Performance Of Women Research Articles

Colour‐odour correspondences in women during the menstrual cycle: Comparative analysis between the menstrual and ovulation phases

AbstractWomen might experience modulation in their perception and cognition of colours and odours during the menstrual cycle, but how women's impressions of and correspondence between colours and odours differ according to the cycle changes remains unknown. Here, we experimentally examined women's performance of several tasks, including evaluation of impressions of colours and odours, matching/nonmatching of colours with odours, and identification of odours, comparing two phases: the beginning of menstruation and ovulation. The results showed that participants had similar impressions of colours and odours and made similar colour choices for odours in both the menstrual and ovulation phases, while “pleasant‐unpleasant” impressions of colour and odour might vary according to the menstrual cycle. We found no significant differences in odour identification between the phases. The findings imply that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle might affect “pleasant‐unpleasant” impressions of colour and odour but not other features regarding impressions or crossmodal correspondence. In future studies, examination with a large number of participants is necessary.

Gendering Emotions: Ṭarab, Women and Musical Performance in Three Biographical Narratives from ‘The Book of Songs’

Musical performance was a distinctive feature of urban culture in the formative period of Islamic history. At the court of the Abbasid caliphs, and in the residences of the ruling elite, men and women singers performed to predominantly male audiences. The success of a performer was linked to his or her ability to elicit ṭarab, namely a spectrum of emotions and affects, in their audiences. Ṭarab was criticized by religious scholars due, in part, to the controversial performances at court of slave women singers depicted as using music to induce passion in men, diverting them from normative ethical social conduct. This critique, in turn, shaped the ethical boundaries of musical performances and affective responses to them. Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī’s tenth-century Kitāb al-Aghānī (‘The Book of Songs’) compiles literary biographies of prominent male and female singers from the formative period of Islamic history. It offers rich descriptions of musical performances as well as ensuing manifestations of ṭarab in audiences, revealing at times the polemics with which they were associated. Investigating three biographical narratives from Kitāb al-Aghānī, this paper seeks to answer the following question: How did emotions, gender and status shape on the one hand the musical performances of women singers and on the other their audiences’ emotional responses, holistically referred to as ṭarab. Through this question, this paper seeks to nuance and complicate our understanding of the constraints and opportunities that shaped slave and free women's musical performances, as well as men's performances, at the Abbasid court.

ENTREPRENEURIAL FACTORS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT FACTORS FOR MILLENNIAL WOMEN'S PERFORMANCE

In this modern era, women are starting to be involved in the millennial generation process today. The purpose of this study is to find out which are the most important given entrepreneurial factors which include innovation; motivation and work environment factors that include convenience and working conditions of women of the millennial generation. The data used is interview data with a qualitative approach. The number of samples is five informants. The results of the study indicate that entrepreneurial variables and environmental factors can have a positive effect on millennial women's performance. These results provide motivation and creativity that can improve women's performance on competitive advantage and a conducive work environment to improve women's performance for the better.

Evaluation of a Short-Term Occupation-Based Program on Pain, Fatigue, and Occupational Performance of Women With Cancer Living in the Community

Abstract Date Presented 04/05/19 This study investigated the impact of a short-term occupation-based program on pain, fatigue, and occupational performance of women with cancer that took place over one week. Activities focused on physical, emotional, sensory, and social aspects of functioning. The study demonstrated that participation in this one-week program decreases pain and fatigue and improves occupational performance and satisfaction for women with cancer living in the community. Primary Author and Speaker: Rochelle Mendonca Additional Authors and Speakers: Colleen Maher

