The present article reviews the literature on the brain mechanisms underlying reading improvements following behavioral intervention for reading disability. This includes evidence of neuroplasticity concerning functional brain activation, brain structure, and brain connectivity related to reading intervention. Consequently, the functional neuroanatomy of reading intervention is compared to the existing literature on neurocognitive models and brain abnormalities associated with reading disability. A particular focus is on the left hemisphere reading network including left occipito-temporal, temporo-parietal, and inferior frontal language regions. In addition, potential normalization/compensation mechanisms involving right hemisphere cortical regions, as well as bilateral sub-cortical and cerebellar regions are taken into account. The comparison of the brain systems associated with reading intervention and the brain systems associated with reading disability enhances our understanding of the neurobiological basis of typical and atypical reading development. All in all, however, there is a lack of sufficient evidence regarding rehabilitative brain mechanisms in reading disability, which we discuss in this review.
The present article reports a systematic literature review of intervention studies using Virtual Reality (VR) in sports contexts. It provides a qualitative overview and descriptive synthesis of such studies in order to clarify the potential benefits of this technology for sports performance enhancement. Possible applications include training of motor and psychological skills and capabilities in athletes, including perception-action skills, strategic, tactical and decision-making, responding to unexpected events, and enhancing psychological resilience and mental performance under pressure.Our systematic literature search and review included original intervention studies only. Theses, newspaper articles, comments, and opinion papers were excluded. This eventually resulted in twelve VR intervention studies (using a variety of VR systems) focused on different sports, including target and precision sports (e.g., archery, bowling, curling, darts, golf), bat/racquet and ball sports (e.g., baseball, table tennis), goal sports (e.g., football/soccer, basketball), martial arts (e.g., karate), and sport-unspecific processes such as bodily sensations, pain intensity, balancing, and psychological strategies. The samples investigated in the primary studies included novice, amateur, and expert athletes (total aggregated sample size N = 493).Many studies found statistically significant effects in relevant target skills following interventions in VR, often outperforming training effects in passive or active control conditions (e.g., using conventional training protocols). Therefore, interventions in VR have the potential to elicit real effects in sports performance enhancement. Some of the neurocognitive mechanisms (e.g., visual search behavior, imagery), and methodological aspects (e.g., adaptive training difficulty) via which these sports-performance-related improvements may occur are discussed. Due to the heterogeneity of included studies, however, general recommendations for applied sports practice are premature. Finally, limitations of the included studies as well as the present review and future perspectives are taken into consideration.
The present multi-study article investigates the subjective experience of professional football (a.k.a. soccer) referees and players during the COVID-19 pandemic and the so-called ghost games (i.e., games without supporters). Referees from the Austrian Football Association completed questionnaires inquiring about self-efficacy, motivation, and general personal observations and perceptions (e.g., arousal or confidence). In addition, two players and one referee in the Austrian Football Bundesliga were interviewed retrospectively regarding their subjective experience during ghost games and the effects of emotions on behavior and performance using semi-structured, video-taped interviews. Results of the referee survey indicate that the most profound differences between regular games and ghost games lie in the domain of intrinsic motivation and multiple aspects of subjective experience. Specifically, the experience in ghost games compared with regular games was reported by referees as being significantly less motivating, less excited/tense, less emotional, less focused, and overall, more negative, despite being easier to referee and the players behaving more positively. Qualitative analyses of the video-taped interview footage indicated (i) substantial inter-individual variability regarding the extent of the effect of the empty stadiums on the subjective experience of emotions, (ii) consequently, different strategies to regulate emotions and arousal from suboptimal to optimal levels, both before and during competition, and (iii) interactions between reported emotions, arousal, motivation, self-confidence, behavior and performance on the pitch. In addition, non-verbal expressions of emotion were captured using fully automated AI-software that coded facial movements during interviews. The results of this exploratory facial expression analysis revealed varying degrees of arousal and valence in relation to the content of the statements during the interviews, demonstrating the convergent validity of our findings. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on the effects of football games without fans during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide insights into the subjective experience of professional football referees. Concerning referees and players alike, emotions are investigated as potential processes related to home-field advantage and performance in professional football by means of a multi-methods approach. Further, the combination of qualitative and quantitative measures—as well as verbal and non-verbal communication channels—can deepen our understanding of the emotional influence of (missing) spectators on the subjective experience and the behavior of sports professionals is discussed.
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