The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of frequency of verbal encouragement on ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) at sub-maximal exercise intensities in young healthy females. Thirty-six healthy females were randomly assigned to either a control group (no verbal encouragement), a 20 second encouragement group (verbal encouragement every 20s) or a 60 second encouragement group (verbal encouragement every 60s). All subjects completed two maximal exercise tests, a baseline test (without verbal encouragement) and an experimental test. Groups did not differ in age, body composition or baseline maximal aerobic power. Sub-maximal RPE-Overall was significantly lower for the 20 second encouragement group during stages II and III than baseline response. Sub-maximal RPE-Overall responses were also significantly lower for the 60 second encouragement group during stage II and stage III than the baseline condition. Sub-maximal RPE-Leg responses were significantly lower for the 20 second encouragement group during stages II and III than baseline response. The findings suggest that the mechanisms underlying the psychological impact of verbal encouragement during sub-maximal exercise are complex but may include a dampening of unpleasant stimuli as they travel to the sensory cortex for coding and ultimately conscious expression as an exertional estimate.

The present study aimed to evaluate an integrated model where the variables considered in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were integrated with variables derived from the Health-Related Dispositions approach to predict the intention of sedentary elders to attend sessions of physical activity. The study was conducted on a random sample of sedentary elderly Italians aged 65-90 years. Each participant completed a questionnaire assessing Attitudes toward attending physical activity sessions on a regular base, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioural Control and Behavioural Intention, measured according to Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) recommendations. Health-Related Dispositions were measured by means of a specifically developed 24-item instrument: The Health Commitment & Affect Scale. Different Structural Equation Models were fitted to the data. Results suggest that the effects of Health-Related Dispositions on the intention to attend physical activity sessions are mostly mediated by TPB variables. The mediation effects cannot be explained in terms of overlapping between empirical indicators of similar constructs and provide a conceptual link connecting individual Health-Related Dispositions to the intention to regularly do physical activity.

In the field of sports there is anecdotal evidence for the incorporation of athletic activity in subsequent dreams. The present study investigated dreams of sport students and psychology students with regard to sport related dream content. The findings support the continuity between frequent involvement of sport activities during the day and active participation in sport or sport themes in dreams. These findings will be discussed in the context of motor learning and REM sleep. In future research, the correlation between different performance levels for different sport activities during wakefulness and dream content should be studied in a more detailed way to generate a clearer understanding of the process of sleep-related learning.

Mood change during exercise is not well understood. The aim of this study was to undertake a systematic examination of mood during a 60-minute treadmill run. A multidimensional mood scale was utilised to assess the mood of 80 regular runners prior to the run, on four occasions during the run (10-, 25-, 40-, and 55-minutes), and 10 minutes after the run. A further 80 regular runners completed the same instrument at comparable points during a quiet reading condition. Results revealed improvements (relative to the control condition and preexercise assessment) in moods related to composure, energy, elation and mental clarity during the run. The majority of these changes were not evident until 40 minutes, and improvements in energy and mental clarity returned to preexercise values after running. It was concluded that some mood improvements might be confined to the period while participants are active rather than in the postexercise period.

This study investigated gender differences in orienting and focusing visual attention at rest and under submaximal physical load. In two discriminative reaction time (RT) experiments, spatial cues of different size and compound stimuli with local and global target features were employed, and the demands on endogenous attentional control were manipulated by varying the probability that cue meaning matched cue position. Results demonstrated females’ worse RT performance as compared to males both at rest and under physical load. At rest, females were also less able than males to endogenously override the automatic orienting of attention elicited by peripheral misleading cues, whereas they succeeded in performing it under physical load.

This paper presents a bibliographic survey into the field of sport psychology and related disciplines. The survey encompasses a wide range of authors and titles which have appeared in non-English language publications. It includes more than 350 references of books from both specialized scientific and general interest areas mainly in Europe and Latin America.