Learn about pre-performance routines; how panda fur works as camouflage; and how babies are enriched from sign language. A pre-performance routine makes athletes like Michael Jordan and Rafael Nadal perform better, regardless of what it is by Steffie Drucker Athletes with a pre-performance routine perform better. (2021, November 11). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934597 The effectiveness of pre-performance routines in sports: a meta-analysis. (2021). International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1750984X.2021.1944271 Grace Lisa Scott. (2017, July 10). Rafael Nadal’s Rituals Have a Psychological Benefit. Inverse; Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/article/33718-rafael-nadal-and-the-psychology-of-sports-rituals Khanna, V. (2020, March). Rafael Nadal’s Rituals: The Mechanism Behind the Rhythm. EssentiallySports. https://www.essentiallysports.com/rafael-nadals-rituals-the-mechanism-behind-the-rhythm-atp-tennis-news/ Sommer, S. (2013, December 30). 10 Athletes’ Odd Pregame Rituals. Business Insider; Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/athletes-odd-pregame-rituals-2013-12 Believe it or not, a panda's distinctive markings work as camouflage by Cameron Duke Giant pandas’ distinctive black and white markings provide effective camouflage, study finds. (2021, October 28). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932725 Nokelainen, O., Scott-Samuel, N. E., Nie, Y., Wei, F., & Caro, T. (2021). The giant panda is cryptic. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00742-4 For babies, sign language is just as cognitively enriching as spoken language by Steffie Drucker To baby brains, language is language, whether signed or spoken. (2021, October 26). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932704 Goodwin, C., Carrigan, E., Walker, K., & Coppola, M. (2021). Language not auditory experience is related to parent‐reported executive functioning in preschool‐aged deaf and hard‐of‐hearing children. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13677 American Sign Language. (2021, October 29). NIDCD. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/american-sign-language#1 Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter withCody Gough andAshley Hamer — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about pre-performance routines; how panda fur works as camouflage; and how babies are enriched from sign language.
A pre-performance routine makes athletes like Michael Jordan and Rafael Nadal perform better, regardless of what it is by Steffie Drucker
Believe it or not, a panda's distinctive markings work as camouflage by Cameron Duke
For babies, sign language is just as cognitively enriching as spoken language by Steffie Drucker
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/pre-performance-routines-panda-camouflage-baby-sign-language
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how a pre-performance routine makes athletes perform better; how a panda’s distinctive markings actually work as camouflage; and how babies are just as enriched from sign language as they are from spoken language.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
How do elite athletes perform under all that pressure on their sport’s greatest stage? Obviously practice, physical training, and talent play into it. But according to a new study, so does a healthy dose of ritual.
Michael Jordan always took a certain stance and executed a designated number of dribbles and spins before shooting a free throw. Tennis champ Rafael Nadal [rah-fye-ELL nah-DAWL] has a complex set of gameday rituals for on and off the court, ranging from the placement of his water bottle to how he prepares to serve. (If you’re wondering, he tucks his hair behind his ear, pulls on his nose, and adjusts his shorts.)
Some suspect that Nadal has obsessive-compulsive disorder while others believe he’s attempting to psych out his opponents. He says it’s for his psychological benefit — and the science backs him up.
A pre-performance routine, as scientists call it, can have multiple elements. It may involve a physical action, like dribbling before a free throw or tapping the stick before a penalty shot in hockey. It could be mental, like when a gymnast visualizes themselves executing a challenging skill before they do it. Or it could be as simple as taking a few deep breaths.
Sports psychologists regularly recommend pre-performance routines to their clients. And there’s been some evidence that they work. But until now, there hasn’t been a large study looking at many sports and athletes to really nail down whether a pre-performance routine is actually effective.
That’s why scientists at the University of Vienna gathered study data from 800 athletes across 15 different sports for a meta-analysis. They found that personal performance greatly improved once players started following a routine. They also outdid any competitors who didn’t have any special rituals. And the effectiveness of any given routine remained no matter what was involved or how long it took to learn. Pre-performance routines also prevailed regardless of the athlete’s gender, age, skill level, or sport or the amount of pressure they faced.
