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The Most Important Senses In The Human Body Psychology Essay

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Psychology
Wordcount: 2355 words Published: 1st Jan 2015

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One of the most important senses in the human body is vision, which is the primary source of processing external information. Adequate visual skills are necessary for tasks such as reading and writing (Du Toit et al., 2011).

The visual skills that are most often researched and worked within sporting environments and performance contexts are eye dominance, static visual acuity, saccadic movements, pursuit tracking, vergence (the ability to retain binocular vision while crossing as well as uncrossing the eyes), eye-hand coordination and reflexes (Du Toit et al., 2011). These visual skills interact with one another and work together to bring about optimal vision (Du Toit et al., 2011). The development of these visual skills is normally brought about through providing sport vision exercises (Du Toit et al., 2006). These exercises are performance oriented vision care programmes which involve the enhancement, protection, correction, evaluation and education of an athlete’s vision. Sports vision exercises are administered to athletes to improve their performance by improving their visual skills (Du Toit, Krüger & Neves, 2007).

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It is believed that sports vision exercises help athletes, since an athlete’s visual performance is a significant element for excellence in sport. In addition, because many sporting activities are hindered by poor vision, it is of vital importance for the athlete to have training that includes sports vision exercises in order to excel in their sport (Du Toit, van Vuuren, van Heerden & de Wet, 2006). It has been shown in certain studies that sports vision training does improve visual skills in athletes. For example, Wilson and Falkel (2004) reported that sports vision exercises enhance eye movement efficiency and elicit a beneficial psychological response, while Du Toit, Krüger, Chamane, Campher and Crafford (2009) established that sports vision training does enhance performance and gives athletes an advantage over their rivals.

Athletes, however, are just one of the groups that can benefit from these sports vision exercises. Administering sports vision exercises to a non-athlete population such as students may have significant benefits if the student’s visual skills can be improved, as these skills are a necessary component for academic achievement (Du Toit, Krüger, Chamane, Campher & Crafford, 2009). It is widely recognised that the ability to efficiently read and write plays a central role in academic achievement. A learner must have optimal vision to be able to read and write efficiently. Due to efficient reading and writing, a student can effectively look through a large amount of literature to find the appropriate information to use in assignments. This is done so as to comply with certain academic requirements, and the prescribed study material can be learned more quickly. All of this will in turn improve academic achievement (Du Toit et al., 2011). Improving a student’s visual skills may lead to an increase in their cognitive performance and learning, both of which are vital for academic performance (Du Toit et al., 2009).

A study conducted by Maples (2003) revealed that inefficient visual skills negatively affect a student’s learning, and that if the visual skills of students are improved it is possible that academic scores and performance may increase as well. It is possible that improving visual skills could make an important contribution to solving the problem of academic under achievement (Maples, 2003). At present, however, students do not receive visual skills training. This is because a learning institution such as a university or school is geared towards educating students and preparing them for future careers. Besides administering or encouraging eye tests resulting in corrective care, the focus is not on improving visual skills.

Another problem with teaching visual skills to students is related to the fact that learning such skills may be impacted upon by various emotional states (Janelle, 2002). Before one can determine whether sports vision exercises can enhance a student’s academic performance by improving his/her visual skills, one needs to account for factors such as emotional states that may impact on the learning of such skills. As such, it is reasonable to propose a connection between emotional states and the learning of visual skills. Research (Janelle, 2002; Henderson & Wilson, 1991) has indicated that anxiety and curiosity are the two emotional states which in particular may have an impact on the learning of visual skills. Janelle (2002) has noted that anxiety decreases a person’s ability to learn visual skills whilst curiosity, on the other hand, increases an individual’s ability to learn visual skills (Henderson & Wilson, 1991).

Anxiety is a negative emotional state which interferes with the learning of visual skills. This is because increased anxiety can trigger physical problems such as the tightening of the body’s muscles, which in turn causes fatigue (Potgieter, 2003). Anxiety also causes feelings of panic, confusion, dizziness and depression. Anxiety can also reduce a person’s tolerance of setbacks, pain and discomfort, and cause a person to give up more easily than when not anxious (Potgieter, 2003). Anxiety also reduces visual skills (Janelle, 2002). This is because an increase in anxiety causes a narrowing in attentional focus. When attention narrows beyond an optimal point it produces a tunneling effect, and as a result some relevant cues are also eliminated, which causes a decline or deterioration in performance (Easterbrook, 1959). Anxiety also affects attentional processes by causing the person to focus his/her attention internally rather than externally. The individual becomes preoccupied with his/her own negative feelings and thoughts instead of concentrating on the task at hand (Potgieter, 2003).

Curiosity, which has an inverse correlation with anxiety (Voss & Keller, 1983), has been linked to intelligence. It is thought that more curious people are more intelligent (Henderson & Wilson, 1991). Because of this link, it is proposed that the presence of curiosity would facilitate the learning of visual skills (Henderson & Wilson, 1991). People who display high curiosity are expected to show a greater improvement in their visual skills, as higher curiosity may result in the increased use of visual search strategies and more exploratory visual behaviour (Daffner, Scinto, Weintraub, Guinessey & Mesulam, 1992).

