1,720,983 research outputs found
Implicit Motor Learning in Adults Who Have Recovered from COVID-19
No full textThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is primarily known as a respiratory condition (1). However, COVID-19 has also been shown to lead to long-term cognitive dysfunctions referred to as long COVID (2, 3). To date, over 590 million people have recovered from COVID-19, including individuals who have experienced high fever and underwent oxygen therapy during hospitalization (4). As secondary outcomes of the disease, individuals with high fever or those treated with oxygen therapy have been shown to develop central nervous system deficits, affecting primarily the frontal and temporal regions of the cerebral cortex (5). One way to examine if COVID-19 survivors endured damage to the neurologic systems is through testing implicit motor learning (6, 7). Thus, the main objective of the proposed study is to investigate implicit motor learning in adults who have recovered from COVID-19. We will assess motor sequence learning of 225 adults aged 18 to 65 through a Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT). Participants will be asked to press computer keys corresponding to visual stimuli appearing at fixed spatial locations on a computer screen as quickly as possible (8). The stimuli will be presented in a fixed learning sequence. Reaction times then begin to decrease with consecutive training blocks, and proceed to increase when the switch occurs from a fixed sequence to a random sequence of stimuli. We will compare implicit motor learning between five groups of individuals: 1) individuals who were not infected, 2) individuals who were asymptomatic, 3) individuals who were symptomatic but not hospitalized, and 4) individuals who were hospitalized. It is hypothesized that individuals who had a disabling fever as result of COVID-19 and individuals who underwent oxygen therapy will have lower reaction time performance when compared to individuals who were asymptomatic and who were not infected. We also hypothesize that individuals who experienced fever and/or underwent oxygen therapy but who are more physically active will perform better on the SRTT compared to individuals who are not active. We will control for sex, age and physical activity levels. To assess physical activity level, we will administer the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF). We will also collect socio-demographic and health status information through an online questionnaire. Performance of SRTT will be calculated as the percentage of correct trials per block divided by the average reaction time on that block. The data will be analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0, and alpha will be set at .05 to establish statistical significance. We will analyse the data for univariate outliers and conduct relevant tests for parametric assumptions. We will test normality with the Shapiro-Wilk test and we will validate the repeated-measures ANCOVA with the Mauchly’s sphericity test. A repeated-measures ANCOVA with disease severity and block type as within-subject factors will be performed. This exploratory study could give a platform for future research to investigate and focus on developing therapies to counteract long Covid symptoms and improve motor-learning patterns.
1. Gorbalenya AE, Baker SC, Baric RS, de Groot RJ, Drosten C, Gulyaeva AA, et al. Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: The species and its viruses–a statement of the Coronavirus Study Group. BioRxiv. 2020.
2. Health NIf, Excellence C. COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19. NICE Guidel. 2020:1-35.
3. Woo MS, Malsy J, Pöttgen J, Seddiq Zai S, Ufer F, Hadjilaou A, et al. Frequent neurocognitive deficits after recovery from mild COVID-19. Brain communications. 2020;2(2):fcaa205.
4. Statista. Number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, recoveries, and deaths worldwide as of September 12, 2022. 2022.
5. Duan K, Premi E, Pilotto A, Cristillo V, Benussi A, Libri I, et al. Alterations of frontal-temporal gray matter volume associate with clinical measures of older adults with COVID-19. Neurobiology of stress. 2021;14:100326.
6. Nitsche MA, Schauenburg A, Lang N, Liebetanz D, Exner C, Paulus W, et al. Facilitation of implicit motor learning by weak transcranial direct current stimulation of the primary motor cortex in the human. Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 2003;15(4):619-26.
7. Magill R, Anderson D. Motor learning and control: Concepts and applications. . 11 ed: New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2017.
8. Brown RM, Robertson EM, Press DZ. Sequence skill acquisition and off-line learning in normal aging. Plos one. 2009;4(8):e6683
The role of physical activity and sport modality in shaping psychosocial skills: A study on fair play, self-esteem, and self-efficacy in children
No full textEngaging in physical activity and sports is essential for the psychosocial develop-
ment of children, as it fosters moral development, social integration, and character
building based on ethical principles, such as fair play(1,2). This study analyzed the
relationship between physical activity behavior, sport modality, and higher-order
psychosocial skills, such as moral decision-making, fair play, self-esteem, and self-
efficacy, in a sample of children from two primary schools. Our hypothesis posited
variations in psychosocial outcomes based on children's physical activity levels and
sport participation (individual vs. team, open skill vs. closed skill). One hundred
twenty-nine primary school children (59 females, Mage = 8.13, SD = 0.81 y.o.) par-
ticipated in the study. Each participant completed the following questionnaire: the
Fair Play in Physical Education, the Attitudes Moral DecisionMaking in Youth Sport,
the Rosenberg Self-Esteem, the Physical Self-Efficacy, and the Physical Activity
questionnaires. The results demonstrated that physical activity and sex exerted a
general effect on fair play, whereas sport type did not exhibit a significant associa-
tion with any of the studied constructs. However, sex and physical activity level, as
well as sport type, were identified as significant predictors of sports self-efficacy.
Overall, our study highlights the complex and multifaceted nature of these con-
structs and the importance of considering multiple factors in elucidating their rela-
tionships. Our study has important implications for trainers and teachers who aim
to promote fair play and sportsmanship in their programs. To promote ethical be-
havior in youth sports, character education programs that emphasize values such as
fairness, respect, and responsibility can be helpful. Coaches and parents can also
serve as positive role models to promote these values and create a culture of fair
play and respect in youth sports programs. By emphasizing these values, such pro-
grams can contribute to positive psychosocial development in young athletes. Ref-
erences: 1)Opstoel, et al., (2020). Personal and social development in physical ed-
ucation and sports: A review study. European Physical Education Review. 2) Ser-
rano-Durà et al. (2021). Systematic review of research on fair play and sporting
competition. Sport, Education and Society.
Keywords: Open vs. Closed-skill sports; Individual vs. Team sports; moral decision-
makin
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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