So why are pre-performance routines so effective? The researchers say they seem to reduce anxiety, increase feelings of control, and most of all, boost concentration and shut out distractions. Those are things any athlete can benefit from, no matter how silly their pre-performance routine might look.
So, basically, whatever works! And nobody ever said this was just for athletes, so if you want to touch your nose and adjust your shorts before your next job interview, I won’t judge.
Giant pandas are incredible animals. If you get the chance to see one at a zoo, you might never forget it. But if you come across one in the wild, you might not see it in the first place. That’s because their black and white fur works as an excellent camouflage.
I know what you’re thinking. Most animals dress in shades of brown and black to hide from predators. Pandas seem to throw caution to the wind in favor of something a lot more flamboyant. But if you think stark black and white is the exact opposite of camouflage, this next fact might surprise you: pandas aren’t the only species sporting this color scheme. Think about it! Skunks, zebras, orcas, and penguins all share similar shading. And believe it or not, all these animals are hard to spot in their environments.
To find out how, a team of researchers from the University of Bristol studied photographs of giant pandas in the wild. These photos are hard to come by, and they reveal something fascinating about the panda’s fur. One of the paper’s authors wrote that he, quote, “knew they were on to something” end quote, when he couldn’t spot the panda among the trees in a photo. The black patches on the panda’s body blend in with the shadows and the tree bark, while the white patches seem to disappear against the foliage and the snow. It’s a striking pattern in a zoo enclosure, but a basically invisible one in the panda’s natural habitat.
The researchers used a color map technique that breaks down how similar colors are to each other in a photo. They found through this analysis that the giant panda blends in with its background just as well as any other camouflaged species, and this holds true whether it’s seen through the eyes of a canine or a feline. Both of those are panda predators, and both have more limited color vision than we do.
In addition to blending into the background, the researchers also tested for disruptive coloration, or the type of coloration that breaks up outlines from a distance so you can’t make out the whole animal. Again, the black and white of the panda’s fur disrupts the panda’s shape, kind of like the striped black and white “dazzle camouflage” used by warships during World War 1.
Captive pandas might look like the zoo’s fashionistas. Because we never see them in their natural habitat, it’s tough to appreciate that all a panda wants to do is blend in.
Talking to babies helps them thrive. I mean, there’s evidence that low language exposure in the earliest days can lead to developmental delays. So where does that leave babies born deaf? A new study says that they’re just fine, thank you — as long as their parents use sign language. Because sign language? It’s just another language.
This discovery is a big deal, because kids with hearing loss or deafness born to hearing parents frequently experience those developmental delays I was talking about. As a result, doctors usually urge these parents to give their child surgically implanted hearing technology like a cochlear implant. Many in the Deaf community take issue with this guidance because it implies deafness is a medical disability that should be cured. Plus, it assumes that language is only spoken. Sign language is language, with its own distinct grammatical rules and dialects that vary throughout the world. It’s a key component of Deaf culture, along with the community’s history and institutions like schools, sports, and art.
The big problem with a lot of the existing research on this is that it’s based on hearing couples with deaf children who were only exposed to spoken language — not sign language. This new study from the University of Connecticut included deaf children raised with American Sign Language, or ASL. A total of 123 participants between the ages of 3- and 7-year-old were involved in the study. Forty-six had typical hearing while 77 had some hearing loss or were deaf. Of the deaf and hard-of-hearing children, a third learned ASL from a deaf parent from birth, another third learned ASL as toddlers, and the final third were only exposed to spoken English.
Scientists surveyed the parents about their child’s ability to follow multi-step instructions like “Go upstairs and get your shoes” and asked questions about issues with executive function or emotional outbursts. Whether it was spoken or signed, kids exposed to language later in life showed some developmental delays, just as expected. But those exposed to spoken or signed language from birth were on track for their age.
Hopefully this research will ease pressure on parents to pursue surgical implants for their children. And it’s a good reminder that whether you’re talking about English, Hindi, or Brazilian Sign Language, it’s all language to our brains.
CODY: Let’s recap what we learned today.
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CODY: Today’s writers were Steffie Drucker and Cameron Duke.
ASHLEY: Curiosity Daily is distributed by Discovery. [V5]
CODY: [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!