Abstract Aims: This study aimed to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise on the learning of a sports motor skill. Methods: Forty individuals were allocated to the Practice + Exercise Group (PEG) and for the Practice Group (PG). All participants practiced the underhand serve of the Volleyball; all of them were naïve regarding the motor task. The participants (age/ years: PEG: 21.7 ± 3.06, PG: 20.25 ± 1.95) performed a pre-test with five trials, an acquisition phase with fifteen blocks/ 5 trials each, a post-test with five trials, and a twenty-four hours retention test composted by five trials. The PEG was submitted to an aerobic exercise session immediately after the acquisition phase. It was provided by running around the sports court, for 20 minutes, with an intensity of 85% of the máx heart rate. The PG rest after the acquisition phase. The score and variable errors were the dependent variables. For the motor improvement during the practice, the Anova two way followed by Tukey posthoc test was run, for the retention test was used a T-test, an alpha of 5% was adopted. Results: All groups increased their score through the practice, with no significant difference between them. In the retention test, the PEG demonstrated better motor performance than PG; it may be related to improvements in the consolidation mechanisms induced by aerobic exercise. Conclusion: The aerobic exercise may be a neuromodulatory strategy to enhance the learning of complex motor skills.

Resumo Introdução: Tido como a segunda maior causa de morte no mundo, o Acidente Vascular Cerebral tem suas consequências resultantes da lesão em regiões responsáveis pelo processamento das informações sensório-motoras, acarretando déficits na manutenção e desempenho do Controle Postural. Objetivo: Relacionar o desempenho do controle postural em pé e uma tarefa em realidade virtual em indivíduos pós-AVC. Método: Participaram 9 indivíduos em condição de pós-AVC com idades entre 30 a 76 anos, caracterizados por meio da escala de equilíbrio de Berg, Escala de Fugl-Meyer e Mini-Exame de Estado Mental. O desempenho postural foi medido através do deslocamento do centro de pressão nas condições bipodal, nas direções ântero-posterior e médio-lateral, e unipodal, com o lado afetado e não afetado, por meio de uma plataforma de força. O desempenho em realidade virtual, medido por distância e tempo, foi realizado por meio do console Nintendo Wii®. Resultados: Revelaram correlações significativas entre as variáveis distância e tempo de deslocamento do lado afetado (distância x desc_afetado=0,667 | p=0,025; tempo x desc_afetado=0,683 | p=0,021) e entre as variáveis tempo e amplitude média de oscilação médio-lateral (tempo x amo_ml= -0,733 | p=0,012), tempo e velocidade média médio-lateral e ântero-posterior (tempo x vm_ml= -0,617 | p=0,038; tempo x vm_ap= -0,833 | p=0,003) e entre tempo e área (tempo x área= -0,633 | p=0,034). Conclusão: Há relação entre o desempenho do controle postural, mensurado quantitativamente a partir de uma plataforma de força, e o desempenho em tarefa virtual pé em indivíduos pós-AVC.

Abstract Introduction: Considered the second leading cause of death worldwide, stroke leads to several consequences resulting from the injury in regions responsible for the processing of sensorimotor information, leading to deficits in the maintenance and performance of postural control. Objective: To relate the performance of postural control during upright stance and a virtual reality task in post-stroke individuals. Method: Nine post-stroke individuals, aged 30 to 76 years, characterized by the Berg balance scale, Fugl - Meyer scale and Mini Mental State Examination participated in this study. Postural performance was measured by the center of pressure under bipedal conditions, in anteroposterior and mediolateral directions and unipedal with the affected and unaffected sides, using a force platform. Virtual reality performance was measured by distance and time required to perform a task in the Nintendo Wii®. Results: Revealed significant correlations between distance and displacement time of the affected side (distance x disc_affected = 0.667 | p = 0.025; time x disc_affected = 0.683 | p = 0.021) and between variables time and mean amplitude of mediolateral oscillation (time x amo_ml = -0.733 | p = 0.012), time and mediolateral and anteroposterior mean velocity (time x vm_ml = -0.617 | p = 0.038; time x vm_ap = -0.833 | p = 0.003) and between time and area (time x area = -0.633 | p = 0.034). Conclusion: the performance of standing postural control in post-stroke individuals, represented by measures of weight discharge and variables of postural control, presented a significant relation with the variables of virtual reality.

With the present study, we aimed to investigate the task complexity effects on the performance of a coincidence timing task in individuals with Down syndrome. The experimental group was consisted by 26 subjects with Down syndrome, 20 years old (± 5), and classified as mild or moderate in International Classification of Functioning and Health. Each participant in the experimental group was matched by in function of gender and age with a participant in a control group without Down syndrome. Both groups performed a coincident timing task, in which the participant had different levels of structural and functional complexity. Performance measure was derived from the consistency (absolute error), accuracy (variable error) and direction of response (constant error). Individuals with Down syndrome presented spatiotemporal organization impairments related to the difficulty in dealing with motor demand in order to interact with the perceptive demand. They also experienced difficulty in adapt to task complexity, causing performance error in the task. Individuals with Down syndrome have deficits in perceptive and space-time organization, and this phenomenon may be explained by the difficulty in integrating perceptive stimulus to motor actions with a high number of elements involved.

Esse estudo teve como objetivo examinar possíveis alterações na dinâmica intrínseca de crianças e adultos decorrentes de informações externas na realização de uma tarefa de manutenção da postura ereta. Participaram do estudo dez crianças de 8 anos de idade e dez adultos jovens de ambos os gêneros. Eles permaneceram na posição ereta dentro de uma sala móvel que foi movimentada continuamente para frente e para trás. Os participantes recebiam informação sobre o movimento da sala e eram solicitados a não oscilar ou a oscilar junto com o movimento da mesma. Os resultados mostraram que a manipulação da informação visual induziu oscilação corporal correspondente (dinâmica intrínseca) em crianças e adultos. Informação sobre o movimento da sala e solicitação de uma ação (informação comportamental) alteraram o relacionamento entre informação visual e oscilação corporal. Crianças apresentaram mais dificuldades em alterar a dinâmica intrínseca do que adultos, indicando que elas são mais dependentes da dinâmica intrínseca do que adultos. Esses resultados trazem implicações importantes para a situação de ensino-aprendizagem, pois indica que aprendizagem envolvendo crianças deve ser estruturada propiciando condições mais favoráveis para alterações na dinâmica intrínseca para que os objetivos da mesma sejam alcançados.

The purpose of this study was to examine possible changes in the intrinsic dynamics of children and adults resulting from external information in upright stance task. Ten eight-year-old children and ten young adults, both genders, maintained upright position inside a moving room that was continuously moved frontward and backward. Participants were informed about the room movement and they were requested to sway or not sway with the moving room. The results showed that visual manipulation induces correspondent body sway (intrinsic dynamics) in children and adults. Information about the room movement and the request of an action (behavioral information) changed the relation between visual information and body sway. Although it can be changed, children showed more difficulty in changing the intrinsic dynamics than adults, showing that they are more dependent on intrinsic dynamics than adults. These findings bring important implications to learning, suggesting that children's learning opportunities must be structured properly in order to provide condition of intrinsic dynamics changes towards the goals of the task at hand.