Mohsen Shafizadeh - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Mohsen Shafizadeh

Journal of sports sciences, Jan 14, 2015

The aim of this study was to examine whether perceptual variables can provide informational const... more The aim of this study was to examine whether perceptual variables can provide informational constraints for the goalkeepers to intercept the ball successfully in 1v1 dyads. Video images of 42 actions (1v1 in direct shots) were selected randomly from different matches and divided into conceded goals (n = 20) and saved actions (n = 22) to investigate interceptive actions of 20 goalkeepers in the English Premier League in season 2013-2014. Time to Contact (TTC) of the closing distance gap between shooter and goalkeeper was obtained by digitising actions in the 18-yard penalty box. Statistical analyses revealed that, in sequences of play resulting in an intercepted shot at goal, goalkeepers closed down outfield players in the X axis, whereas when a goal was conceded, there was a significantly delayed movement by goalkeepers toward the shooters in this plane. The results of canonical correlations showed that a decreasing distance between a shooter and goalkeeper, and accompanied reductio...

In Proceedings of Ectrims Actrims 2011, 2011

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The aim of the present investigation was to examine the effect of attention of focus on the speed... more The aim of the present investigation was to examine the effect of attention of focus on the speed of decision-making in a choice reaction time (CRT) task. The study consisted of two experiments. In thefirst experiment 22 undergraduate students were recruited voluntarily and performed 50 key-pressing (J and F computer keys) tasks in response to internal and external cues in a within-subject design. They were instructed to pay attention to their right and left fingers (internal focus) or to the “J” and “F” keys (external focus) in a random order series. The results of repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that participants had a faster reaction time in the internal condition compared to the external condition (F=6.17, p<.05). In the second experiment 21 university students were selected voluntarily and took part in the same experiment. The second experiment was similar to the first experiment but in the external condition the layout of the keys was changed from right...

Sports Technology

The aim of this study was to examine the association between fielding indicators and successful p... more The aim of this study was to examine the association between fielding indicators and successful performance in cricket. Ten teams qualified for competition in the Champions League T20 (2012, South Africa), which was observed and analysed. Looking at three fielding indicators including ground fielding, catching and return throw within the two different areas (inside and outside the 30yd circle). The Sportscode (Sportstec Ltd 3.5.3, Australia) software was used for data collection. A step-wise discriminant analysis was used for prediction of successful performance (winning and losing a match) from fielding indicators. The results showed that fielding indicators were significant predictors (χ2 = 10.60, df = 2, p < 0.01) of the match outcome. The results of a follow-up test showed that catches inside the 30yd circle (r = 0.81) and outside the 30yd circle (r = 0.85) were significant predictors of match outcome. In conclusion, the successful execution of the catching skill during a gam...

International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between elite and semi-elite futsal play... more The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between elite and semi-elite futsal players in terms of the technical and physical demands of the sport. 12 elite senior teams that competed in the World Cup 2012 and 5 futsal clubs that competed in the north of England were selected non-randomly. Time-motion analysis was used to quantify physical movements during matches and the movement classifications included standing, walking, jogging and sprinting. Technical skills assessed were offensive movements including the percentages of successful passes, dribbles and shots. The results of Hotelling T 2 showed that there were significant differences in both the technical and physical demands between the two groups (p<0.05). The follow-up tests showed that elite players demonstrated more successful attempts in passing, dribbling and shooting. In addition elite players spent more time during a match on sprinting, whereas semi-elite players recorded higher percentages on standing ...

The present study examined the effect of visual force biofeedback (VFB) training on balance contr... more The present study examined the effect of visual force biofeedback (VFB) training on balance control in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Design: Within-group subject design. Subjects: Ten adult volunteers with more than five years relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis and with balance disorder participated and performed six sessions of VFB training. Methods: All subjects stood on a force plate for 15 minutes totally in each session and the force that they generated was measured to provide a baseline for the research. They then participated in the intervention which consisted of standing upright on the force plate for 30 seconds ten times in each session, whilst receiving visual information about the force generated by each of their feet.

Traditionally, being left handed has been seen as being a problem and a number of books have been... more Traditionally, being left handed has been seen as being a problem and a number of books have been written to assist parents and teachers of children who are left handed. Over the last forty years scientific research has identified that being right handed and being left handed both mean that you have a lateralized brain and that the only difference between those with a right hand preference and a left hand preference is the specialisms that each hemisphere display. On the other hand, those who are mixed handed and who have no strong hand preference have a symmetrical brain that operates in a completely different manner and which research has shown will cause mixed handers to consistently underperform. Recently, since 2008, primary school teachers have recognised that approximately 25% of children arrive at school unaware of whether they are right or left handed and as teachers have never been trained to resolve this issue, difficulties have arisen in basic skills such as scribbling, ...

Journal of Human Kinetics, 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the consistency of performance in successive matches for... more The purpose of this study was to examine the consistency of performance in successive matches for international soccer teams from Europe which qualified for the quarter final stage of EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The eight teams that reached the quarter final stage and beyond were the sample teams for this time series analysis. The autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions were used to analyze the consistency of play and its association with the result of match in sixteen performance indicators of each team.

International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 2014

The aim of this study was to examine the temporal occurrence of losing possession of the ball in ... more The aim of this study was to examine the temporal occurrence of losing possession of the ball in soccer and its association with conceding a goal.

Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2012

The effect of a cueing technique on novice goalkeepers' anticipation of trajectory in penalty kic... more The effect of a cueing technique on novice goalkeepers' anticipation of trajectory in penalty kicks was investigated. 28 novice football goalkeepers from junior teams were randomly selected and divided into experimental (n = 14) and control (n = 14) groups. Following a pre-test, participants performed 30 trials of a simulated penalty-kicking task in a spatially occluded condition. They were required to react to penalty kicks and were informed of their performance in anticipating the direction in which the ball was kicked. The experimental group received cues about the position of the non-kicking foot of the kicker, but the control group did not. The two-way analysis of variance showed the significant main effects of blocks of trials and group, but the interaction was not significant. The experimental group more accurately anticipated the direction of the penalty kicks than the control group. The cueing technique benefited the novice goalkeepers in anticipating the direction of penalty kicks, due to the informative nature of the cue for skill execution.

Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2011

The effect of different sources of external attentional focus on learning a motor skill was asses... more The effect of different sources of external attentional focus on learning a motor skill was assessed in the present study. 30 students (12 men, 18 women) participated voluntarily and were divided, according to type of external focus, into target, club swing, and target-club swing groups. The task was a golf putting skill. The target focus group attended to the target (hole), the club swing focus group attended to the execution of the club's swing, and the target-club swing focus group attended to both. All participants performed 50 trials of the putting skill in the acquisition phase and 10 trials in the 24-hr. delayed retention phase. the dependent variable was the error in the putting skill measured as the distance from the hole to the ball after each strike. Results showed the target-club swing focus group had better scores in the acquisition and retention phases than the other groups. It was concluded that external focus instruction helped the learners to integrate target cue with action cue and is more effective in skill learning than other external-focus instructions. These results support the claims of ecological psychology theorists concerning the effects of external focus of attention.

Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2013

The present investigation studied the effect of focus of attention and type of practice on self-e... more The present investigation studied the effect of focus of attention and type of practice on self-efficacy and learning during a demonstration of the dart-throwing skill. 48 university students (M = 22.5 yr., SD = 3.6) without any experience of dart throwing were divided into four groups according to the type of practice (physical and observational) and focus of attention (internal and external) and practiced a dart-throwing task. Self-efficacy in dart throwing was measured at the pre-test, acquisition, and transfer phases. The internal-focus group concentrated on their limb function, whereas the external-focus group concentrated on the darts and the target during the demonstration. Observational groups only watched during the acquisition phase, then performed the task in the retention and transfer phases. There was a main effect of focus of attention in the retention and transfer phases after controlling self-efficacy, with external focus groups showing higher performance than internal focus groups. External focus of attention could facilitate the acquisition of a motor skill during observation and may build and/or be supported by self-efficacy.

Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2000

The aim of present investigation was to develop the behavioural instrument for measuring the achi... more The aim of present investigation was to develop the behavioural instrument for measuring the achievement motivation in sport matches. According to 5-stage behavioural measurement system, the instrument was established and was applied for Iran national soccer team among three matches. The results have revealed the good validity, intra-rater, and inter-rater reliabilities for measuring motivational behaviours in sport contexts. In addition, the repeated measure analysis of variance has shown the applicability of new instrument for studying the association of achievement behaviours with successful performance, through significant differences between achievement behaviours in different matches with varied outcomes (p<.05).It seems the developed instrument is applicable for coaches to discriminate achievement behaviours of players during the match and select their strategy and players' substitutions according to their trends and behaviours for success.

Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2013

The present investigation studied the effects of different focus of attention training on gait pe... more The present investigation studied the effects of different focus of attention training on gait performance. Twelve volunteers with Multiple Sclerosis and with an average disability score (Expanded Disability Status Scale Z 6.5) were selected from a Medical School and took part in a three-phase intervention including baseline, internal focus, and external focus, for eight weeks. In the baseline condition, the participants walked on a treadmill without any information. In the first (internal-focus) intervention they focused on foot performance and in the second (external-focus) intervention they focused on external markers and auditory information. The results of within-group analysis of variance showed that the external intervention was significantly (p < .05) better than the other conditions for stride length, step length, step speed, and gait energy expenditure, but not for force and stride timing (p > .05).

Journal of Applied Sciences, 2007

Journal of Applied Sciences, 2006

Journal of Applied Sciences, 2009

Gait & Posture, 2009

. Gait adjustments in step width (presented as difference from baseline) at the high obstacle con... more . Gait adjustments in step width (presented as difference from baseline) at the high obstacle conditions in visits 2 and 3. in the 10% and 20% high obstacle conditions. For the step crossing over and the ones after the obstacle, E group infants increased their step width in the high obstacle conditions while infants in the C group did not show such adjustment (adjusted p < 0.05). In addition, infants in the E group, comparing to those in the C group, showed greater shortened step length when approaching the obstacle in the 20% condition in visit 3 (adjusted p = 0.0591).

Iranian Journal of Pediatrics, Jun 1, 2009

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of traditional games on fundam... more Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of traditional games on fundamental motor skills in seven to nine-year-old boys. Methods: Forty subjects of seven to nine-year-old boys selected randomly by a personal information questionnaire. After pretest by Test of Gross Motor Development-edition 2 (TGMD-2), gross motor skill, locomotor and object control motor skills, subjects were divided by random matching into two groups. The first group performed traditional games and the second group performed daily activities. ...

International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 2012