Researcher: Sam Vine

I am an Experimental Psychologist, with a broad range of interests in the area of skill learning, expertise and performance under pressure. I am particularly interested in how visual attention (examined through eye tracking) and other physiological processes mediate motor skill and decision making performance. I apply my research to a range of different domains (e.g., sport, surgery, military, and aviation) and populations (e.g., children, elite performers and patient groups).

Links:

Webpage: www.sshs.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Samuel_Vine

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdDqo5GklpPyNgapykxI0Tw

Twitter: @samueljamesvine

Eye tracking Consultancy: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/business/consulting/eyetrack/

Virtual Reality Human Factors Training: http://www.cineon.training/

Practitioner: Toby Larson

Toby Larson runs a private practice, Fit Mind Training where he works with athletes and performers to develop, enhance or support their mental skills that enable peak performance. Toby has a M.S. in Kinesiology from California State University East Bay and is a Certified Consultant with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Toby's clients include athletes at the elite professional level to the recreational level and high school sports as well. Toby's contact information can be found at www.fitmindtraining.com. 

Study: Psychological Factors in Ultrarunning

Abstract:

The psychological processes of ultramarathon runners are not well-understood in the current literature. Previous studies have primarily focused on the physical and physiological components of ultrarunning and the few studies exploring the psychological components of ultrarunning have relied predominantly on retrospective inquiry. The purpose of this study was to use a mixed-methods, multimodal approach to examine the psychological aspects of ultrarunning. "Live" in-task quantitative and video data were collected during the course of a 100 mile and 100 km ultramarathon races that spanned 32 hours of data collection. These data were supplemented with an immediate, short postrace interview directly following the runner completing or withdrawing from the race, and then a second, in-depth interview approximately six weeks following race weekend. For the quantitative data collection, single-item, in-task measures assessed runners' pain, fatigue, affective valence (i.e., a feeling state of "bad" or "good"), energy, attentional focus, confidence to finish, and perceived exertion. Video cameras were also used to visually record changes the runners experienced during the run. Both postrace interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed with a phenomenological lens. A total of 11 runners in the 100 mile race and five runners in the 100 km race participated in this study; six runners completed the 100 mile race and four runners completed the 100 km race. Due to the lower number of participants in the 100 km race, inferential statistics were completed only with the 100 mile runners. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to examine the mean in-task ratings of finishers and non-finishers in the 100 mile run. Finishers had significantly higher confidence ratings than non-finishers at mile 65 and at mile 75. A series of repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) assessed changes in in-task measures over the course of the ultramarathon race for the six finishers in the 100 mile race. There was a significant effect of time on the in-task measures of pain, affective valence, fatigue, energy, and exertion, with pain, fatigue, and exertion increasing and affective valence and energy decreasing over the course of the race. The videos taken during the race were used as memory prompts during the runners delayed postrace interview following race weekend. Phenomenological analysis of the interview transcripts revealed eight major chronological phases depicting the psychological aspects of the runners' race experience: pre-race, the start, chugging along, getting dark, it gets real, final push, the finish, and post-race reflections. There were also two overarching subthemes identified in analysis that went beyond the chronological phases: the natural environment of the race and the social community of ultrarunning. Implications for theory and practice, as well as suggestion for future studies, are identified and explored.

Author: Dolores Christensen

Dolores Christensen was born and raised in Northern California. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and political science from Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR) where she was a member of the women's volleyball team. She then went on to earn her master's degree in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver. Dolores is currently a fifth-year student in the Counseling Psychology PsyD program at Springfield College (Massachusetts) and is completing her internship at the University of California, Davis in the eating disorders emphasis area. Dolores has focused her clinical training on collegiate student-athletes and her dissertation is on the psychology of ultramarathon runners. She enjoys running on mountain trails in her free time.

Links:

[email protected]

Study: Predicting Sport Experience during Training: The Role of Change-Oriented Feedback in Athletes' Motivation, Self-Confidence and Needs Satisfaction Fluctuations

 Abstract:

 Change-oriented feedback (COF) quality is predictive of between-athletes differences in their sport experience (Carpentier & Mageau, 2013). This study extends these findings by investigating how training-to-training variations in COF quality influence athletes' training experience (within-athlete differences) while controlling for the impact of promotion-oriented feedback (POF). In total, 49 athletes completed a diary after 15 consecutive training sessions to assess COF and POF received during training, as well as situational outcomes. Multivariate multilevel analyses showed that, when controlling for covariates, COF quality during a specific training session is positively linked to athletes' autonomous motivation, self-confidence and satisfaction of their psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness during the same session. In contrast, COF quantity is negatively linked to athletes' need for competence. POF quality is a significant positive predictor of athletes' self-confidence and needs for autonomy and competence. Contributions to the feedback and SDT literature, and for coaches' training, are discussed.

