difficulty

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of educational and motivational self-talk on dart throwing performance with different difficulties. A total of 60 beginners and right-handers with an age range of 22 to 28 years were randomly selected and randomly divided into three groups of educational self-talk, motivation and control. The study groups performed 5 groups of 12 attempts according to their instructions. All throws were performed at low difficulty level at a distance of 1.80 m, at medium difficulty level at a distance of 2.37 m and at high difficulty level at a distance of 2.87 m from the dartboard. The performance measurement index was evaluated based on the amount of radial error (distance of the dart from the center). The statistical method of two factor analysis of variance analysis was used with repeated measurements in the difficulty level factor for testing hypotheses. The results showed that educational and motivational self-talk led to significant improvement in the dart throw performance. Also, the effect of difficulty was significant, and finally, the interactive effect of self-talk and difficulty on the performance of the dart throwing was significant. In simple tasks, due to the nature of the skill, educational self-talk based on related cues seems to improve the skill well, but at a moderate difficulty level, the role of motivational self-talk seems to become more prominent because the situation requires more effort for success, and this is consistent with the relationship between task difficulty and performance.

Posture-cognition studies show that postural control is affected by cognitive task. Therefore, the effect of factors such as task difficulty is evaluated in dual-task paradigm but the impact of difficulty of cognitive and postural task on postural control remains inconclusive. The purpose of the present study was to examine the interaction effect of cognitive and postural tasks difficulty on postural control. Twenty healthy young volunteers (Mean age 22 ± 2.3 years) performed six random conditions while standing on a force platform. Conditions involved combinations of two level of postural task difficulty (standing on the floor and narrow base) and three level of cognitive task difficulty (without, easy and difficult cognitive tasks). Two way ANOVA (significant level p < 0.05) results demonstrated marked decrease in the standard deviation of the center of pressure in the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions for the difficult cognitive task condition in both postural task. (p < 0.05). Also, the easy cognitive task reduced the standard deviation of the center of pressure in the anterior-posterior direction in the narrow base standing condition (p < 0.05). According to the results of the present research, it seems that the difficult cognitive task requires a greater part of attention capacity; subsequently, attention is withdrawn from the postural task and automatic control regulates posture more efficiently through unconscious, fast, and reflexive processes. Also, postural control is simultaneously affected by the difficulty of postural and cognitive tasks. Therefore, in designing appropriate interventions, it seems necessary to pay attention to the interactive effects of posture and cognitive tasks.