This thesis is written as a collection of research papers through which the cognitive and motivational effects of imagery on sports performance were investigated. A number of research methodologies, ranging from a quasi-experimental design to a multiple-baseline across participants design, were employed to explore the effects of imagery. The first section of this thesis explored the cognitive effects of imagery. Specifically, study I examined the effects of different visual imagery perspectives and kinaesthetic imagery on the acquisition and retention of a simple gymnastics routine. External visual imagery was shown to have superior effects over internal visual imagery for this form-based task. A significant interaction was found in the retention phase; however, follow up tests failed to clarify the nature of the interaction. Study 2 and study 3 further investigated the imagery perspective issue by exploring the strength of relationship between external visual imagery and kinaesthetic imagery, and between internal visual imagery and kinaestlictic imagery. Results indicated that when the participant is the object of the image, kinaesthetic imagery has a greater association with external visual imagery than with internal visual imagery. However, because the tasks that participants imaged were essentially form-based, the results may not generalise to other types of tasks. The second section of the thesis examined the motivational effects of imagery. Study 4 employed a multiple-baseline across participants design to establish the effect of a mastery imagery intervention on sport confidence. Consistent with Paivio's (1985) proposals, the results suggested that imagery has a motivational function as the imagery intervention was found to increase confidence. Study 5 further considered the imagery confidence relationship and two factors which may moderate this relationship, that is skill level and sport-type. The results suggest that in team sport players the type of imagery associated with confidence depends on the skill level of the player.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore what people think is the best way to learn about innovations by different learning styles and characteristics. The paper will give answers to which learning style that people think is the best way to use when learning about innovation. Methodology - The data for this study were collected via online-surveys and through paper surveys. A total of 224 usable responses were obtained. The method will consist of primary data, which will be collected through surveys. Secondary research will be presented in the empire which will be retrieved from databases like Scopus, Diva, Emerald, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Implications/findings - Of the four different learning styles investigated in this study the result revealed that people best learn about innovations from the tactile/kinaesthetic learning style. The least pedagogic method to learn about innovations was the visual/verbal learning style. Paper type - Research paper

The research presented in this thesis is an explorative study into the basic concepts and the effects of dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) intervention on the attunement behaviours of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). From a retrospective analysis of positively evaluated single cases of DMP with ASD participants, movement markers of interpersonal relating behaviours have been formulated in terms of Social Engagement and Attunement Movement (SEAM) behaviours. These were organised into an observation scale, and used subsequently to generate nominal observation data on the behaviours of a small sample of children with ASD. Evaluation with the SEAM observation scale yielded a significant increase of SEAM behaviours in the course of the dance therapy. Retrospective analysis of the actions of the therapist throughout four single cases of DMP with ASD participants yielded a specific approach that was described as Shared Movement Approach (SMA). SMA has been specified as an improvisation based method of DMP that takes the child's interpersonal attunement and engagement behaviours as cues for the therapist to accommodate her interventions, so that the child's interpersonal relating behaviours are facilitated and supported. Through her kinaesthetically informed interventions the DMP therapist contributes to an increase of interpersonal engagement and attunement by the ASD participant from within the shared movement actions. The SEAM observation scale was explored on conceptual clarity and consistency in a group of independent movement analysts, and interrater agreement was used as an indication of its contents validity. An interval rating procedure with the SEAM scale yielded the best results on interrater agreement as expressed in Cohen's kappa. The Shared Movement Approach and the SEAM observation scale were then tested for replication of outcome on SEAM behaviours within four repeated single subject cases in a pilot study in a Dutch outpatient clinical setting. The outcome monitoring yielded the replication of increase of interpersonal relating behaviours as measured with the SEAM observation scale. Within subject therapy outcomes, although diverse in their individual profiles, were found to be significant when analysed with non-parametric tests. Group averages showed a significant increase of SEAM behaviours. The effects beyond therapy were evaluated with the somatic and social sub-scales of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), showing individual differences and a significant problem reduction on average. The outcomes as experienced by the juvenile participants were evaluated with the somatic and social sub-scales of the Youth Self Report (YSR), which on average showed a significant decrease of experienced social and somatic problems. The results obtained are discussed in view of current theories on experiential approaches and concepts for psychotherapy with an ASD population.

