04.02.2024

The NCA Group Featured on the TerraXPlore Show

We are delighted to announce that our group recently took stage on the popular television program TerraXPlore, aired on ZDF. The episode, titled "No Limits: Wie dein Mindset Grenzen sprengt" (No Limits: How Your Mindset Breaks Boundaries), premiered on the 4th of February 2024, showcasing our research in the field of sports psychology.

A highlight of the episode was a segment featuring our golf study on putting, conducted at the Social Motor Learning Lab. Sina Gerten eloquently represented our research as the interviewee. Mustafa Coskun played the role as a participant, demonstrating the EEG-method. Additionally, Ludwig Vogel, Kuo-Ping Wang, Lin Yu, Kostas Velentzas and Thomas Schack were closely involved in the preparation and realization of the filming.

The segment filmed in our laboratory can be viewed online from 3:18 to 4:50 at the following link: https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/terra-xplore/no-limits-wie-dein-mindset-grenzen-sprengt-100.html

05.07.2023

We were very happy to welcome two guests for a scientific exchange at our research group. Dr. Medina Srem-Sai is a research fellow in Sport Psychology and lecturer at University of Education, Winneba in Ghana. Currently she is working on stress appraisals and coping styles among football coaches and players in the Ghana premier league. During her two-week stay she was giving a talk in our research colloquium on "'Stress, mental representation, and motor learning: Development of motor skills over time'". Tomas Bonino Covas is Physical Therapist from Spain with different interests:  movement coaching, movement lecturer for sport teams, circuses, dance companies, hospitals, private centers, private patients, and students in 13 countries in the last 15 years. He is teacher in international post graduate courses and speaker in universities, ted talks, etc. in 9 countries. In this subject area he gave a lecture on "Taxonomy of applied pedagogy for motor learning optimization" as part of the research colloquium. In addition to the intensive exchange on scientific methods and future collaborations in small groups, both guests were given an insight into the laboratories of our research group.

12.04.2023

Workshop – Meeting
“ Nature-Mind-Society and sustainable Technology”

In the context of a sustainable development of our society various perspectives, skills, technologies and knowledge sources are recently under debate. We are going in our workshop to discuss and find perspectives about the links and interaction of society/ technology, our mind and nature. From our perspective future society has not only to consider legal and social consequences of technology but furthermore implications for nature at different levels of interaction. The workshop is addressing the links between traditional knowledge about nature and human mind, e.g. saved and provided by indigenous people and our scientific understanding of mind and future technology/society. Tom Blue Wolf, a Native American and the founder and director of Earthkeepers & Society, an organization dedicated to educating people on the importance of the relationship with earth and nature, is speaking at the workshop.
19 April 2023, Room 1.204, CITEC-Building
02.30 p.m. - 03.00 p.m. Welcome - Reception
03.00 p.m. - 04.30 p.m. Bridges between Nature, Human Mind and Future Society
Thomas Schack & Helge Ritter: Introduction – Nature-Mind-Society and sustainable Technology
Tom Blue Wolf: Living with Nature from the Perspective of Native Americans
All: Open Discussion
04.30 p.m. - 05.00 p.m. Coffee Break
05.00 p.m – 06.30 p.m. Nature – and Social Implications for Technology Development
Ludwig Vogel, Alexander Neumann, Benjamin Strenge, Kai Essig: Towards Individualized Assistive Tools in Society
Ellen Schack: Applied Perspective on New Technologies and the Importance of Ethical Values in vBS Bethel
Benjamin Strenge & Thomas Schack: Ethical Implications for Technology Development

Summary and Closing Discussion

24.10.2022

The head is the most important muscle!

Interview with Thomas Schack on the mental situation of the second-division soccer team Arminia Bielefeld.

[Read here (in German)]

17.10.2022

International Conference on "Cognitive Neuroscience in Sports" from 25 to 28 October 2022 at Bielefeld University

From 25 – 28 October 2022 an international conference with the title "Cognitive Neuroscience in Sports" will take place at CITEC (Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology). This conference is organized by the research group "Neurocognition and Movement - Biomechanics" under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Schack.