Effects Of Chemotherapy On Muscle Performance In Women With Breast Cancer

PURPOSE: To compare muscle performance on breast cancer women (BCW) during the treatment chemotherapy with apparently healthy women (CNT). METHODS: 19 BCW (52.2 ± 13,11yrs, 1.60 ± 0.07m, 66,8 ± 12.33kg, 27,6 ± 3,8kg/m2) undergoing chemotherapy (between the third and fourth cycle of chemotherapy: AC+T - Doxorubicin + Cyclophosphamide - Paclitaxel) and 18 CNT (55.8 ± 8.37yrs, 1.60 ± 0.06m, 69,0 ± 11.49kg, 28,3 ± 3,1kg/m2) without breast cancer, performed 2 sets of 4 unilateral isokinetic knee extension repetitions at 60°/s (Biodex system III, Inc., Shirley, NY, USA). The rest interval between sets was 2 minutes. All subjects were not involved in exercise programs that included resistance exercise. The normality of the data was performed by the Shapiro-Wilk test and the Student t test to compare the groups. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05 for all comparisons. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in the peak torque values between groups (p = 0.95). The peak torque was 101.1 ± 26.79 N.m for the BCW group and 101.7 ± 26.98 N.m for the CNT group. Separating the volunteers according to the level of physical activity, no differences were found between the groups for the PT values. CONCLUSIONS: Women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatment, between the third and fourth cycle of chemotherapy, did not present differences in measures of muscle performance when compared to apparently healthy women.

Recent changes in women's Olympic shooting and effects in performance.

In 2018, the Olympic shooting regulations were modified to increase the number of women’s shots from 40 to 60, equaling the number given to men. This research presented in this paper addresses two research issues: (1) has the performance of women’s shooting changed as a result of this increase in the number of shots? and (2) with the equalized number of shots in place, do women and men perform differently? This study included 292 shooters who competed in the 2016 and/or 2018 European Championships who all obtained top-50 results. Our sample included balanced quotas for sports (50% pistol and 50% rifle) and by category (50% women and 50% men). Both championships were held in the same facilities and in the same month of the season, but with the difference that in 2016, women had 40 shots and in 2018 they had 60 shots. We observed that women’s performances did not diminish for the pistol or the rifle category when their number of shots were increased. Men and women shot equally well with rifles, although the men’s performance with pistols was higher than that of women. We concluded that sports in which physical strength is a minor factor, as in the case of shooting, should revise their regulations in the interest of greater gender equality in sports.

Effect of 8 Weeks of Zinc Supplementation and Yoga Exercise on Plasma Apelin Level and Kidney Performance in Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder associated with impaired serum lipid and glucose levels. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the effects of zinc supplementation, yoga exercise, and zinc supplementation plus yoga exercise on serum apelin level and kidney function among women with type II diabetes mellitus. Methods: This was a four-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study. Thirty two women were selected and randomly allocated to either of the following four groups: control; yoga exercise (thrice weekly for eight weeks); zinc supplementation; and zinc supplementation plus yoga exercise. Body composition, insulin resistance, and serum levels of glucose, insulin, creatinine, urea nitrogen, and apelin were measured before and after the study intervention. Data were analyzed through the one-way analysis of variance and the least significant difference post hoc test at a significance level of less than 0.05. Results: There were significant differences among the study groups concerning the serum levels of glucose (P = 0.001), insulin (P = 0.012), apelin (P = 0.001), and urea nitrogen (P = 0.02) as well as insulin resistance (P = 0.016) after the intervention. However, groups did not significantly differ from each other concerning the serum level of creatinine (P = 0.264). Conclusions: Eight-week yoga exercise and zinc supplementation are useful to women with type II diabetes mellitus.

Pitch Size and Game Surface in Different Small-Sided Games. Global Indicators, Activity Profile, and Acceleration of Female Soccer Players.