This interdisciplinary practice-based thesis interrogates the term ‘operatic’ with particular reference to movement. It thereby aims to extract operatic movement from the practice of opera singers and investigate ways to transfer ‘operaticness’ into the bodies of non-singing performers. The research uses Butoh as a model for a non-foundational movement practice (termed herein ‘Body Opera’) and embodiment techniques derived from Butoh, to achieve this transfer of kinaesthetic information. The research was undertaken in part through interviews with opera singers and close observation of opera singers in rehearsal and performance. This process also included the making of sketches of singers in movement, which are included in the thesis and which are regarded as kinaesthetic responses to what was observed. Combining the sketches with embodiment techniques that unlock the movement they contain, the gap between the spectatorial position and the performance maker position is bridged and movement-based practice is created and presented as a component of the thesis, in dialogue with the written component. Furthermore, the spectatorial and researcher positionality are recognised as that of an ‘opera queen’ and this position participates in facilitating the transfer of operaticness from singers to non-singing performers. Operatic movement is identified as that which occurs as a result of the physical restrictions of singing operatically and through the negotiation of those restrictions with the need to convey plot and character, giving rise to non-naturalistic or artificial way of moving. This emphasis on artificiality is theorised as an operatic sensibility akin to queerness. The thesis examines opera through the lens of postmodernism and in particular through a queer theoretical framework. The research analogously applies Butler’s poststructuralist theories concerning performative gender construction to opera and in doing so suggests a reading of opera as potentially queer, gender fluid, subversive and non-normative. This position challenges notions of opera as elitist and pro-establishment. The thesis posits that the operatic is an emergent property that occurs at the intersection of creative practices in opera and which is embodied by singers in performance. The thesis also posits that kinaesthetic empathy provides an explanation for how the operatic is communicated between singers and further suggests that the opera queen is similarly subject to a form of kinaesthetic empathy when listening to opera. The thesis makes a contribution to knowledge through revealing ways in which spectatorial and performance maker positions may be bridged, as well as through suggesting practical ways in which non-singing performers might approach the task of moving operatically. The research therefore contributes to movement practice, but also to opera studies by interrogating the subject of opera from a kinaesthetic perspective that centralises the body and experience of singers in order to understand the art form.

This thesis focuses mainly on threats to the safety of nursing personnel. These include a high risk of injury when positioning and the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders,which can lead to a long-term sickness of the member of the medical staff. The theoretical part is divided into four parts. The first part describes in particular the need for safety and security, as well as factors that have an influence on this human need.Attention is focused also on ensuring safety while providing nursing care, especially when positioning patients. In connection with safety during this activity, a section in this thesis is devoted to the kinaesthetic mobilization, which offers a slightly different view of the positioning and patient handling. In the last chapter of the theoretical part, findings concerning the prevention of damage to health nurses in providing nursing care are summarized. The thesis has three objectives that were formulated as follows. Objective 1: Determine whether nurses use kinaesthetic principles during a patient handling. Objective 2: Determine whether nurses, in their opinion, have enough equipment to ensure safety during patient handling and positioning. Objective 3: Map the causes of the use of inconsiderate patient positioning techniques. Based on these objectives, the research question and three hypotheses were set. Research question: What are the possibilities for improving patient handling and positioning within the nursing process? Hypothesis 1: The use of kinaesthetic depends on the type of department. Hypothesis 2: Nurses use bad positioning techniques despite their knowledge that they can harm their health and also patient's. Hypothesis 3: Lack of time is the most common cause of the use of the inconsiderate method of positioning. In order to fulfil the objectives, a quantitative research, for which we choose the questionnaire method of data collection, was conducted. The questionnaires were designed for nurses working in the department of surgery, internal medicine and the department of aftercare. The survey was carried out in 7 hospitals of South Bohemia. In total, 340 questionnaires were distributed into these hospitals.The final research sample, therefore, consisted of 209 completed questionnaires. The rate of return was 61%. The obtained data were processed and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2013, then analysed statistically using the chi-square test. The results were processed into graphs. Based on the results, we can conclude that the hypothesis 1 is confirmed. We found that kinaesthetic is used most in aftercare departments. On the contrary, surgery departments use it the least. This is probably due to a different composition of patients on these wards.Hypothesis 2 was, for testing purposes, divided into two working hypotheses. H2a: 60 % nurses know that classical principles of positioning can damage their health. This hypothesis has been disproved. A corollary is HA: Knowledge of nurses about the risk of an injury is not 60%. The research has also revealed that almost three quarters (74 %) of the nurses know that positioning can damage their health. The second part of the hypothesis 2, i.e. H2b: 60 % nurses know that the classical principles of positioning can damage the health of the patient, has also been refuted, and thus applies HA: Knowledge of nurses about the risk of an injury to the patient is not 60%. The results of the survey showed that only 24 % nurses consider the classic method of positioning a risk to patient's health. Hypothesis 3 was, through our research survey, refuted. Sisters see the most frequent reason for using the inconsiderate positioning procedure in the lack of staff.We managed to answer the research question by analysing literature in the theoretical part and performing the survey in the practical part of this thesis.An output of this thesis will be an expert article published in a professional journal and a presentation at a professional conference