The conference focuses on three central topics: Neuroscience, Cognition and Sport Psycholo-gy. The international participants* travel from different continents, including Europe, Asia and the USA. The goal of the conference is to bring together international practitioners and academics from different disciplines. This international exchange enables participants to discuss the foundations and application fields of sport and exercise from different perspectives across disciplines.

Conference Program

The coordinators of the conference are:

Thomas Schack

Kuo-Pin Wang

Ludwig Vogel

Contact:

Ludwig Vogel

E-Mail: Ludwig.vogel@uni-bielefeld.de

Telefon: 0160 – 1509777

13.12.2021

On December 3, 2021, Prof. Huang on behalf of Prof. Schack and Kuo-Pin Wang attended the award ceremony of sport science research and development in Taiwan (see the attachments). This ceremony is one of the most significant ceremonies in Taiwan, and our excellent works were reported by the media (Newspaper: "United Daily News" and "Yahoo! News", Live stream: MOE Sports).

News Links:
The newspaper is about Prof. Schack and Kuo-Pin Wang with other coauthors who won the award.
- United Daily News:  https://udn.com/news/story/7005/5930268
- Yahoo! News: [ look here ]

Live stream:
The live stream (from 38:00s~39:00s) is about Prof. Huang on behalf of Prof. Schack and Kuo-Pin Wang attending the award ceremony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzG553DjIUA

Award-Winning Article:
Wang, K. P., Cheng, M. Y., Chen, T. T., Huang, C. J., Schack, T., & Hung, T. M. (2020). Elite golfers are characterized by psychomotor refinement in cognitive-motor processes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 50, 101739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101739 

13.10.2021

AWARD

Kuo-Pin Wang won an Excellent Research Paper Award in sport science (Elite golfers are characterized by psychomotor refinement in cognitive-motor processes) Sport Science Research and Development, Taiwan. 

Article: Wang, K.P., Cheng, M.Y., Chen, T.T., Huang, C.J., Schack, T., & Hung, T.M. (2020) Elite golfers are characterized by psychomotor refinement in cognitive-motor processes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. (SSCI,  Impact Factor  = 4.785, ranking in PSYCHOLOGY: 10/77=10.24%, Q1 journal)

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kuo-Pin-Wang
 

23.08.2021

Neue Publikation unserer Arbeitsgruppe zusammen mit Mitarbeitern der Ruhr Universität Bochum wird in einem Spiegelinterview diskutiert.

New publication of our research group together with members of the Ruhr University Bochum is discussed in a Spiegel interview.

Wanja Brüchle, Caroline Schwarzer, Christina Berns, Sebastian Scho, Jessica Schneefeld, Dirk Koester, Thomas Schack, Udo Schneider, Karin Rosenkranz: Physical activity reduces clinical symptoms and restores neuroplasticity in major depression, in: Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2021, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.660642

[Spiegel Article 21.08.2021]

28.05.2021

In the association KogniHome - Technikunterstütztes Wohnen für Menschen e.V. - we are looking for an assistant.

[Details (in German)]

[learn more]

04.05.2021

On 29.04.2021, the second project meeting of the AVIKOM project took place as a ZOOM meeting. Thomas Schack, Benjamin Strenge and Alexander Neumann from the working group presented the current development status of the assistance system as well as results from workshops and conducted surveys together with the academic partners from the department  of work and organizational psychology and the Institute for System Dynamics and Mechatronics (ISyM) of the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.

In the presence of Dr. Raymond Djaloeis from the project management organization Karlsruhe (PTKA), the enterprise partners Dreckshage, Euscher, Fischer Panda, MIT and the associated project partner v. Bodelschwinghschen Stiftungen Bethel presented their current situation, their expectations and planned next steps. The consortium is now aiming to connect the AVIKOM system to the partners' software systems in preparation for the field tests with the companies planned for the second half of the year.

02.03.2021

New publication with collaboration by Elvis Hagan

Assessing sub-regional-specific strengths of healthcare systems associated with COVID-19 prevalence, deaths and recoveries in Africa

[read more]

04.02.2021

New publication in NEUROSCIENCE by Lin Yu

Coordinating Initial and Final Action Goals in Planning Grasp-to-Rotate Movements: An ERP Study

Action goals have often been investigated in previous studies within a single action. However, most of the manual actions (such as prehension) are not restricted to a single action towards the object but can involve multiple follow-up actions to achieve a further purpose. The coordination of the initial (grip posture) and final (task purpose) action goals within such complex actions is still not fully understood. In the present experiment, the neural mechanisms underlying the goal coordination were investigated with the help of event-related potentials (ERP).

