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Background Duration perception is an essential part of our cognitive and behavioral system, helping us interact with the outside world. An integrated model of timing, which states that the perceived duration of a given stimulus is based on the efficiency of information extraction, was recently set forth to improve current understanding of the representation and judgment of time. However, the prediction from this model that more efficient information extraction results in longer perceived duration has not been tested. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate whether sports experts, as a group of individuals with information extraction superiority in situations relevant to their sport skill, have longer duration perceptions when they view expertise-related stimuli compared with others with no expertise/experience. Methods For this study, 81 subjects were recruited based on a prior power analysis. The sports experts group had 27 athletes with years of professional training in diving; a wrestler group and a nonathlete group, with each of these groups having 27 subjects, were used as controls. All participants completed a classic duration reproduction task for subsecond and suprasecond durations with both the diving images and general images involved. Results The divers reproduced longer durations for diving stimuli compared with general stimuli under both subsecond and suprasecond time ranges, while the other samples showed the opposite pattern. Furthermore, the years of training in diving were positively correlated with the magnitude of the prolonged reproduction duration when divers viewed diving stimuli. Moreover, the diver group showed a more precise duration perception in subsecond time range for general stimuli compared with the wrestlers and nonathletes. Conclusion The results suggest that sports experts perceive longer duration when viewing expertise-related stimuli compared with others with no expertise/experience.

Iran's apparel market is currently filled with foreign brands that are generally ranked as high quality goods with high prices. With a surface examination of the apparel market and customers’ opinions, it can be concluded that Iranian apparel, despite having lower prices, is not in a suitable status in comparison with its foreign counterparts. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of individual characteristics and brand-specific features, and finally design a model of consumer purchase behavior towards domestic brands of sports apparel that are available in the Iran market. The method of this study is descriptive-correlational and in terms of the aim, is applicable. The statistical population of the study consisted of sports experts. 141 individuals as sample size were studied out of 220 individuals of the population. A questionnaire used by Kumar, Kim, and Pelton (2009) was also used to collect the data, and the validity of the model and the relationship between the studied variables was supported by the techniques of structural equation modeling. The research findings showed that self-concept of individuals has no role in their orientation towards domestic brands of sports apparel, but need for uniqueness was effective on individual’s orientation towards brand. On the other hand, brand orientation also had positive impact on both emotional value and perceived quality of domestic brands of sports apparel. Also, according to the findings, increasing brand orientation did not increase their purchase intention. All the dimensions of brand in this study, both perceived quality and emotional value had significant positive impact on consumer’s purchase intention towards domestic brands of sports apparel.

Purpose: Several recent studies have identified structural changes in the cerebral cortex that occur with extensive motor training. However, limited studies have been conducted to explore the structural changes of subcortical structures, which are thought to play important roles in motor functioning. This study aims to localize the shape differences of the subcortical structures between the diving players and the nonathlete group. Methods: Twelve professional players with top-level diving skills and 12 age- and education-matched healthy controls without any training experience were scanned with a 3-T magnetic resonance imaging. Data were processed using FSL-FIRST, a model-based segmentation and registration tool. Results: Compared with the nonathlete group, we found significant regional inflation in the bilateral thalamus and the left globus pallidus in diving players. Conclusion: Although we cannot rule out the effect of predispositions, the regional inflation of the thalamus and globus pallidus might reflect the experience-dependent plasticity because of extensive diving training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Duration perception is an essential part of our cognitive and behavioral system, helping us interact with the outside world. An integrated model of timing, which states that the perceived duration of a given stimulus is based on the efficiency of information extraction, was recently set forth to improve current understanding of the representation and judgment of time. However, the prediction from this model that more efficient information extraction results in longer perceived duration has not been tested. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate whether sports experts, as a group of individuals with information extraction superiority in situations relevant to their sport skill, have longer duration perceptions when they view expertise-related stimuli compared with others with no expertise/experience., Methods: For this study, 81 subjects were recruited based on a prior power analysis. The sports experts group had 27 athletes with years of professional training in diving; a wrestler group and a nonathlete group, with each of these groups having 27 subjects, were used as controls. All participants completed a classic duration reproduction task for subsecond and suprasecond durations with both the diving images and general images involved., Results: The divers reproduced longer durations for diving stimuli compared with general stimuli under both subsecond and suprasecond time ranges, while the other samples showed the opposite pattern. Furthermore, the years of training in diving were positively correlated with the magnitude of the prolonged reproduction duration when divers viewed diving stimuli. Moreover, the diver group showed a more precise duration perception in subsecond time range for general stimuli compared with the wrestlers and nonathletes., Conclusion: The results suggest that sports experts perceive longer duration when viewing expertise-related stimuli compared with others with no expertise/experience., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2020 Jia et al.)