In this thesis I offer an alternative to the hyper–individualistic, hyper-performative means-end dynamic that dominates contemporary educational practice. I foreground dimensions of experience that possibilise an approach that is neither instrumentatlised nor instrumentalising; an approach I term (a) (more) just education. The thesis opens with an analysis of how the reduction of education to use-value is both dependent on, and perpetuating of, a conception of subjectivity that overlooks the facticity of embodied life. The prevalence of dualist assumptions in both liberal and critical educational thinking and the persistence of these assumptions despite explicit attempts to think otherwise is mapped out and I draw a link between these assumptions and the privilege accorded to displays of understanding. Alongside this analysis I propose that the seemingly all-pervasive Cartesian legacy might be circumvented by approaching the question of subjectivity from a kinaesthetic perspective. This kinaesthetic approach is outlined with reference to the somatic dance practice of Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT). The practice of SRT offers up three ‘kinaesthetic provocations’ that invite re-thinking both the dynamics of education and the dynamics of justice. Throughout the thesis I explore an interplay between these provocations and the work of Derrida and Deleuze/Deleuze and Guattari; and through this interplay I unsettle the dualisms of self and other, self and world, and self and work. By approaching the shaping of subjectivity from a bodily, kinaesthetic perspective I submit the bodies called teachers and students, the bodies of practice called teaching and learning, the bodies of knowledge called curricula and the ideal body called justice to processes of deterritorialisation. Untethering education from its ends in this way affords the possibility of approaching education as an experience of passage. I argue that an emphasis on passage offers up educational consequences that are shared in rather than shared out and that therefore escape the grip of performative categorising trends. Through this account the role of the educator becomes one of affirmation, rather than validation, and I conclude the thesis by examining the particular sensitivities that this demands.

