درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Background: Researchers have always been interested in the focus of attention and the quiet eye. However, the effect of distance of attentional strategy in different anxiety conditions has remained unclear.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of attentional strategies on gaze behavior and the performance of dart throwing in novices under anxiety conditions.Materials and Methods: The participants were 42 female, Alzahra University students, aged 18-35 years. Participants with high trait anxiety (score higher than 24) were excluded using the Sports Competition Anxiety Test through a state anxiety questionnaire. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of high and low-trait anxiety. They performed the dart-throwing task counterbalanced in four different attention strategies (distal external attention, proximal external attention, internal attention, and control). The participants in the high-anxiety group were told that if they performed each throw correctly, they would receive a cash prize, and the low-anxiety group performed the throwing without anxiety and any instruction. At the same time as dart throwing, gaze behavior data was recorded with an eye tracker device. After the anxiety manipulation, the individual's anxiety was measured with Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2.Results: The results showed that the low-anxiety group performed better than the high-anxiety group (P=0.01). Also, external attention had a lower radial error in both high and low-anxiety groups. No significant difference was found in the average duration and number of fixations between different attentional strategies and groups. The comparison of the mean showed that in the low anxiety group, the fixation duration in the external attention strategy was longer, and in the high anxiety group, the fixation duration in the external attention and control strategies was longer than other strategies.Conclusion: The present study supported the preplanning hypothesis, attentional control theory, and inhibition hypothesis, but was inconsistent with the restricted action hypothesis. These results showed the importance of the effect of anxiety on gaze behavior and performance in directing future research.

The D2 Attention Test is widely used to assess attention capacity, particularly in terms of information processing speed and concentration performance. This study aimed to establish normative data for the D2 test among athletes from both team and individual sports, considering gender, sport type, and level of expertise. The sample consisted of 177 male and female athletes aged 14 to 30 from North and Razavi Khorasan provinces. The D2 test was administered, and data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test via SPSS version 23. Percentile ranks were calculated for attention indices based on age, gender, sport experience, and sport type. No significant differences were found across age groups or levels of experience in processing speed, errors, or attention/focus indices (P > 0.05). However, a significant gender difference emerged in error rates (P = 0.008), with female athletes exhibiting fewer errors. Athletes in team sports demonstrated significantly higher processing speed than those in individual sports (P = 0.01). These findings highlight the importance of considering both gender and sport type when interpreting attentional performance. The results underscore the need for customized cognitive training programs that account for individual differences to optimize athletes’ attentional and cognitive capabilities across sport disciplines.

This review systematically examines recent studies on the potential role of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in physical activity, encompassing health, performance, cognitive, and physiological perspectives. Specifically, it investigates the impact of HRV monitoring methods on physical performance, fatigue, and recovery across various aspects of sports performance. A comprehensive search for primary articles and relevant scientific literature was conducted across academic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus, using keywords such as Heart Rate Variability, physical activity, health, sports physiology, and cognitive factors. HRV is widely recognized as a non-invasive, practical, and valuable tool for assessing autonomic nervous system function. Due to its methodological advantages, HRV provides critical insights into fitness levels and training adaptation, optimal training intensity and volume, overtraining detection, injury risk assessment, and cognitive factors such as stress and anxiety. The reviewed literature indicates that individuals with lower baseline HRV tend to experience increased HRV levels following regular physical activity. Consequently, exercise training is directly associated with improved HRV, which in turn enhances athletic performance, mitigates overtraining risks, and reduces injury incidence

Background : As technology advances, concerns regarding neurobehavioral disorders, particularly memory deficits caused by electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from wireless devices such as Wi-Fi routers have increased dramatically. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the impact of aerobic exercise on cholinergic biomarkers and amyloid beta (Aβ) levels in the hippocampus of male Wistar rats exposed to 2450MHz EMR emitted by Wi-Fi routers. Materials and Methods: Eighteen rats were randomly divided into three groups: 'control', 'wave', and 'wave+aerobic exercise'. During four weeks, the 'wave' groups were exposed to 2450MHz EMR from Wi-Fi routers for four hours daily, seven days a week the 'wave+aerobic exercise' group also participated in a running program five days a week in addition to EMR exposure. Cognitive behavioral changes resulting from the interventions were evaluated using the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test. Results: Exposure to EMR significantly decreased acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterase levels, and increased Aβ levels in the hippocampus (P<0.05). The MWM test also revealed a significant impairment in spatial memory among the exposed rats compared to the 'control' group. However, the 'wave+aerobic exercise' group exhibited a significant increase in acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterase levels, a significant reduction in Aβ levels, and demonstrated considerably better performance in the MWM test compared to the 'wave' group (P<0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate the beneficial effects of aerobic exercise in preventing pathophysiological alterations and cognitive impairments caused by electromagnetic radiation.