[read more]

18.12.2020

New publication by Elvis Hagan

A multi-country cross-sectional study of self-reported sexually transmitted infections among sexually active men in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the importance of self-reporting health in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) control, studies on self-reported sexually transmitted infections (SR-STIs) are scanty, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study assessed the prevalence and factors associated with SR-STIs among sexually active men (SAM) in SSA.

[read more]

18.12.2020

New publication by Elvis Hagan

Proximate, intermediate, and distal predictors of under-five mortality in Chad: analysis of the 2014?15 Chad demographic and health survey data

Under-five mortality in Chad reached a minimum value of 119 deaths per 1000 live births in 2018, compared with a maximum of 250 in 1972. Despite this decline in the mortality trend, for every six children in Chad, one dies before the age of five. This study, therefore, investigated the proximate, intermediate, and distal determinants of under-five mortality in Chad

[read more]

18.12.2020

New publication by Elvis Hagan

Africa's COVID-19 Situation in Focus and Recent Happenings: A Mini Review

Given that COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has crept into Africa, a major public health crisis or threat continues to linger on the continent. Many local governments and various stakeholders have stepped up efforts for early detection and management of COVID-19. This mini review highlights the current trend in Africa, history and general epidemiological information on the virus. Current ongoing efforts (e.g., improving testing capacity) and some effective ways (e.g., intensified surveillance, quick detection, contact tracing, isolation measures [e.g., quarantine], and social distancing) of preventing and managing COVID-19 in Africa are described.

[read more]

11.12.2020

AIRA

Alliance of organisations to combat COVID-19 fake health news 

International and regional organisations, together with fact-checking groups, have joined forces to form the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA) in a bid to detect, disrupt, counter and combat the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and other health emergencies on the continent.  

[read more]

05.11.2020

New Publication:

Using Fixation-Related Potentials for Inspecting Natural Interactions, by Dennis Wobrock, Andrea Finke, Thomas Schack, Helge Ritter, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, section Brain-Computer Interfaces.

To view the online publication, please click [here]

28.10.2020

Two new articles:

Ahinkorah, B. O., Hagan, J. E., Ameyaw, E. K., Seidu, A. A., Budu, E., Sambah, F., ... & Schack, T. (2020). Socio-economic and demographic determinants of female genital mutilation in sub-Saharan Africa: analysis of data from demographic and health surveys. Reproductive Health, 17(1), 1-14.

Owing to the severe repercussions associated with female genital mutilation (FGM) and its illicit status in many countries, the WHO, human rights organisations and governments of most sub-Saharan African countries have garnered concerted efforts to end the practice. This study examined the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with FGM among women and their daughters in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

[read more]

Seidu, A. A., Ahinkorah, B. O., Hagan, J. E., Ameyaw, E. K., Abodey, E., Odoi, A., Agbaglo, E., ... & Schack, T. (2020). Mass media exposure and women's household decision-making capacity in 30 sub-Saharan African countries: Analysis of demographic and health surveys. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2926.

Women's household decision-making capacity is an essential component of their empowerment which include decisions related to personal health care, large household purchase and family visitations. Despite research evidence acknowledging mass media's influences on women's empowerment, including their ability to take household decisions, empirical data through multi-country comparison on mass media exposure and women's decision making capacity are sparse. This study sought to assess the association between exposure to mass media (television, radio and newspaper/magazine) and women's household decision-making capacity in 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

[read more]
 

09.10.2020

Award

Kuo-Pin Wang won the "Excellence Paper Award 2020" in sport science, Taiwan. The competition for this award is intense, with many outstanding researchers. This prize is granted for innovative research in the field of sport science.

Wang, K.P., Cheng, M.Y., Chen, T.T., Chang, Y.K., Huang, C.J., Feng, J., Hung, T. M., Ren, J. (2019). Experts' successful psychomotor performance was characterized by effective switch of motor and attentional control. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 43, 374-379.

