This study aimed to investigate whether individual differences in viewpoint (route or survey [bird's eye] view) while playing football are associated with mental rotation ability and domain-specificity. Seventeen varsity football players were assigned to Experienced and Non-Experienced survey view groups according to a questionnaire about their experiences with survey view while playing football. Three tasks were used to compare mental rotation and viewpoint switching ability between groups: a mental rotation task to assess the ability to operate upon visuospatial mental representations; a viewpoint switching task to assess the ability to switch viewpoint internally from route to survey view in response to non-domain-specific information (e.g., toysʼ configuration); and the complex task to assess the ability to switch viewpoint from route to survey view in response to domain-specific information (e.g., playersʼ configuration) and to operate upon visuospatial mental representations. There were significant between-group differences in response time for the mental rotation and complex tasks, but not in response accuracy for any tasks. This indicates that the experienced survey view group could quickly operate upon mental representations and switch viewpoints from route to survey view, but only in a domain-specific environment. Therefore, individual differences in viewpoint when playing football are associated with mental rotation ability and viewpoint switching ability in response to domain-specific information. More specifically, mental rotation ability and viewpoint switching is contingent upon domain-specific information for the attainment of survey view during football gameplay.

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The present study aimed to clarify the contribution of motor simulation during action observation to anticipation skill in sports. Therefore, the influence of concurrent motor execution during observation on the accuracy of anticipating basketball free throws was examined. Eighteen right-handed male basketball players (skilled) and 18 right-handed males with no basketball experience (non-skilled) anticipated a basketball free throw under the following conditions: control in which participants simply observed free throw actions and right-volar, right-dorsal, left-volar and left-dorsal flexion that required concurrent motor execution during each condition. Anticipation was more accurate in experts than in non-experts under control conditions. Moreover, anticipation accuracy was reduced in experts under right-dorsal flexion compared with the other conditions. In contrast, anticipation accuracy improved in non-experts under right-volar flexion compared with other conditions. These results indicated that concurrent motor execution influences the ability to anticipate action and this effect depends on experience of free throw. These findings suggested that motor simulation is associated with action anticipation in sports expertise.

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This research clarified the concrete contents of positive thinking and explored how positive thinking differs according to individual characteristics. Levels of trait anxiety and concerns about evaluation from others and the coaching environment, were defined as individual characteristics. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for measuring trait anxiety was administered to a university male baseball team. Subsequently, one baseball player with high trait anxiety and one baseball player with low trait anxiety were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews focused on their thoughts during their baseball games and their individual characteristics. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed qualitatively. Positive thinking was classified according to eight patterns associated with the objects of attention, on 3 axes (emotional expression, body consciousness, and external concern), and the relationship between individual characteristics and positive thinking was considered. Greater trait anxiety and concern about evaluation from others seemed to indicate that self-control thinking contributed to performance. In contrast, when trait anxiety and concern about evaluation from others was lower, self-encouragement thinking was more likely to contribute to performance.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a Japanese version of the Sport Commitment Scale (SCS-J), originally developed by Scanlan et al. (1993a; 1993b), and examine the relationship between sports commitment and the frequency of competitive sports participation. The participants were 1125 college students who played competitive sports in collegiate athletics or another sports activity (male: 822, female: 285). The Sport Commitment Scale (Scanlan et al., 1993a; 1993b) was translated into Japanese using the back translation method, and the reliability and validity of the SCS-J were examined. The results indicated the reliability (internal consistency, reproducibility) and validity (construct validity, criterion-related validity) of the SCS-J and illustrated the scale's usefulness. In addition, the result of examining the relationship between sports commitment and frequency of sports participation, sports commitment was positively associated with the frequency of sports participation. This result supported previous findings of a relationship between sports commitment and sports participation. In conclusion, this study confirmed the reliability, validity, and usefulness of the SCS-J.

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