Author: Joelle Carpentier

I am a Social and Sport Psychologist. I am interested in the explicit and implicit impacts of social environments on athletes' experience, performance and goals pursuit. My current research focuses on the provision of change-oriented feedback (aka negative feedback) by coaches and between teammates. Can change-oriented feedback be autonomy-supportive? Can it lead to positive consequences? Should it be given or avoided? Should teammates give feedback to one another? Obviously, this line of research can also be extended to other learning contexts. I am also interested in people's implicit perception of autonomy-supportive and controlling environments. 

 Links:

 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joelle_Carpentier2

 http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/jsep.2015-0210

Study: Sensorimotor Rhythm Neurofeedback Enhances Golf Putting Performance.

Abstract:

Sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) activity has been related to automaticity during skilled action execution. However, few studies have bridged the causal link between SMR activity and sports performance. This study investigated the effect of SMR neurofeedback training (SMR NFT) on golf putting performance. We hypothesized that preelite golfers would exhibit enhanced putting performance after SMR NFT. Sixteen preelite golfers were recruited and randomly assigned into either an SMR or a control group. Participants were asked to perform putting while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded, both before and after intervention. Our results showed that the SMR group performed more accurately when putting and exhibited greater SMR power than the control group after 8 intervention sessions. This study concludes that SMR NFT is effective for increasing SMR during action preparation and for enhancing golf putting performance. Moreover, greater SMR activity might be an EEG signature of improved attention processing, which induces superior putting performance.

Author: Ming-Yang Cheng

Ming-Yang Cheng is a PhD student in Bielefeld University, Germany and specializes in sport psychophysiology. He grew up in Taiwan and earned his master degree there. Now, he's conducting a line of research regarding how to fine-tune athletes' focused attention by using electroencephalography (EEG), so called neurofeedback training. The results are very encouraging.

Links:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ming-Yang_Cheng

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26866770

Practitioner: Justin Foster

Twitter: @JustinRFoster

Justin Foster is a Mental Performance Coach who helps teams, organizations, & individuals cultivate excellence through his teaching, coaching, and writing.  

He helps coaches and athletes create a winning culture, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of practice, & perform at their best more consistently in competition.  

Justin has his Master's degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology and another in Mental Health Counseling. He been in the field of sport and performance psychology for the past 10 years. He has worked with coaches and athletes ranging from nationally ranked juniors, NCAA Division 1, and NFL prospects preparing for the combine. For the past 6 years Justin has been working with members of the United States military building resilience, enhancing performance, and cultivating adaptive leaders. Justin's goal is to help his clients be at their best when it matters most, regardless of the arena - sports, work, or life. 

Links:

http://theexcellingedge.com/

Study: Coaching on the Wave: An Integrative Approach to Facilitating Youth Development

Abstract:

Central to the ability of successfully utilizing sport as a social intervention to promote youth developmental outcomes is the role of the youth sport leader (YSL). While many YSLs care for the youth-athletes with whom they work, many YSLs do not have a purposeful intent when facilitating sport as a social intervention. One strategy developed to increase the YSL's ability to intentionally facilitate sport towards youth development is the Coaching on the Wave model, which offers a framework for YSLs to apply theory and research into their coaching practices to intentionally promote positive youth outcomes such as life-skill development.

Author: Tarkington Newman

Tarkington J. Newman (MSW, University of Michigan; MS, The Ohio State University) is a fourth year doctoral student in the College of Social Work.  He is currently serving as a Graduate Research/Teaching Associate for Dr. Anderson-Butcher in The LiFEsports Initiative.  Prior to his work as a Graduate Associate, he was awarded a Graduate Enrichment Fellowship through The Ohio State University.  Tarkington's research interests lie within sport-based positive youth development among high-risk urban minority youth.  Specifically, his focus is on the role of the youth sport leader and their ability to facilitate and transfer life skill development.  Tarkington has co-authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals such as: Research on Social Work Practice, Psychology of Sport & Exercise, and Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.  Additionally, Tarkington co-developed the experiential-based Coaching on the Wave model, which has been presented at conferences such as Experiential Education Annual International Conference and International Adventure Therapy Conference.  Tarkington has also taught a variety of undergraduate courses in both social work and sport science departments such as: Engagement & Interview Skills, Prevention and Youth Development though Sport, Recreation and Play; Contemporary Issues in Sport, and Coaching the Young Athlete.  In addition to his academic work, he was trained as a school social worker, where he specialized in adventure therapy and crisis intervention.  He has also spent the last decade coaching track & field at the high school and collegiate club levels.

Links:

Author:

http://csw.osu.edu/degrees-programs/phd/meet-our-doctoral-students/newman-tarkington/

Study: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21520704.2015.1073203?journalCode=uspa20

Practitioner: Sam Maniar

Sam Maniar Ph.D. is the founder of the Center for Peak Performance. He has worked with thousands of professional, Olympic, college, and high school athletes, including the Cleveland Browns, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Washington State Cougars.

Dr. Maniar uses performance psychology and his extensive experience as a foundation to help individuals, teams, companies, and groups pursue their potential. His varied background gives him a true understanding of what it takes to succeed, both in sport and the business world. He is a licensed psychologist in the state of Ohio, and his work has been featured in numerous publications, such as The New York Times, ESPN.com, Fox News, NCAA Times, and ILovetoWatchYouPlay.com.