[read more]

09.09.2020

Thomas Schack is participating at the 2020 Yokohama Sport Conference which is held from the 08.09.-11.09.2020 in Yokohama, Japan and provided digitally too. He will give an invited talk abou: Mental representation, perception and learning - Building blocks for mental training.

[read more]

09.09.2020

Thomas Schack has performed at the 7 th of september as a member of the evaluation committee in Universite Grenoble Alpes / INRIA Grenoble at the defense of the doctoral thesis "Estimating Expertise from Eye Gaze and Emotion" provided by Thomas Guntz.

09.09.2020

Thomas Schack provided an invited keynote about "Action Architecture, Mental Simulation and Memory" at the virtual workshop "Action control, awareness, and working memory" organized from University Barcelona at the 14 th of September. Further keynotes have been performed by David Rosenbaum (UC-Riverside), Elisabeth Pacheria (Jean Nicod, France) and Barbara Montero (CUNY Graduate Center, New York).

11.08.2020

New article by Elvis Hagan published in PLOS ONE

Consistent condom use among men who pay for sex in sub-Saharan Africa: Empirical evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys

Paying for sex has often been associated with risky sexual behavior among heterosexual men, and men who pay for sex are considered as a bridging population for sexually transmitted infections. Consistent condom use during paid sex is essential for reducing sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. In this study, we assessed the prevalence and predictors of consistent condom use among men who pay for sex in sub-Saharan Africa.

[read more]

15.07.2020

Adaptiv virtuelle Rehabilitation bei Verletzungen der oberen Extremität - Eine Pilotstudie

Der Antrag auf Förderung im Anschubfonds Medizinische Forschung: "Adaptiv virtuelle Rehabilitation bei Verletzungen der oberen Extremität - Eine Pilotstudie" von Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Vordemvenne (EvKB), Prof. Dr. Thomas Schack (CITEC, Neurokognition und Bewegung - Biomechanik), Prof. Dr. Christoph Dockweiler (Universität Bielefeld, Centre for ePublic Health Research), PD Dr. Odile Sauzet (Universität Bielefeld, Statistik-Beratungs-Centrum (StatBeCe), Dr. med. Jens Conrad (ZAR Bielefeld), und Dr. med. Andreas Elsner (Orthopädische Gemeinschaftspraxis am Bültmannshof) wurde nach Empfehlung der Auswahlkommission am 15.07.2020 bewilligt.
 

The application for funding in the medical research start-up fund: "Adaptive virtual rehabilitation for upper limb injuries - A pilot study" by Prof. Dr. Thomas Vordemvenne (EvKB), Prof. Dr. Thomas Schack (CITEC, Neurocognition and Action - Biomechanics) , Prof. Dr. Christoph Dockweiler (Bielefeld University, Center for ePublic Health Research), PD Dr. Odile Sauzet (Bielefeld University, Statistics Consulting Center (StatBeCe), Dr. med.Jens Conrad (ZAR Bielefeld), and Dr. Andreas Elsner (orthopedic group practice at Bültmannshof) was approved on July 15, 2020, following the recommendation of the selection committee.
 

13.07.2020

A new article published in PLOS ONE

Female adolescents' reproductive health decision-making capacity and contraceptive use in sub-Saharan Africa: What does the future hold?

Given the social, economic, and health consequences of early parenthood, unintended pregnancy, and the risks of HIV infection and subsequent transmission, there is an urgent need to understand how adolescents make sexual and reproductive decisions regarding contraceptive use. This study sought to assess the association between female adolescents? reproductive health decision-making capacity and their contraceptive usage.

[read more]

08.07.2020

New publication

The role of testing in infectious disease control: A case of COVID-19 in Africa

The dramatic increase in COVID-19 suspected cases in Africa has placed enormous burden on public and private clinical facilities. Till date, the most commonly used method for the identification and confirmation of the virus is the laboratory-based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing. Unfortunately, testing capacities have been limited in many parts of Africa because of inadequate test kits which have restricted scaling up beyond the few public health laboratories at designated locations. We present in this mini-review Africa?s preparedness and readiness toward testing, why testing is crucial, the need to immediately strengthen existing facilities and what it involves as combined approaches for managing the COVID-19 crisis. The review highlights the urgent need for speedy expansion and distribution of several laboratory testing platforms to public health facilities and fully accredited private clinical laboratories, including real-time PCR and serological assays.

