. We administered the Trail-Making Test (TMT) to evaluate cognitive flexibility and the Stroop test to evaluate cognitive inhibition. We assessed CODA using the t test (TT). After training, CODA ( p < .001), cognitive flexibility ( p < .001), and inhibition ( p < .001) were improved only in the SDTT group. These results suggest that SDTT seems more suitable than CST to optimally improve both CODA and cognitive performances in U13 elite soccer players., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

In this study, we explored the immediate and three-month follow-up effects of physical training on physical fitness in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We randomly assigned 20 children with ASD (age 8-11 years) into an experimental group (EG; n = 10) and a control group (CG; n = 10). The EG participated in an 8-week training program involving both strength and proprioceptive exercises (three 60-minute sessions/week), while the CG simply maintained their daily activities. We assessed physical fitness components for each participant at baseline, post-training, and at a 3-month follow-up. The physical training intervention significantly improved physical fitness of these children with ASD in terms of their flexibility ( p < .001; 32.46%), lower limbs strength ( p = .003; 36.98%), lower body power ( p < .001; 41.78%) and functional mobility ( p < .001; 25.56%). However, these addition training-induced gains were lost at follow-up for lower limbs strength ( p < .001), flexibility ( p < .001), and functional mobility ( p = .034)). Physical training was effective for improving physical fitness in children with ASD, but the loss of these gains at three months follow-up underscored the need for continuous physical exercise., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

We aimed to investigate the effect of music on visually impaired adolescents' postural balance across different somatosensory and vestibular input conditions. We recruited 19 adolescent participants (9 males, 10 females) with severe congenital visual impairment. We recorded their mean center of pressure velocity (CoP Vm ) during static upright bipedal standing under somatosensory (firm and foam surfaces) and vestibular (head facing forward (HFF), head rotated 90° to the right (HRR), and head rotated 90° to the left (HRL)) perturbations in three auditory conditions (no-music, listening to Jupiter, and listening to their preferred music). We found that CoP Vm decreased significantly when listening to both Jupiter and preferred music, compared to the no-music condition on both firm ( p < .05) and foam ( p < .001) surfaces and with the HFF ( p < .05), rotated to the right ( p < .001) or rotated to the left ( p < .001). Moreover, CoP Vm values increased significantly with somatosensory manipulation ( p < .001) in all the auditory conditions and with vestibular manipulation ( p < .01) only in the no-music condition. We concluded that listening to both Jupiter and preferred music improved postural balance in visually impaired adolescents, even in challenged postural conditions.