López-Fernández, J, Gallardo, L, Fernández-Luna, Á, Villacañas, V, García-Unanue, J, and Sánchez-Sánchez, J. Pitch size and game surface in different small-sided games. Global indicators, activity profile, and acceleration of female soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 33(3): 831-838, 2019-The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of game surface and pitch size on the movement profile in female soccer players during small-sided games (SSGs) of 4 v 4. Sixteen women played 3 different 4-a-side (400, 600, and 800 m) on 3 surfaces (ground [GR], artificial turf [AT], and natural grass [NG]). Time-motion variables were assessed through GPS devices (Spi Pro X, GPSports, Australia). Ground had the worst outputs on most variables. NG achieved higher results than AT in terms of total distance (SSG 400 [+37.000 m; p = 0.006]; SSG 600 [+59.989 m; p < 0.001]; and SSG 800 [+42.284 m; p = 0.001]). However, the smaller SSG (400) had the lowest values on most variables. However, although the middle SSG (600) presented higher output than the bigger one (800) for body load (NG [+7.745 a.u.; p < 0.001]; AT [+8.207 a.u.; p < 0.001]; and GR [+5.879 a.u.; p < 0.001]), it had lower results for high-intensity distance (NG [-13.15 m; p = 0.025] and AT [-13.59 m; p = 0.026]). Despite women's performance being higher on AT than GR, the NG surface still showed the highest outcomes in the most intense SSG. Moreover, although the performance increases in bigger pitches, if the size is too large the outputs could be reduced.

Investigating classroom implementation of research-based interventions for reducing stereotype threat in calculus

ABSTRACTMathematics is a discipline that exists within a social context, a context that influences how the subject is taught and learned. Women's performance in mathematics has been shown to be vulnerable to stereotype threat, and psychologists have developed interventions aimed at reducing the effect of stereotype threat on women's mathematics performance. We applied interventions, shown to be effective at reducing gender stereotype threat in mathematics in a lab setting, in undergraduate calculus classrooms. We found that these interventions had no detectable effect in the classroom setting, leading to two important cautions about the application of lab-based studies in authentic settings. First, lab settings differ from classroom settings in fundamental ways, limiting the ability to generalize inferences from lab studies to classroom settings, a caution that is more well-known amongst researchers seeking to replicate studies than it is amongst practitioners seeking to apply studies in practice. Second, when seeking to apply lab-based studies in classroom settings, researchers must be aware that relying on research constructs (such as sample size and significance) masks the practical measure of a meaningful sample size, which is roughly the number of students in a particular instructor's course at a given time.

Effects of Core Neuromuscular Training on Pain, Balance, and Functional Performance in Women With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Clinical Trial

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to determine the effects of core neuromuscular training on pain, balance, and performance in women with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). MethodsThis randomized single-blind trial was based on a convenience sample of 28 women with unilateral PFPS. All participants were assigned randomly to the intervention or control group with a block randomization method. The control group received routine physical therapy exercise for PFPS. The intervention group received core neuromuscular training in addition to routine physical therapy exercise. The outcome measures evaluated were pain intensity (Visual Analog Scale), function (Kujala patellofemoral questionnaire and step-down performance test), and balance (Y balance test). ResultsIn both groups the pain score was significantly lower after treatment (P = .001). The slope of this trend was greater in the intervention group. The Kujala and step-down scores improved significantly after treatment in both groups, although the improvements were greater in the intervention group. The Y balance score improved in all 3 directions after therapy in both groups (P < .05); improvement was significantly greater in the intervention group only in the posteromedial direction (P = .016). ConclusionFor the group of participants studied, a 4-week core neuromuscular training plus routine physiotherapy exercise was more effective than routine physiotherapy exercise alone for improving pain, balance, and functional performance in individuals with PFPS.

“The times have changed, the dope has changed”: Women's cooking roles and gender performances in shake methamphetamine markets*

AbstractDrug markets are typically portrayed as male dominated, with men occupying the higher positions and women fulfilling the lower positions. Yet, the results of recent work highlight how women's participation and experiences in drug economies varies by the structure and organization of the specific market. We focus on the shake‐and‐bake (“shake”) methamphetamine (meth) market, which seems to have emerged mainly in response to legal attempts to curtail methamphetamine production. We explore how women adapt to structural changes and how they perform gender to navigate a market in which the focus is on personal consumption instead of on monetary gain. By relying on semistructured interviews with 40 women who cooked meth, we identify the gendered strategies they adopt and how these coincide with their position in the drug market. Cooking roles took three forms (partner, lead, and team), and each role was characterized by distinct patterns of gender performance and autonomy (emphasized femininity, matriarchal control, and gender neutral). We show that certain market conditions allow for increased participation among women in meth manufacturing. Yet, even within favorable conditions, variability remains in women's positions and gender performances. The findings highlight the role of organizational and legal context in shaping both the roles women adopt in drug markets and the ways they perform gender.