[read more]

03.07.2020

New article published:

Understanding the linkages between male circumcision and multiple sexual partnership among married Ghanaian men: Analysis of data from the 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

Available scholarly information indicates that traditional male role orientations (e.g., masculinity and power distance) and male sexual behaviour may heighten the risk of HIV and other STDs infection among sexually active men in Ghana (e.g., Adomako et al., 2009; Anarfi, 2006; Tsikata, 2007). Specifically, cultural orientation allows men to be sexually domineering (i.e., have multiple sexual partners that increase their risk taking) (Anarfi, 2006; World Health Organization, 2007). Given the widespread sociocultural acceptance of men having multiple sexual partners in most sub-Saharan African societies, studies like this would provide a more comprehensive understanding of multifaceted indicators surrounding the circumcision debate toward public reproductive health policy and implementation of practical interventions. The current study prospectively investigates the association between male circumcision status and the choice of multiple sexual partners in Ghana, where there is limited empirical data on the subject.

[read more]

01.07.2020

Tuning of swimming movements through interactive sonification of the flow induced by hand action - from experience to perception to expertise

This ISY Project in SS 2020 in collaboration of Dr. Thomas Hermann, Dr. Bodo E. Ungerechts and Dr. Daniel Cesarini is a continuation of the former Citec-project "Sonification in Swimming". The pressure waves induced by hand actions are sonified in real-time and the swimmer can listen to the effects of the hand action. To free the swimmers from the lab-situation, a new methodical setting (FlowSon) that can be attached to the swimmer is mainly developed by Lukas Klein und Tobias Sandmeier. The following modules belong to FlowSon: i) measuring-head between two fingers for recording the pressure waves, ii) measuring-box with hard- / software of sonification as well as iii) hard- / software of the inertia- sensor, iv) bone-conducted headphones and v) an antenna for data transmission via WLAN to the smartphone on land. The necessary app is also developed, as is a tool for displaying the pressure and inertia data in sync with the swimmer?s motion, who tunes the effectiveness of his actions in the interactional process.

[read more in German]
[read more in English]

17.06.2020

A new article

Rising Above Misinformation or Fake News in Africa: Another Strategy to Control COVID-19 Spread

in collaboration with Dr. John Elvis Hagan Jr. and Prof. Thomas Schack was published in Frontiers in Communication.

Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually gaining much popularity and amplifying the threat facing humanity about the continuous spread of the virus regardless of one?s location. Although some of the influx of these falsehoods may be harmless, others might pose a serious threat by misleading the general population to depend on unjustified and/unsubstantiated claims for protection and show preference for them against scientifically proven guidelines. The paper provides a clear understanding on some COVID-19 misinformation, the inherent implications this poses to public health in Africa and highlights the potential strategies to curb this trend.

[read the paper]

28.04.2020

Vecury - Digital Motor Rehabilitation

The Vecury project investigates how virtual reality in combination with 3D motion tracking can support patients and therapists during physical rehabilitation. The approach focuses on providing patients individualized guidance during exercise routines while allowing therapists to design customizable training plans and to receive objective data on the recovery progress. The Vecury rehabilitation platform has been specifically designed to be used by patients with musculoskeletal disorders of the upper-limbs. The project starts on May 1st, 2020.

>>>   The project also offers several master's theses.   <<<

[project page]
[read more (in German)]

24.04.2020

Forschungsprojekt AVIKOM

Ziel des vom ESF und BMBF geförderten Forschungsprojekts AVIKOM (Audiovisuelle Unterstützung durch ein kognitives und mobiles Assistenzsystem für die moderne Arbeitswelt) ist die Entwicklung eines innovativen, benutzeradaptiven und mobilen Assistenzsystems, das visuelle und akustische Unterstützung für eine Vielzahl von Arbeitsaktivitäten bietet.

[read more (in German)]

30.01.2020

On 28th January 2020 Rümeyza Gündüz Can received the dissertation award from the Bielefeld University Society for the best dissertation in the faculty of Psychology and Sport Science in 2019. All doctoral thesis were rated with the highest grade "summa cum laude" . The title of her dissertation is "Neurophysiological investigation of the functional interactions between manual action control and working memory".

[read more (in German)]