1.2 The problem statement

It is widely recognised that, within an educational setting, individual students exhibit different degrees of learning potential concerning different tasks (Maples, 2003). If a non-athlete population such as students could also receive the same benefit that athletes get from sports vision exercises, then these students will have a method to improve their visual skills, and in turn improve their academic performance. This is so because in most cases visual skills are a vital component for academic achievement. In addition, du Toit et al. (2011) have demonstrated that adequate visual skills are necessary for reading and writing which are fundamental components of learning.

Before one can determine whether sports vision exercises can enhance a student’s academic performance by improving his/her visual skills, one needs to factor in the presence of emotional states such as anxiety and curiosity. It was previously indicated that both these emotional states have an impact on the learning of visual skills. Since little research has been conducted on the relationship between the learning of visual skills and the presence of these two emotional states, one needs to determine the extent of the effect that anxiety and curiosity will have on the learning of visual skills.

Previous studies have examined the positive impact that sports vision exercises have on the visual skills of adults and children with visual defects (Hazel, 1995). However, there are very few studies which focus on the effect that sports vision exercises have on non-athletes with corrected to normal or normal vision (Du Toit et al., 2011). In addition, little is known about the effect that anxiety and curiosity may have on the learning of visual skills. As there has not been extensive research done on the effect that anxiety and curiosity may have on visual skills and the learning thereof, this study is exploratory in nature and could open up a new avenue of exploration into visual skills and sports vision exercises, and how to effectively administer these exercises. This exploratory research will add to the existing body of knowledge which emphasises the link between curiosity and intelligence. This study will also attempt to establish a link between curiosity and an increased ability to learn visual skills, and anxiety and a decreased ability to learn visual skills, after receiving sport vision exercises.

Although academic performance will not be measured, the results of the research may be used in future studies to implement programmes into the University curriculum which could provide visual skills training. Further research can follow to determine how to optimally deliver visual skills training to students.

 

1.3 Research aims

The primary aim of this study is to determine whether anxiety and curiosity have an impact on a student’s ability to learn visual skills directly after receiving sports vision exercises for 12 weeks.

To determine whether there are relationships between anxiety, curiosity and visual skills, and what the extents of these relationships are, the following secondary aims were formulated:

To determine whether sports vision exercises improve the visual skills of second-year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

In order to measure this particular aim, the following hypotheses were set:

H0: There is no relationship between sports vision exercises and the improvement of visual skills among second year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

H1: There is a statistically significant relationship between sports vision exercises and the improvement of visual skills among second year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

To determine whether anxiety influences the learning of visual skills after receiving sports vision exercises.

In order to measure this particular aim, the following hypotheses were set:

H0: There is no relationship between anxiety and the learning of visual skills among second year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

H1: There is a statistically significant relationship between anxiety and the learning of visual skills among second year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

To determine whether curiosity influences the learning of visual skills after receiving sports vision exercises.

In order to measure this particular aim, the following hypotheses were set:

H0: There is no relationship between curiosity and the learning of visual skills among second year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

H1: There is a statistically significant relationship between curiosity and the learning of visual skills among second year physiology students at the University of Pretoria.

1.4 Proposed structure of the study

Chapter one introduced the study and the key concepts under investigation. Following this, the problem statement and research aims were discussed.

In chapter two, all the constructs under investigation will be defined and discussed in full. The way in which the constructs relate to one another will be indicated, and the reasons for studying these particular sets of constructs will be provided.

The emphasis in chapter three will be on describing the research design that was chosen for the study, and the reasons for choosing it will be provided. In addition, cognitivism will be discussed, as well as the reason for choosing cognitivism as the guiding paradigm for this research. A detailed discussion will be provided on the method of sampling, as well as the sample (an in-depth description of the individuals in the sample; specifically the respondents in the control group and the respondents in the experimental group). Discussions will also be presented on the measures used for data collection and the data collection process. Before the conclusion, the type of statistics used to analyse the data will be discussed, and a discussion on ethical considerations will be provided.

Chapter four will provide the findings of the research and will be comprised of the statistical output gained from data collected from the research participants.

Chapter five will provide a discussion of the results supported by the theory and the literature as presented in chapter two. Recommendations for future research and a conclusion to the study will be provided. The limitations of the present study and dissemination of the research results will also be discussed. Each chapter will be ended off with a conclusion.

1.5 Conclusion

Good visual skills are essential components in achieving educational, economic and social success and independence (Marshall et al., 2010). A need has been identified to determine whether the visual skills of students can be improved through sports vision exercises, and whether the potential benefits derived from these sports vision exercises may be influenced by emotional states such as anxiety and curiosity.

The following chapter presents an overview of the past and current literature on the constructs of visual skills, sports vision exercises, anxiety and curiosity. The potential influence of anxiety and curiosity on visual skills is explored, and the efficacy of sports vision exercises in improving visual skills is discussed.

 

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