Performing a motor task depends on the level of performance stabilization and movement control, and both aspects of motor behavior are related to motor learning (retention and transfer) and adaptation (predictable and unpredictable perturbations). Yet few studies have further investigated the underlying dynamics that may elicit these benefits. In this study, we investigated the effects of two levels of performance stabilization on motor performance and control while learning to intercept a virtual moving target. We randomly divided 40 participants of both sexes ( Mage = 26.02 years, SD = 2.02) into a Stabilization Group (SG) and a Superstabilization Group (SSG). We considered the performance stabilized when a moving target was intercepted three times in a row and superstabilized when the same criterion was repeated six times. We analyzed outcome variables related to performance accuracy (absolute spatial error) and variability(coefficient of variation) and motor control (relative time to peak velocity-tPV% and its coefficient of variation) on both the first and last blocks of practice trials. Both groups showed comparable increases in performance accuracy from the first to the last block ( p = .001, ηp2 = 1.00), but SSG presented higher variability than SG ( p = .05, ηp2 = .70). Concerning motor control, both groups started the experiment with low tPV% and finished with comparably high tPV% and variability. Thus, although practicing two levels of performance stabilization led to similar performance accuracy and movement control, superstabilization resulted in higher performance variability with no loss of accuracy. Enhanced stabilization may increase the ability to adapt to environmental changes, but more research is needed to demonstrate this. These findings add to an understanding of the relationship between levels of performance stabilization and performance variability and may have implications for professional interventions (e.g. sports, rehabilitation) in considering the benefits of practice beyond performance stabilization.

Body image represents the mental perception of body shapes and is a multifactorial structure that includes psychological, physical and emotional elements. The discrepancy between the subjective perception of body image and the desire for the ideal body type can interfere with the feeling of satisfaction and trigger the desire for changes in appearance, directly interfering with mental health and general well-being. Men and women may differ in body image satisfaction due to the different social influences and beauty standards imposed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the subjective perception of body image and satisfaction with body shapes among men and women. The sample consisted of 100 college students of both genders. Subjective perception of body image and satisfaction were measured through self-assessment, through scale figure silhouettes. There was a significant difference in the subjective perception of body image in the comparison between genders, and women presented greater discrepancy between the real and the perceived image. In the analysis of satisfaction with body image there were no differences between genders and both presented high percentage of dissatisfaction. In addition, 46.2% of men would like to decrease their body shapes, 53.8% would increase them. As for women, 76.1% would like to decrease their body dimensions and 23.9% to increase them. The strong pressures imposed by society and the standards set by the prevailing media in determining body image dissatisfaction or self-assessment negatively, regardless of gender.

This study aims to investigate the construct validity and reliability of the checklist for qualitative analysis of the overhand serve in Volleyball. Fifty-five male subjects aged 13-17 years participated in the study. The overhand serve was analyzed using the checklist proposed by Meira Junior (2003), which analyzes the pattern of serve movement in four phases: (I) initial position, (II) ball lifting, (III) ball attacking, and (IV) finalization. Construct validity was analyzed using confirmatory factorial analysis and reliability through the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The construct validity was supported by confirmatory factor analysis with the RMSEA results (0.037 [confidence interval 90% = 0.020-0.040]), CFI (0.970) and TLI (0.950) indicating good fit of the model. In relation to reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.661, being this value considered acceptable. Among the items on the checklist, ball lifting and attacking showed higher factor loadings, 0.69 and 0.99, respectively. In summary, the checklist for the qualitative analysis of the overhand serve of Meira Junior (2003) can be considered a valid and reliable instrument for use in research in the field of Sports Sciences.

The aim of this study was to investigate the short and long-term effects of the bandwidth KR in learning of the absolute and relative dimensions of a motor skill. Twenty-two undergraduate students divided into two groups: G15 who received KR when the relative error exceeded 15%; and G0, with KR after every trial. The study consisted of an acquisition phase, and the volunteers practiced 100 trials with a target time of 850 ms and relative of 22.2%, 44.4% and 33.3% between the first and second, second and third, third and fourth keys, respectively. This phase, KR related to relative time (relative error) was provided according to the group. KR of total target time was available to both groups after all trials. Three retention tests with ten trials were conducted 10 minutes, 24 hours and one week after the acquisition phase. The results showed that G15 had a smaller relative error than G0. This study allows concluding that bandwidth KR in relation relative time error showed its effects in the consistency of relative time. These effects persisted even after seven days after the acquisition phase in a delayed retention test.

The Motor Behavior (MB) area investigates the neuropsychological processes of the organization of the motor response in terms of learning, control and motor development from which three research sub-areas emerged called Motor Learning (ML), Motor Control (MC) and Motor Development (MD). This study aimed to describe the intellectual production in the sub-areas ML, MC and MD in 2018 and to identify the current profile of the MB area. The intellectual production in the sub-areas of the MB was organized, by stratum, type of task and adherence with the CAPES area 21 journals. There were 53 articles published by 51 researchers in the MB area linked to Postgraduate programs in Physical Education in 2018. The distribution of articles by sub-areas was represented by 30.18% ML, 54.72% MC and 15.10% MD. The MC sub-area presented 86% of articles published in the upper stratum, the ML sub-area with 37%, followed by the MD sub-area with 13%. The average of the three sub-areas resulted in 83.02% of studies with a simple task and only 16.98% with a complex task. The greater number of publications with low adherence combined with the greater number of researches with simple tasks seems to demonstrate the researchers' difficulty in approaching the knowledge produced in the area of MB for undergraduate students in Physical Education.