The use of the Alexander Technique in teaching, performing and practicing the flute is investigated, in order to determine how to apply the Technique to the art of producing a good flute tone. The author's application of the Alexander Technique to teaching and playing the flute is described. Knowledge was acquired both through doing case studies on two flute pupils, and through the integration of personal experience, gained through taking Alexander Technique lessons, into flute lessons. This is set out in detail. The decision to work intensively on the technique of sound production on the flute, made the author aware of the fact that we. as teachers and performers, encounter a large number of different problems in teaching and playing. Matters are complicated by a pupil's eagerness and "wanting to do things right". This can cause a certain amount of apprehension and even anxiety. Often the habits which inhibit progress prove very difficult for the teacher to correct. This study is aimed at detecting and solving these problems by using the Alexander Technique; hopefully leading to a better understanding of how the Technique can be applied to flute teaching and playing. Posture, breathing and embouchure control are specifically addressed. For the teacher or performer who has little understanding of his/her own problems in playing the flute - e.g. in coping with the loss of a good tone caused by stage fright and other anxieties - the use of the Alexander Technique can mean the creation a new sense of physical freedom and mental flexibility. A knowledge of how to work on changing faulty habits and the creating of new and better means of body use, can be gained through the taking of Alexander IV Technique lessons. The general principles and various applications of the Technique are described. The problems musicians face - e.g. postural problems from sitting or standing for hours while practicing the instrument, instrument-specific problems such as pain in the arms or shoulders, or physical tension caused by anxiety - are all habitual difficulties which can be detected, weakened and, hopefully, even erased through the use of the Alexander Technique. This study aims to show that mind-body awareness work is fundamental for the teacher, the pupil and the performer. Very often, what appear to be simple problems in musical performance are bound to deeply-felt and long-standing emotions and experiences. Therefore, the seemingly simple problems associated with producing a good flute tone cannot be addressed without dealing with the person as a whole. It is thus crucial for us as musicians to attend to the whole person - as we practice, perform and teach. This study attempts to lead musicians to a better understanding of all facets of themselves and others, through the application of the Alexander Technique. / Dissertation (MMus (Performing Arts))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Music / unrestricted

Moving the body in physical space with both a conscious and a subconscious awareness on the position of the limbs is in itself an engaging experience. This element of engagement has been one of the core reasons for turning to movement based technologies and interactions in the field of education. Using these technologies kids learn complex topics of maths and science at an improved rate of understand. However, one such activity or a subject where there is an absence of these movement based tools is Programming. Kids still use traditional interface tools such as a mouse and a computer to learn and write code.This is a detailed case study of a 10 week design process developing and studying the interactions with a programming environment based on whole body movement for children. Through a Research through design approach, this study borrows key elements from existing visual and tangible programming tools, concepts of Kinesthetic interactions and child centric design. The investigation is further guided by the methodologies primarily influenced by the principles of Kid Centered Design and the design by movement approach. The design process is characterized by progressive cycles of conceptual design, supported by prototyping and testing. The conceptual design is further evaluated through user studied where I identify key experiential qualities that are inherent to the kinesthetic approach to programming. The aim of this these is to provide these experiential qualities as starting points for further development of tools and technologies inspired by body movements

The synthesizer is a highly complex artefact. It is frequently employed in the music industry and renowned for its varied sound qualities. It employs rudimentary components such as buttons and knobs and is thus not equally renowned for its rich interactive possibilities. Through explorative research, the thesis identifies that interaction on synthesizers has stagnated and explores, through a lens of interaction design, how designers might utilize interactions such as gestures to control sound parameters for musical expression and how these interactions can affect this expression. Through design activities such as prototyping, this thesis reveals that gestures and hand movements feel natural and easy to grasp for musicians, and that it can change their way of playing.

This thesis aims to identify the learning styles and strategies of students, to check whether there are significant differences in the learning style and strategy preferences between male and female learners, and investigate whether there is a relationship between students&amp / #8217 / learning style and strategy preferences. A total of 60 students were asked to complete two questionnaires. One was used to identify students&amp / #8217 / perceptual learning style preferences and the other was used to identify students&amp / #8217 / learning strategies. In addition, think aloud protocols were held to determine the cognitive and metacognitive strategies students used while reading. The data analysis of the first questionnaire revealed that students&amp / #8217 / major learning style preferences were auditory learning and individual learning. Furthermore, significant difference was found in the preference of tactile learning between males and females. The analysis of the second questionnaire revealed that cognitive strategies were favoured the most. No significant difference was found in the preferences of learning strategies between males and females. The analysis with respect to the relationship between learning styles and strategies revealed that &amp / #8226 / visual styles had a significant relation with affective strategies / &amp / #8226 / auditory styles had significant relationships with memory, cognitive, affective, and social strategies / &amp / #8226 / there was a significant relationship between the individual learning style and compensation strategies. &amp / #8226 / none of the learning styles had a significant relationship with metacognitive strategies. The think aloud protocols revealed that students used various cognitive and metacognitive strategies.