This study examined the effect of different types of perceived teacher feedback on students’ intrinsic motivation in physical education in line with self-determination theory. The participants were 638 students aged 14-18 years. The Perceptions of Teacher’s Feedback scale was modified and validated in this study to measure perceived verbal and nonverbal teacher feedback. The modified version of SMS was used to measure the three types of intrinsic motivation. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results indicated that after perceived teacher feedback about knowledge of performance, perceived positive general feedback was the strongest predictor of students’ intrinsic motivation in physical education. Nonverbal types of perceived teacher feedback did not contribute to motivational differences.

This study examined the impact of two instructional approaches on cognitive learning patterns (decision-making and recognition ability) as measured by two video-based basketball tests, and the interaction with cognitive style and gender. Ninety-seven primary school children, aged 10-11, were taught basketball either through a traditional instructional approach or through a tactical game approach based on the Invasion Games Competence Model. The intervention consisted of 12 lessons and 5 assessment moments. In the IGCM group the pupils performed already significantly better on the decision-making test after 4 lessons, while in the traditional group the pupils’ decision-making ability improved gradually during the instruction period. For the recognition test significantly higher scores were found after 4 lessons for the traditional group, while the IGCM group improved gradually on this test. Moreover, it was found that decision-making ability in basketball was positively affected by a high degree of field-independence.

It is generally assumed that the ability to interact successfully with both stationary and moving bodies or surfaces of the environment in sports, for example, relies on predictive control mechanisms. Knowing in advance when and where a forthcoming event (e.g., ball interception) will take place is thought to be a necessary condition for planning the appropriate action and adapting one’s movements. Conversely prospective control mechanisms allow actors to produce on-line regulations based on the perception of their current relationship to the environment. This review is designed to provide evidence obtained from various sports in support of the use of prospective control mechanisms. These mechanisms are functional, in the sense that they allow the actor to adapt to unexpected changes. They are also parsimonious, in that they enable the actor to accommodate future events without having to make calculations or inferences. The influence of learning on the implementation and attunement of these mechanisms is discussed, and some concluding remarks for sport psychologists are made.

The early age detection of young sport talents is, at the present, a practice under several studies. The fact that this young talent reach to be an expert player is conditioned by multiple factors. Our present work is focused in the study of the factors that have permitted that professional Spanish basketball players could be considered as expert players. On the base of personal interviews and a qualitative analysis, we have detected several factors that could be considered as determinant for the success of the expert players. For that purpose we interviewed not only to expert players, but also coaches, manager of basketball younger teams and expert researchers in basketball. One of the main conclusions of the present work is the non existence of only one single factor that determines the success of the young talent in basketball. We detected that environment is the most determinant factor of this process, combined with other factors as individual psychology, tactical and technical components, physical conditions, anthropometric components and psychosocial factors, among others.