The influence of motor skills on the short sprint results

Background and Study Aim. The curriculum of physical education in high schools is based on learning motor skills, as well as their development in sports sections, where the 100-meter sprint dominates. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of motor skills on the 100 m running results. Material and Methods. The research was conducted on a sample of 80 high school students in Novi Pazar and Kraljevo, aged 16 and 17 years (± 6 months). 12 variables were used to assess motor skills, three variables each: explosive power, segmental speed, repetitive power, and flexibility (standing long jump), triple jump, five jumps. For estimating segmental speed: foot tapping, hand tapping, foot tapping on the wall. For the assessment of repetitive power: lifting the torso on the Swedish bench, mixed pull-ups, squats. To assess flexibility: deep bench press, twine, stick twist. Results. Results were obtained to confirm that there is a positive influence of motor skills on the 100 m sprint results at the level of (p=.000). The results in the 100 m sprints are statistically significantly dependent on the motor skills that manifest segmental speed and explosive power. Variables (standing long jump, foot tapping on the wall and foot tapping) have a statistically significant effect on the criterion variable of the 100 m sprint. Conclusions. Recommendation to future researchers would be to conduct a study over a longer period of time with the aim of examining the biomechanical factors that determine the success in sprint, is the production of force in the phase of sprint acceleration and sprint deceleration.

Cortical Mu Rhythms During Action and Passive Music Listening

Brain systems supporting body movement are active during music listening in the absence of overt movement. This covert motor activity is not well understood, but some theories propose a role in auditory timing prediction facilitated by motor simulation. One question is how music-related covert motor activity relates to motor activity during overt movement. We address this question using scalp electroencephalogram by measuring mu rhythms-- cortical field phenomena associated with the somatomotor system that appear over sensorimotor cortex. Lateralized mu enhancement over hand sensorimotor cortex during/just before foot movement in foot vs. hand movement paradigms is thought to reflect hand movement inhibition during current/prospective movement of another effector. Behavior of mu during music listening with movement suppressed has yet to be determined. We recorded 32-channel EEG (N=17) during silence without movement, overt movement (foot/hand), and music listening without movement. Using an Independent Component Analysis-based source equivalent dipole clustering technique, we identified three mu-related clusters, localized to left primary motor and right and midline premotor cortices. Right foot tapping was accompanied by mu enhancement in the left lateral source cluster, replicating previous work. Music listening was accompanied by similar mu enhancement in the left, as well as midline, clusters. We are the first to report, and also to source-resolve, music-related mu modulation in the absence of overt movements. Covert music-related motor activity has been shown to play a role in beat perception (1). Our current results show enhancement in somatotopically organized mu, supporting overt motor inhibition during beat perception.

Rhythmic ability decline in aging individuals: The role of movement task complexity

Study aim: To investigate age-related changes in rhythmic reproduction ability in relation to the complexity of the adopted movement task. Material and methods: A Stereophotogrammetric system was used to quantify individual rhythmic performances through motion analysis. Seventeen younger adult (age: 34.8 ± 4.2 yrs) and sixteen older adult (age: 69.9 ± 3.8 yrs) sedentary individuals volunteered for this study. Participants were administered a rhythmic test, which included three different rhythmic patterns to be reproduced by means of finger-tapping, foot-tapping and walking. Number of correct reproductions, time delays and rhythmic ratios were assessed and submitted to analysis of variance. Results: For all rhythmic parameters, age-related differences emerged about rhythmic patterns and motor tasks. Older adults showed reduced accuracy as compared to their younger counterparts with a marked tendency to speed up beats reproduction (p < 0.05). Increased movement complexity negatively influenced rhythmic ability, with worst performances in the walking task (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Complexity of the motor reproduction worsen rhythmic ability. Future research should focus on how specific rhythmic training with progressive movement task complexity could contrast this age-related decline.