The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity ed. by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young

Reviewed by: The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity ed. by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young Emily Wilcox THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF DANCE AND ETHNICITY. Edited by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. 768 pp. Cloth, $150.00; eBook, $119.99. Oxford has been a leading publisher of influential scholarly collections on dance for decades; the 1983 anthology What is Dance? remains a goto resource for dance history educators, while the six-volume International Encyclopedia of Dance (1998, updated 2004) is the most comprehensive reference work on dance available in English to date. In 2014, Oxford University Press (OUP) launched its newest project in this area: Oxford Handbooks. Thus far, eight dance-related handbooks have appeared: Dance and the Popular Screen (2014), Dance and Theater (2015), Dance and Ethnicity (2016), Screendance Studies (2016), Dance and Reenactment (2017), Dance and Wellbeing (2017), Dance and Politics (2017), and Dance and Competition (2018). Explicitly marketed to "scholars and graduate students," these dictionary-sized tomes are designed for academics; they aim to "offer authoritative and up-to-date surveys of original research in a particular subject area" and to "give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates, as well as a foundation for future research" (OUP website). From the vantage point of a scholar of Asian performance like myself and most readers of Asian Theatre Journal, Asia is woefully underrepresented in these handbooks. In volumes containing between thirty and over forty essays each, typically one to two, or at most three, center on Asia-related material. At least one of these essays almost [End Page 246] always involves Asia "on the international stage"—usually code for dancers from Asia performing in Western contexts—leaving Asian subjects geographically marginalized. When essays on Asian dancers in Asia do appear, they tend to deal overwhelmingly with India, a country that (due to the history of British colonialism) has more representation in English-language dance scholarship and is already quite familiar to dance studies scholars. The comparatively more groundbreaking work on dance across diverse regions of Asia that has appeared in ATJ over the years seems to be entirely off the radar of these handbooks' editors and reviewers, despite the fact that many contributors to ATJ attend dance and performance conferences, receive degrees in dance and performance studies programs, and publish widely. With these caveats in mind, The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity is a welcome contribution toward a more meaningful incorporation of Asia-informed perspectives into the Oxford Handbooks series. Of the thirty-one essays included in the volume, nine center Asia-related content, of which three focus on artists and activities based in Asia. The latter, which would be of primary interest to ATJ readers, are Leonard Pronko and Jonathan M. Hall's "To Call Dance Japanese: Nihon Buyō as Ethnic Dance," Ida Meftahi's "Dancing Angels and Princesses: The Invention of an Ideal Female National Dancer in Twentieth-Century Iran," and Rachmi Diyah Larasati's "Crossing the Seas of Southeast Asia: Indigenous Diasporic Islam and Performances of Women's Igal." Also of possible interest are Nancy Lee Ruyter's "La Meri: Purveyor of the Dancing Other," Rebekah J. Kowal's "Choreographing Interculturalism: International Dance Performance at the American Museum of Natural History, 1943–1952," and Miriam Phillips' "Spectacles of Ethnicities: The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival," all of which critically examine presentations of Asian dance forms in the United States. Also of interest may be Andrea Deagon's "Orientalism and the American Belly Dancer: Multiplicity, Authenticity, Identity" and Barbara Sellers-Young's "Men and the Happiness Dance," both of which deal with transnational circuits of Middle Eastern dance, and Christine Emi Chan's "Beyond Colonization, Commodification, and Reclamation: Hula and Hawaiian Identity," which deals with issues of Orientalism as they relate to Polynesian dance in colonial contexts. Insofar as they move beyond Indian subjects and the handful of other Asia-related topics addressed in the other volumes, the above essays take an important step toward offering more varied and substantive treatments of Asia-related material in the Oxford Handbooks dance series. The fact that such a large and original representation of Asia-related content is...

