PAPER #16 - SPATIAL ORIENTATION AND ATTENTION AT 12 YEARS OLD ARTISTIC GYMNASTS AND HANDBALL PLAYERS.

Problem Statement: Spatial orientation is the ability to anticipate and to imagine a fixed array after a change in perspective. Attention ensures the triggering, maintaining and optimization of the cognitive and psychomotor functioning. Purpose of Study: The purpose of our research consists of investigating the spatial orientation and attention concentration and mobility (expressed through attention efficiency coefficient) at 12 years old female artistic gymnasts, handball players and non-athletes. Research Methods: Observation, conversation, test - Spatial Orientation test (component of the computerized platform of psychological evaluation Cognitrom Assessment System, developed by Cognitrom), Attention Concentration and Mobility CMA test (within PSISELTEVA tests, elaborated by RQ Plus), statistical processing methods - SPSS and data interpreting. Findings: - There are statistically significant differences between the female handball players and the participants who aren't involved in any systematic physical activities, in terms of spatial orientation; - There are significant differences between the female practicing artistic gymnastics and non-athletes regarding the attention efficiency coefficient (the number of correctly issued answers in tasks demanding concentration and mobility of attention). Conclusions: Our research emphasizes statistically significant differences between the handball players and non-athletes, in connection to the spatial orientation. For this dimension we didn't found significant differences between the artistic gymnasts and the participants who do not conduct systematic physical activities. This aspect can be explained by the fact that in handball, the spatial memory is needed in order to understand the complex situations generated by the athletes own actions or by the opponents. The study results also show that there are significant differences between artistic gymnasts and non-athletes regarding the attention efficiency coefficient. In the case of the handball players this finding does not apply. This aspect can be related with the fact that, in artistic gymnastics the athletes perform antigravitational movements on different apparatus (for example: uneven bars, horizontal bar, vault), the risk of injury being high. At the same time, the phenomenon of social loafing may manifest in handball, while in artistic gymnastics, being an individual sport, the effort to achieve the goal (which involves intense focusing of psychic energy) "falls" only on one's shoulder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]