میر حمید صالحیان

Previous studies have shown that autonomy support (AS) can foster a person’s motivation and facilitate motor learning. However, the effects of AS on observational motor learning are not well understood. The present study investigated this issue by manipulating to-be-observed-model. Forty-eight male students were assigned into autonomy, yoked, and no-demonstration control groups. Three male Baseball coaches acted as models A, B, and C. Model A was instructor of students of AU group and acted as a model with high social status for AU group. Models B and C were not familiar for all participants and acted as low social status models. Participants were asked to perform a Baseball-pitch into a target during pretest (10 trials), acquisition phase (5 blocks of 10 trials), and retention test (10 trials). Prior to each acquisition block, the participants of AU and YO groups observed a model three times. Participants of AU group were free to choose model A, B, or C for any single observation. Participants in YO group were matched with those in AU group. Movement outcome, movement form, self-efficacy (SE), perceived learning effect (PLE), and perceived model attractiveness (PMA) were measured as dependent variables. Results showed that AS, relative to yoked and control conditions, led to better movement outcome during acquisition and retention. Action observation enhanced movement form during acquisition and retention. AS increased SE, PLE, and PMA compared with yoked and control conditions. Results provide support for the OPTIMAL theory and indicate that AS facilitates observational motor learning.

Loss of balance and postural control are the main reasons for falls among the elderly adults that are considered as serious elderly health challenges with high impacts on the quality of life. The cerebellum is involved in postural control as one of the key neural structures that receives many inputs from the sensory systems. Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) is a popular noninvasive and safe method enabling the adjustment of cerebellar activity. Therefore, we investigated the effect of ctDCS on postural control variables among elderly population with a history of stroke. Thirty elderly individuals (60-75 years) participated in this study. After preliminary assessments of postural control strategies by post urography at six sensory conditions, they received five 20-min sessions of active ctDCS at 2mA (intervention, n = 15) or sham stimulation (control, n = 15) in a random manner. At the end of the stimulation process, postural control strategies were reassessed. After adjustment for pre-test values using the ANCOVA test, an improvement of the subjects' performance in the first four conditions was observed in the intervention group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). However, in the fifth (P = 0.24) and sixth (P = 0.58) conditions, there were no significant differences between the groups. The results of this study showed the significant effect of ctDCS on the postural control strategies. These improvements were reflected by normalization of strategy of postural control in elderly adults.

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationship between coaching leadership behaviors and burnout (physical and emotional exhaustion, feeling of progression and feeling of unworthy) in male athletes. This was an applied and descriptive study. The statistical population of this research was all male athletes in age range of 18-23 (young). A total of 196 athletes were selected by simple random sampling. The instrument of study included two questionnaires: Raedeke & Smith (2001) Athletes 'Burnout Questionnaire and Chelladurai (1998) Coaching Leadership Report. Their internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha for athletes' burnout questionnaire was 0.765 and leadership behaviors of coaches 0.784. Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis and SPSS-22 software were used to investigate the hypotheses. A linear model (structural equation) was used to present the model. According to findings of research, coaches are more likely to use behavioral training and less than arbitrary behavior. There was a significant relationship between behavioral training behavior and all scales (physical exhaustion, feelings of depreciation and reduction of progress), between the authoritarian behavior and physical-emotional exhaustion scales, and feeling of progression reduction in scorpion between democratic behavior and a significant positive correlation scale of progress reduction feeling and bu.

The effects of motor imagery and physical practice on motor learning in individuals with ADHD received very little attention. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to examine the effects of motor imagery and physical practice on motor performance and learning dart-throwing in adolescents with ADHD. The current research was based on a causal-comparative approach. The participants included 60 adolescents with ADHD (with the age range of 12 to 17 years) randomly and equally assigned into four groups: 1) motor imagery, 2) physical practice, 3) combination of motor imagery and physical practice, and 4) control. The motor task involved dart-throwing, in which the accurate throw score was measured as the dependent variable. The participants performed the pre-test (ten throws) and the retention test (ten throws). ANOVA was run to analyze the throwing accuracy. Results showed that all groups had similar throwing scores in the pretest, however, in the retention test, the results indicated that combination group had significantly better throwing scores than all other groups (in all groups, P=0.000). In addition, physical practice group had significantly better throwing scores than motor imagery and control groups (both P=0.000). Finally, motor imagery group had significantly better throwing scores than control group (P=0.000). Individuals with ADHD benefit from motor imagery, indicating that they have the necessary mechanisms to learn new skills through motor imagery. Moreover, a combination of motor imagery and physical practice would be a better strategy for learning new motor skills.

One of the disabilities that has rarely been studied in the field of observational learning is autism. the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of watching a video model with different skill levels on learning a basketball skill in adolescents with autism. The current study is descriptive and causal-comparative. The subjects of this study consisted of 60 adolescents with autism with an age range of 13 to 18 years, and they were randomly and equally divided into three groups: skilled model, novice model, and control. The motor task involved a basketball throwing, in which the accuracy score was measured as the dependent variable. The subjects performed the pre-test (including ten throws), the acquisition stage (including 5 10-throws training blocks), and the retention test (including ten throws). Subjects in the observation groups watched their respective models for five times before each training block. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the throwing accuracy. The results showed that novice video group had significantly better throwing scores than skilled video model and control groups in the acquisition phase and retention test. In addition, skilled group had significantly better throwing scores than control group in the acquisition phase and retention test. The results of this study show that people with autism benefit from watching a video model to learn a basketball throwing skill. This result may indicate that these people have the necessary mechanisms to learn new skills through video observation.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of teaching style in physical education on prosocial and antisocial behaviors of children. We used a descriptive-correlational method for this study. The participates of the present study included 384 primary school students (mean age of 9.17 years old), including 192 boys and 192 girls which were selected by using a convenience sampling method. For collecting data, teacher as social context (TASC) Questionnaire, sport climate questionnaire (SCQ) and prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport scale (PABSS) were used. Correlation test and structural equation method were used for da analysis.  The results showed that perceived need support directly affected prosocial behaviors. In addition, perceived need thwarting indirectly affected prosocial behaviors. Moreover, perceived need support indirectly affected antisocial behaviors. Finally, perceived need thwarting directly affected antisocial behaviors. These findings demonstrate that needs supportive teaching style would lead to increase the prosocial behaviors and decrease antisocial behaviors in the physical education class among children.  

The purpose of the current research was to determine the level of physical activity of the male employees of the police guard and also to investigate the relationships between physical activity and mental and social wellbeing in the male employees of the police guard. The current research was descriptive-correlation research. The statistical population of this research included all the male employees of police guard of Tehran in 2021. The statistical sample of the current research included 146 men who were selected through convenience sampling. Physical activity was measured using the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ), mental health was measured using depression anxiety and stress scale 21 (DASS-21), and social health was measured using the Keyes's social well-being questionnaire (KSWBQ). Pearson’s correlation test and structural equations were used for data analysis. Results showed that the research subjects had a body mass index with an average of 24.40 which is at an average level, but close to overweight. Also, a total of 52% of the subjects had moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. In addition, the mental and social health scores were in the average range. Moreover, physical activity had significant relationships with mental health and social health. The results of the model fit showed that the research model had a good fit. Our findings indicated the positive effects of physical activity on psycho-social health components in the male employees of police guard. These findings show that the use of strategies and interventions to improve the physical activity status of the staff of police guard is of special importance.