Female Composers, Conductors, Performers: Musiciennes of Interwar France, 1919–1939 by Laura Hamer

Reviewed by: Female Composers, Conductors, Performers: Musiciennes of Interwar France, 1919–1939 by Laura Hamer James P. Gilroy Hamer, Laura. Female Composers, Conductors, Performers: Musiciennes of Interwar France, 1919–1939. Routledge, 2018. ISBN 978-1-138-21203-9. Pp. 218. Hamer's book explores the fortunes of French women musicians in France between the two World Wars. She includes composers and conductors, as well as instrumental soloists on the piano, violin, and harp. Among the musiciennes of whom she writes, the two with the greatest name recognition today are teacher and conductor Nadia Boulanger and composer Germaine Taillefer, whose career benefitted from her membership in the 1920s group Les Six—the only woman among her five colleagues. Hamer devotes much attention to the ambiguous position of women in the French musical world during these years. The official policy of the French government was to promote a domestic role for women as wives and mothers so as to rebuild the population of the nation depleted by World War I. Women were also limited in the choice of instruments they could play. Piano and violin were considered more ladylike than brass, wood-winds, or percussion, which were forbidden to them. Hamer also points out the gendered [End Page 203] language used by music critics. Even if the latter applauded a woman's performance or œuvre, they emphasized the charm and delicacy displayed. An alternate form of gender bias was to compare the power and strength of a musicienne's accomplishment to a man's. Despite all these limitations, women did extremely well in music in the 1920s and 1930s. Women students constituted an increasing percentage of the student body of the Paris Conservatoire and other important schools. They were also highly successful in gaining recognition through prizes, like the Grand Prix de Rome. Their works were frequently included in major concerts, and they were often engaged as soloists. Moreover, women founded their own orchestras to give themselves greater opportunities. The orchestra of the Union des Femmes Professeurs et Compositeurs (1904) hired men to play the instruments that were still deemed unfeminine, while the Orchestre féminin de Paris, founded by conductor and violinist Jane Evrard in 1930, resolved the issue by becoming an all-string ensemble. Women were also hired as professors at the Conservatoire, but it was rare for them to be offered the highest-level positions. Hamer writes as well of the impact of the personal lives of these women on their careers. Unhappy marriages could be an obstacle, particularly if the husband resented his wife's public life or, if he was also a musician, he felt threatened by her greater professional success. Women in music often had to devote long hours to teaching in order to support themselves. Some wrote textbooks that have become standard. All this took time away from composing. Hamer studies in depth several musiciennes whose achievements have fallen undeservedly into oblivion. Among them are three composers who were protégées of Paul Dukas at the Conservatoire: Elsa Barraine, who celebrated her Jewish heritage in music and participated in the Resistance; Yvonne Desportes, who tackled large-scale orchestral works and opera; and Claude Arrieu, who, despite her close association with Olivier Messaien (known for his naturalistic free styling), concentrated on neoclassical and baroque forms. James P. Gilroy University of Denver Copyright © 2019 American Association of Teachers of French

Gifts from the Waves? Cultural Identity, the Rise of Performing Arts Communities, and Women's Performance Practice in Post-tsunami Aceh

Gifts from the Waves? Cultural Identity, the Rise of Performing Arts Communities, and Women's Performance Practice in Post-tsunami Aceh

Correlation of the Indicators of High Performance Women Basketball Players’ Game Characteristics with Physical Development and Physical Fitness

