Winner of "The strength of young graduates" contest
Updated: Feb 10, 2019
Last Friday a postman knocked at my parent’s house in Italy.
He carried a parchment, from The National Strength and Condition Association (NSCA).
On it is written that my Master Degree Thesis won “The strength of young graduate contest” as second best Italian research in its field.
The research of 2015, is titled: “The biomechanics evaluation in studying the motion–cognition relationship” and can be summarised as follow:
Using a system of eight QTM cameras and a force plate, I measured the effect of different tasks upon the static balance in 20 young volunteers. To do so, I asked them to perform four tasks in a randomised order, while I was recording their centre of pressure (with force plate) and centre of mass (with 3D motion capture system). The tasks were:
Standing with open eyes (OE) - Participants were instructed to hold a steady position, standing up with their feet together, for the 30s.
Standing with closed eyes (CE). The same position as OE, but participants were instructed to keep their eyes closed for the 30s.
Cognitive dual task (COGN-DT). Holding the same steady position, participants were told to countdown aloud, backward in threes from a number that I randomly chose (between 80 and 100).
Motor dual task (MOT-DT). Same position, but for this task volunteers were instructed to move their fingers (of the right hand) and touch their thumb alternately, for the 30s.
What the result told us was that the COGN-DT was causing more perturbation, followed by the CE task.
Special thanks go to the people who helped me at the MotionLab in Naples (Professor Giuseppe Sorrentino, Dr Laura Mandolesi and Dr Pasquale Varriale), and to my current supervisors (Professor Alison McConnell, Professor Tom Wainwright and Dr James Gavin) who believed in me by giving me the opportunity to be at BU today.
Thanks you.
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