The study deals with the effect of practise in Ballroom Dances on mental rotation abilities, necessary to accurately reproduce directions previously memorized. Three groups of adults with different levels of expertise (40 expert dancers, 40 beginners, and 40 non experts, males and females) were submitted to an Alignement Test- Results confirm that experts are more accurate in reproducing directions, thanks to this kind of highly codified dances, which require precise evaluation if spatial coordinate, body rotations and displacements, in order to perform steps figures and their sequences correctly- Better performances of males in this kind if visuo-spatial tasks was also confirmed, even when males and females had the same level of expertise.

The aim of this research was to study the role of acoustic information in improving the performance pf a long-jumper with an over-knee amputation. During the run-up, acoustic tracks were collected by recording the signal produced by the athlete inferior limbs. The acoustic track associated to the best long-jump (in metric and temporal terms) has been selected and used as a model for the athlete who had to listen it before to perform a new series of jumps. This new method allow the athletye to standardise his performance.

Recent literature variously confirms the main role of self-efficacy beliefs in influencing motivational, cognitive, and emotional processes that regulate and guide human behaviour. Also in sport settings a number of studies attest to the influence that self-efficacy beliefs exerts on many aspects related to sport performance. Forty high-level tennis players were involved in the present study.

Aim of the study was twofold: to develop a new instrument for measuring self-efficacy beliefs in tennis and analyse their influences on goal setting and reaching, in synergy with personality traits and motives. Results showed the validity of the new scale in discriminating athletes of different levels and the influence exerted by self-efficacy beliefs both on setting and reaching goals.

The Authors, through the heuristic game make evident that the children in the first years found a strong of need explore and discover alone the world of objects.

This game creates a true experience, that is different to the traditional games with a predetermined solution.

This paper regards, first of all, the basic principles of this activity; are then examined the practice employment and finally is reported a personal experience in a crêche that demonstrated show the efficacy and importance of this activity