Research background and hypothesis. Indicators of physical fitness and physical development influence individual performance results. Research aim was to identify correlation between basketball performance indicators and physical development and fitness. Research methods. The basketball players (n = 12) of the Lithuanian National Women’s Basketball Team were investigated. The performance indicators of this team were analyzed on the basis of data collected during the European Basketball Championship. During competition period the indicators of physical development and physical fitness of female basketball players were measured. Mathematical statistics methods were applied for the analysis of the research data. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were applied to identify correlations among the indicators.Research results. The correlations of the number of blocks with height, body mass, standing reach and psychomotor response were established. This indicator of game performance was technically simple and its efficiency was determined by good physical development and fast psychomotor reaction. The correlations of shooting percentage of different throws with physical fitness were different.Discussion and conclusions. The shooting percentage of 2-point field goals correlated with muscle mass, body mass and take-off duration. This allows suggesting that a certain number of shots are performed after the physical contact with an opponent and jumping faster during the moment of throw. No correlation was established between 3-point field goals, free throws and physical fitness indicators. This means that shooting percentage was influenced by other factors. Steals, turnovers and passes, as complex technical and tactical actions, did not correlate with the researched physical fitness indicators.Keywords: shot, jump, height, block, power.

Peak Fat Oxidation is not Independently Related to Ironman Performance in Women.

The aim of the present study was to investigate if peak fat oxidation rate (PFO) is related to Ironman performance in female athletes. Thirty-six female Ironman athletes (age: 34±1 yrs, [21-45 yrs.] SEM [Range]) with a BMI of 22.1±2.0 kg/m2 [18.8-28.4 kg/m2], a body fat percentage of 24.8±1.0% [9.0-37.0%] and a V̇O2peak of 53.0±1.3 ml/min/kg [36.5-70.5 ml/min/kg] were tested in the laboratory prior to the Ironman Copenhagen 2017. Race time ranged from 9:17:07 to 15:23:48 with mean race time being 11:57:26 h:min:s (717 min). By simple linear regression analyses we found associations between race time and P FO (r2=0.22, p<0.005), V̇O2peak (r2=0.65, p<0.0001) and the relative exercise intensity eliciting PFO (Fatmax) (r2=0.35, p=0.0001). Furthermore, associations were found between race time and body fat percentage (r2=0.44, p<0.0001) and age (r2=0.16, p<0.05). By means of multiple regression analysis, V̇O2peak was the only statistically significant variable explaining 64% of the variation in race time (adj. r2=0.64, p<0.005). In conclusion, these results demonstrate that PFO is not independently related to Ironman performance in a heterogeneous group of female athletes. Interestingly, V̇O2peak alone was able to predict 64% of the variation in Ironman race times.

Sodium bicarbonate supplementation does not improve elite women's team sport running or field hockey skill performance.

Team sports, such as field hockey, incorporate high‐intensity repeated sprints, interspersed with low‐intensity running, which can result in acidosis. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of acute sodium bicarbonate (SB) supplementation on team sport running and skill performance. Eight elite female field hockey players (age 23 ± 5 years, body mass 62.6 ± 8.4 kg, height 1.66 ± 0.05 m) completed three Field Hockey Skill Tests (FHST) interspersed with four sets of the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST). Prior to exercise, participants were supplemented with capsules equivalent to 0.2 g·kg−1 body mass (BM) of a placebo (maltodextrin) or 0.3 g·kg−1 BM SB. Field hockey skill performance incorporated overall performance time (PFT), movement time (MT), decision‐making time (DMT), and penalty time (PT). Sprint time (ST), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), blood lactate concentration, bicarbonate anion (HCO3−) concentration, pH, and base excess were measured at various time points. Data (mean ± SD) were analyzed using a two‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, with Hedges g effect sizes used to interpret the magnitude of differences. Bicarbonate anion concentration (+5.4 ± 2.6 mmol·L−1) and pH (+0.06 ± 0.03) were greater during the bicarbonate trial compared with the placebo (P < 0.001). Bicarbonate did not alter PFT (placebo: 87.9 ± 6.9 sec; bicarbonate: 89.0 ± 7.8 sec, P = 0.544, g = 0.14), MT, DMT, PT (all P > 0.30) or ST (placebo: 2.87 ± 0.12 sec; bicarbonate: 2.86 ± 0.12 sec, P = 0.893, g = −0.08). RPE was lower during the SB condition (placebo: 13 ± 2; bicarbonate: 12 ± 2, P = 0.021, g = −0.41). Acute ingestion of bicarbonate did not improve sprint or sport‐specific skill performance. Bicarbonate ingestion did result in a lower perception of effort during team‐sport running, which may have performance implications in a competitive match situation.