Beat perception in polyrhythms: Time is structured in binary units

In everyday life, we group and subdivide time to understand the sensory environment surrounding us. Organizing time in units, such as diurnal rhythms, phrases, and beat patterns, is fundamental to behavior, speech, and music. When listening to music, our perceptual system extracts and nests rhythmic regularities to create a hierarchical metrical structure that enables us to predict the timing of the next events. Foot tapping and head bobbing to musical rhythms are observable evidence of this process. In the special case of polyrhythms, at least two metrical structures compete to become the reference for these temporal regularities, rendering several possible beats with which we can synchronize our movements. While there is general agreement that tempo, pitch, and loudness influence beat perception in polyrhythms, we focused on the yet neglected influence of beat subdivisions, i.e., the least common denominator of a polyrhythm ratio. In three online experiments, 300 participants listened to a range of polyrhythms and tapped their index fingers in time with the perceived beat. The polyrhythms consisted of two simultaneously presented isochronous pulse trains with different ratios (2:3, 2:5, 3:4, 3:5, 4:5, 5:6) and different tempi. For ratios 2:3 and 3:4, we additionally manipulated the pitch of the pulse trains. Results showed a highly robust influence of subdivision grouping on beat perception. This was manifested as a propensity towards beats that are subdivided into two or four equally spaced units, as opposed to beats with three or more complex groupings of subdivisions. Additionally, lower pitched pulse trains were more often perceived as the beat. Our findings suggest that subdivisions, not beats, are the basic unit of beat perception, and that the principle underlying the binary grouping of subdivisions reflects a propensity towards simplicity. This preference for simple grouping is widely applicable to human perception and cognition of time.

The neuroscience of groove: neural mechanisms marrying music and movement

Music has a long history of being associated with movement synchronization such as foot-tapping or dance. These behaviours are easier with some music compared to others, and the reasons for this are not well understood. Groove is a quality of music that compels synchronous movement in the listener, and certain acoustic and musical features have been identified that contribute to a sense of groove.Neurons have been found to entrain to the beat of music. Combining these two ideas, it is reasonable to predict that neural populations involved in movement (i.e. premotor areas) would entrain more to high-groove than to low-groove music. This dissertation explores some of the psychological, musical and acoustic aspects of music that contribute to neural entrainment in premotor areas of the brain. Study 1 investigates the effects of feelings of groove on pre-motor entrainment, using stimuli that have been rated on extent of groove in a previous study. Study 2 investigates the musical feature of syncopation – which has previously been found to be associated with sense of groove – on extent of premotor entrainment and behavioural synchronization ability. Study 3 investigates the effects of acoustic features that have been found to be related to groove and movement synchronization such as event density and percussiveness. The pattern of results across all studies suggests that the complexity of the rhythms in the stimulus determines the extent of beat entrainment. Feelings of groove, however, are better characterized by “beat complexity”, which depends on a) the extent to which the listener perceives the beat, and b) the extent to which other rhythmic elements of the music compete with the beat. A network of brain areas integral to the perception of groove is proposed, where activation of premotor areas enables music to drive motor output.

The neuroscience of groove: neural mechanisms marrying music and movement

Music has a long history of being associated with movement synchronization such as foot-tapping or dance. These behaviours are easier with some music compared to others, and the reasons for this are not well understood. Groove is a quality of music that compels synchronous movement in the listener, and certain acoustic and musical features have been identified that contribute to a sense of groove.Neurons have been found to entrain to the beat of music. Combining these two ideas, it is reasonable to predict that neural populations involved in movement (i.e. premotor areas) would entrain more to high-groove than to low-groove music. This dissertation explores some of the psychological, musical and acoustic aspects of music that contribute to neural entrainment in premotor areas of the brain. Study 1 investigates the effects of feelings of groove on pre-motor entrainment, using stimuli that have been rated on extent of groove in a previous study. Study 2 investigates the musical feature of syncopation – which has previously been found to be associated with sense of groove – on extent of premotor entrainment and behavioural synchronization ability. Study 3 investigates the effects of acoustic features that have been found to be related to groove and movement synchronization such as event density and percussiveness. The pattern of results across all studies suggests that the complexity of the rhythms in the stimulus determines the extent of beat entrainment. Feelings of groove, however, are better characterized by “beat complexity”, which depends on a) the extent to which the listener perceives the beat, and b) the extent to which other rhythmic elements of the music compete with the beat. A network of brain areas integral to the perception of groove is proposed, where activation of premotor areas enables music to drive motor output.