Links:

http://www.centerforpeakperformance.com/

Follow him @sam_maniar.

Quotes:

"It was more correcting myths, like they believed they needed to stay focused for three hours. Well no, you really only need to stay focused for 20 seconds at a time."

"What would happen is, I would always work with, for whatever reason, every year there was one or two veterans on offense and defense...that would want to do everything in their power to be successful, so one of the things they would do is meet with me."

'What I am looking at (pre-draft analysis) is two levels of risk. Risk on the field, and off the field."

"Part of risk on the field could be their capacity to learn, part of it might be what type of a teammate are they, how do they take feedback from coaches, are they aware of their limitations and strengths."

Article: Psychological Momentum During and Across Sports Matches: Evidence for Interconnected Time Scales

Abstract:

This study on psychological momentum (PM) in sports provides the first experimental test of an interconnection between short-term PM (during a match) and long-term PM (across a series of matches). Twenty-two competitive athletes were striving to win a prize during a rowing-ergometer tournament, consisting of manipulated races. As hypothesized, athletes who had developed long-term positive PM after two successful races were less sensitive to a negative momentum scenario in the third race, compared with athletes who had developed long-term negative PM after two unsuccessful races. More specifically, the exerted efforts, perceptions of momentum, and self-efficacy were higher for participants who had developed long-term positive PM, and their perceptions of momentum and self-efficacy decreased less rapidly. These results illustrate a typical complex dynamical systems property, namely interconnected time scales, and provide deeper insights into the dynamical nature of PM.

Author: J.R. (Ruud) den Hartigh

Dr. Ruud Den Hartigh is currently assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Groningen (Netherlands), where he is also the coordinator of the international Master's program Talent Development & Creativity.  In April 2015, he defended his PhD thesis (awarded by the collaborating universities of Montpellier (France) and Groningen with the distinction cum laude) on the study of complex processes of human performance. In general, Ruud's research focuses on providing an understanding of the "laws" of emergence and adaptation of psychological and performance patterns, mostly in sports. Typical examples of questions he is working on are: 'How can we understand the complex development of talent?', and  'How do periods of positive and negative psychological momentum develop?'

Links:

Author:

 http://www.rug.nl/staff/j.r.den.hartigh/

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruud_Den_Hartigh

Checkout the new MSc. program Ruud and his colleagues have started:

 http://www.stairwaytotalent.nl/

Study:

http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/jsep.2015-0162

Youtube video where Ruud discusses the current study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lewB1-WeN9M

Quotes:

"It's not always the case that if you have momentum it is guaranteed success, and if you have negative momentum it is a guarantee that you will lose."

"I think that it (momentum) does shape your feelings of confidence, your efforts that you exert during a match."

"The way athletes respond to setbacks during a match is related to, I would even say embedded in the momentum process that has developed during the tournament."

"The idea that athletes' responses are actually shaped by the process, is surprisingly often omitted."

"Examining the process can actually give you answers to the question of when and how athletes psychological states and performance actually change."

"Do not omit the process, rather, focus on the process."

'If you want to understand when and how the psychological states and performance of an athlete changes, the answer probably lies in

Practitioner: Lauren Tashman

Lauren S. Tashman, PhD, CC-AASP is an Assistant Professor in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology (SEPP), the Coordinator of Sport Psychology Services, and the Coordinator of the Master's SEPP program at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.  In addition to teaching, supervising, and providing mental performance services to athletics at Barry, she has a private practice in which she provides CC-AASP mentoring and mental performance coaching to individual performers and groups/teams. She is currently also the Mental Performance Coach for Softball Canada's Senior Women's National Team. Her educational background includes a Bachelor's in Psychology from The College of New Jersey as well as a Master's and PhD in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Sport Psychology from Florida State University.  During her PhD, she also obtained a certification in Program Evaluation, taught an undergraduate Educational Psychology course, and was a Graduate Research Assistant in the Learning System Institute's Human Performance Lab, led by Drs. K. Anders Ericsson, David Eccles, and Paul Ward. Most recently, she co-edited two books with J. Gualberto Cremades investigating global perspectives on applied practice and training/supervision titled, "Becoming a Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology Practitioner: a Global Perspective" and "Global Practices and Training in Applied Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology: a Case Study Approach."

Links:

 http://www.getting-u-inspired.com/about-lauren.html

email: [email protected]

Twitter: @DrTSportPsych www.getting-u-inspired.com

Check out Inspire Performance Consulting on Facebook

Quotes:

"In the process of driving better habits of thinking, I also believe that in the moment you need to just go with whatever you have."

"In a team sense, or how you influence other people I really truly believe that you are either a positive or negative, there is no such thing as a grey area, there is no such thing as in between."

"My approach has always been try to build really good relationships, do good work with the people that want it and then let it progress overtime."

"In today's world where information is everywhere and everyone's fingertips, I want my students to be better than what someone can get in a book or online."