“Sinking” or sinking?: Identity salience and shifts in Black women's athletic performance

ObjectivesBased on the theories of stereotype threat and stereotype boost, this study explored the influence of identity salience on athletic performance of individuals (i.e., Black women) who possess one identity that is negatively stereotyped and one identity that is positively stereotyped in the domain of athletics. Black women's racial identity is positively stereotyped in regard to athletic performance, whereas their gender identity is negatively stereotyped. DesignWe used a between subjects design with three conditions (race salient, gender salient, and control). Athletic performance served as the dependent measure. MethodBlack women basketball players (N = 91) were randomly assigned to one of three identity salience conditions: race salient, gender salient, or age salient (control). Social identities were made salient by having participants complete a questionnaire before attempting to shoot free-throws. ResultsParticipants whose racial identity before shooting free-throws was made salient had significantly better free-throw accuracy than both participants whose gender identity or age identity was made salient. Additionally, participants whose gender identity was made salient performed significantly worse than participants in the control condition. ConclusionIdentity salience can play a role in either improving (i.e., stereotype boost effect) or harming (e.g., stereotype threat effect) athletic performance within the same individual. Future directions involving other individuals who possess both positively and negatively stereotyped social identities' in a particular sports domain, such as Asian male basketball players are discussed.

Exercise Similarly Facilitates Men and Women's Selective Attention Task Response Times but Differentially Affects Memory Task Performance.

Previous research has found that acute, moderate-intensity physical exercise enhances selective attention and memory and that men and women show differential performance on tasks measuring these skills. Although exercise and participant sex have been examined separately, it remains unknown whether acute, moderate-intensity exercise differentially affects men and women’s selective attention and memory encoding and retrieval. Participants in the present study completed two 10-min sessions of either moderate-intensity exercise comprised of jumping rope alternating with walking in place or an active control protocol comprised of watching wellness videos alternating with walking in place. Each participant completed a selective attention task and a task assessing recognition and object location memory immediately after exercising. Exercise was related to overall faster performance during the selective attention task, with no differences in men and women’s performance. Women showed better recognition memory compared to men. Exercise specifically improved object location memory among men, but only among participants who completed the memory task second. These findings suggest that acute, moderate-intensity exercise differentially affects men and women’s memory, which may be related to complex interactions between exercise, sex hormones, and the neurotrophin BDNF.

Stereotype-based stressors facilitate emotional memory neural network connectivity and encoding of negative information to degrade math self-perceptions among women.

Stress engendered by stereotype threatening situations may facilitate encoding of negative, stereotype confirming feedback received during a performance among women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It is unclear, however, whether this process is comprised of the same neurophysiological mechanisms evident in any emotional memory encoding context, or if this encoding bias directly undermines positive self-perceptions in the stigmatized domain. A total of 160 men and women completed a math test that provided veridical positive and negative feedback, a memory test for feedback, and math self-enhancing and valuing measures in a stereotype threatening or neutral context while continuous electroencephalography activity and startle probe responses to positive and negative feedback was recorded. Indexing amygdala activity to feedback via startle responses and emotional memory network connectivity elicited during accurate recognition of positive and negative feedback via graph analyses, only stereotype threatened women encoded negative feedback better when they exhibited increased amygdala activity and emotional memory network connectivity in response to said feedback. Emotional memory biases, in turn, predicted decreases in women’s self-enhancing, math valuing and performance. Findings provide an emotional memory encoding-based mechanism for well-established findings indicating that women have more negative math self-perceptions compared with men regardless of actual performance.