Beat Perception in Polyrhythms: Time is Structured in Binary Units

In everyday life, we group and subdivide time to understand the sensory environment surrounding us. Our perceptual system establishes hierarchical structures by nesting different groups of time intervals. Organizing time in units such as diurnal rhythms, phrases, and beat patterns, is fundamental to everyday behavior, speech, and music. When listening to music, we extract rhythmic regularities to create a hierarchical metrical structure that enables us to predict the timing of the next events. Foot tapping and head bobbing to musical rhythms are observable evidence of this process. In the special case of polyrhythms, at least two metrical structures compete to become the reference for these temporal regularities, rendering several possible beats with which we can synchronize our movements. While there is general agreement that tempo, pitch, and loudness influence beat perception in polyrhythms, we focused on the yet neglected influence of beat subdivisions. In three online experiments, 300 participants listened to a range of polyrhythms and tapped their index fingers in time with the perceived beat. The polyrhythms consisted of two simultaneously presented isochronous pulse trains with different ratios (2:3, 2:5, 3:4, 3:5, 4:5, 5:6) and different tempi. For ratios 2:3 and 3:4, we additionally manipulated the pitch of the pulse trains. Results showed a highly robust influence of subdivision grouping on beat perception manifested as a propensity towards beats that are subdivided into two or four equally spaced units, as opposed to beats with three or more complex groupings of subdivisions. Additionally, lower pitched pulse trains were more likely to be perceived as the beat. Our findings suggest that subdivisions, not beats, are the basic unit of beat perception, and that the principle underlying the binary grouping of subdivisions reflects a propensity towards simplicity. This preference for simple grouping is widely applicable to human perception and cognition of time.

Canonical relations between anthropometric and motor dimensions among 12-year-old students

The aim of this empirical research was to examine the correlations between the groups of variables of anthropometric characteristics (16) and motor skills (21) among 154 students (AM = 11,53 SD = 1,12). The method of canonical correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between the pairs of linear functions of predictor and criterion variables. The obtained canonical coefficients and canonical weights revealed that, with significance level (p ≤ 0,0,5 or p ≤ 0,01), there is a high level of correlation between linear combinations of the examined morphological characteristics and motor skills, where the explained mutual variance was 80% for the first and 33% for the second canonical function. The extracted relevant canonical pairs were interpreted hypothetically as "integrated morphological factor and the factor of static and repetitive strength and coordination", and the second one was interpreted as "morphological factor and the factor of explosive strength". The set of the first canonical morphological factor and the factor of static and repetitive strength, and coordination, is the maximum weight on the variables body mass, body height, forearm circumference, horizontal reverse plank, knee push-ups, and stick mobility, while the biggest contribution to the structure of the second canonical morphological factor and the factor of static and repetitive strength have variables 20m sprint with standing start, standing long jump, hand tapping and foot tapping. The obtained results of the analyzed bicomponent canonical model reveal more defined and predictable structure of the correlation between anthropometric characteristics and motor manifestations, and therefore give guidelines for planning, developing and controlling the training processes during physical education classes.

THE INFLUENCE OF INTEGRATION OF PHYSICAL AND MUSIC EDUCATION ON CLASS TEACHING STUDENTS MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

The aim of this research was the integration of Physical and Musical activities to the development of motor skills of class teaching students. The sample of 64 survey participants consisted of primary school students, aged 9 and 10 (± 6 months) from Niš and divided into two groups - experimental and control group, 32 participants in each group. The participants from the experimental group participated in the additional Physical Education lessons which included coordination and speed exercises, that is, the integrated lessons, while the survey participants from the control group were included only in regular Physical Education lessons, and also in Music Education lessons. The following motor skills were examined: Speed, Agility, Flexing, Explosive strength, Repetitive strength and Segmental speed. The obtained results show that there is a statistically significant difference in 20 meter run with the elongated start (M20VS .000), 30 meter run with the elongated start (M30VS .000), figure-of-eight agility run test (MKOT .000), side steps (MKUS .000), standing forward bend (MDPK .000), split (MŠPA .000), standing long jump (MSDM .000), standing triple jump (MTRS .000), foot tapping (MTAN .005) and hand tapping (MTAP .001). Given the results obtained, the design of a special program that would include the integration of the content of these subject areas would contribute to the development of elementary physical and musical skills.