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- All Subjects: White-Nose Syndrome
- Creators: College of Integrative Sciences and Arts
When a sports performance is at its peak, it is akin to a musical performance in the sense that each player seems to perform their part effortlessly, creating a rhythmic flow of counterparts all moving as one. Rhythm and timing are vital elements in sports like basketball in which syncopated passing and shooting appear to facilitate accuracy. This study tests if shooting baskets “in rhythm,” as measured by the catch-to-release time, reliably enhances shooting accuracy. It then tests if an “in rhythm” timing is commonly detected and agreed upon by observers, and if observer timing ratings are related to shooting accuracy. Experiment 1 tests the shooting accuracy of two amateur basketball players after different delays between catching a pass and shooting the ball. Shots were taken from the three-point line (180 shots). All shots were recorded and analyzed for accuracy as a function of delay time, and the recordings were used to select stimuli varying in timing intervals for observers to view in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, 24 observers each reviewed 17 video clips of the shots to test visual judgment of shooting-in-rhythm. The delay times ranged from 0.3 to 3.2 seconds, with a goal of having some of the shots taken too fast, some close to in rhythm, and some too slow. Observers rated if each shot occurs too fast, in rhythm slightly fast, in rhythm slightly slow, or too slow. In Experiment 1, shooters exhibited a significant cubic fit with better shooting performance in the middle of the timing distribution (1.2 sec optimal delay) between catching a pass and shooting. In Experiment, 2 observers reliably judged shots to be in rhythm centered at 1.1 ± 0.2 seconds, which matched the delay that leads to optimal performance for the shooters found in Experiment 1. The pattern of findings confirms and validates that there is a common “in rhythm” catch-to-shoot delay time of a little over 1 second that both optimizes shooter accuracy and is reliably recognized by observers.
Corynorhinus townsendii, a bat species residing in north-central Arizona, has historically been observed hibernating in highly ventilated areas within caves and abandoned mines, but there is little to no specific data regarding this tendency. Understanding how air movement may influence hibernacula selection is critical in bettering conservation efforts for Arizona bats, especially with white-nose syndrome continuing to devastate bat species populations throughout the United States. My study aimed to begin filling in this knowledge gap. I measured wind speed in three known Arizona hibernacula during the winter hibernation season and combined this data with the locations of bats observed throughout each of the three survey locations. I modeled our findings using a generalized linear model, which confirmed that wind speed is indeed a predictor of C. townsendii roost selection.