Perceptual and Motor Skills

The dominant hand can be defined in such a way that Oldfield's Handedness Inventory may not identify the superior hand, i.e., the hand with more strength and/or more force control. The dominant and nondominant hands were compared for two different grip force-exertion tests. 50 healthy young men (M age = 21.1 yr.) performed two tests with each hand: a maximal grip strength test and a controlled force-exertion test with dynamic demand. In the latter test, the participants matched their submaximal grip force to the changing demand values with real-time feedback. The total sum of the differences between the demand value and grip force value for 25 sec. was used as an evaluation parameter for the test (unit: %). Mean maximal grip force values in the right and left hands were 439.9 N (SD = 59.1) and 405.6 N (SD = 59.3), respectively. Mean controlled force-exertion test values in the right and left hands were 610.3% (SD = 150.2) and 722.6% (SD = 147.8), respectively. In both tests, the dominant hand was significantly stronger and controlled dynamic force better. The relationship between the two hands was very high. Based on this study's criteria, the dominant hand was stronger in 34% (n = 17) of participants during the maximal grip strength test and more controlled in 54% (n = 27) of participants during the controlled force-exertion test. Thus, the dynamic force control test showed that for significantly more people the dominant hand is stronger and controls force better. Controlled force exertion may be a better test for identifying the superior hand.

The effects of different amounts of mental practice on the performance of a motor skill were studied. Research supports the effectiveness of mental practice on performance; however, little is known about how much practice is needed and whether there is an optimal amount for these practice effects. Participants, 209 students ages 18 to 44 years (M = 20.5, SD = 2.9), completed a pre- and posttest of dart throwing with the nonpreferred hand. In the practice phase, participants completed either 25 (Mental Practice 25), 50 (Mental Practice 50), or 100 (Mental Practice 100) trials of the darts task or 50 trials of a catching task (Catching Task). Performance for all groups improved from pre- to posttest. Improvements for the three mental practice groups were greater than for the Catching Task group; however, there were no differences for the three Mental Practice groups. The findings support the positive effect of mental practice over a control condition and suggest that small amounts of mental practice may be sufficient for performance improvements, at least for a simple motor skill.

This experiment with school-age children was designed to assess the extent to which training in a “small-scale space”—so-called manual rotation training—can improve performance in a “large-scale space.” In a preliminary test, 72 9- and 10-yr.-olds completed a direction estimation test. Half of the children then completed manual rotation training or played a nonspatial computer game. All of the children subsequently performed the direction estimation test again. Performance in direction estimation did not differ between the preliminary test and the posttest. Thus, in contrast to the parallel study with adults, the “small-scale spatial ability” was not associated with “large-scale ability.”

Accurate measures of muscular strength can yield insights about children's growth and development. The purpose of this study was to examine grip strength performances by boys and girls ages 5 to 19 years. A Jamar dynamometer was used to measure grip strength by 736 boys and girls ages 5 to 19 years. Multiple regression equations were applied to analyze the data. Overall, age-sex trends were similar to previous reports as boys and girls increased their performances across age levels. After age 12, boys' mean grip strength increased at a faster rate than girls'. However, participants in the present study performed better in the upper age ranges (13–19 yr.) than did boys and girls tested a generation ago. Potential associations between activity choices and grip strength are discussed.

50 male and 50 female participants' facial electromyographic (EMG) activity at the left corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions and self-reports of emotions were recorded while they were viewing Pleasant and Unpleasant photographs. Analysis showed that the ratio of EMG power between the periods of photograph viewing and baseline at the zygomatic muscle region was significantly higher than that at the corrugator muscle region while viewing Pleasant photographs and that the EMG ratio at the corrugator muscle region was significantly higher than that at the zygomatic muscle region while viewing Unpleasant photographs. Further analysis indicated that compared to men, women reported relatively higher feelings of pleasantness and generated significantly higher EMG ratios at the zygomatic muscle region while viewing Pleasant photographs and women reported significantly less feelings of pleasantness and generated significantly higher EMG ratios at the corrugator muscle region while viewing Unpleasant photographs. These results demonstrate the sex effects on emotion expression and associated EMG responses while viewing emotion provoking photographs.

Occurrence of the home disadvantage in Davis Cup tennis matches was examined by analyzing the outcome of Davis Cup finals matches from 1900 to 2007. There was no significant home disadvantage when Matches 1 and 2 were compared with Matches 4 and 5. However, there was a significant home disadvantage when Matches 1 and 2 were compared with Match 5. These findings are compared with those from earlier studies in which data from professional basketball and baseball were examined.

The representation of firstborns among 1,293 (650 women, 643 men) university freshmen in Kenya (M age = 20.8 yr., SD = 1.9) was explored. In a situation where university admission is very competitive, it was hypothesized that firstborns would be numerically more represented than later borns. The results indicated (a) an overall preponderance of the firstborns (20%), (b) only children and lastborns were the least represented groups at 1 and 5%, respectively, and (c) firstborns tended to come from relatively smaller families than the later borns. The findings were discussed in relation to previous studies, family size, and implications for future research in a subsistence society.

The relationship between hand preference and duration of sleep was assessed in 40 healthy subjects using self-report estimates, sleep diaries, and wrist activity monitors during an uncontrolled 7-day at-home phase and during a controlled overnight stay in a sleep laboratory. Handedness was unrelated to any index of sleep duration when assessed in the unregulated home environment. In the controlled environment of the laboratory, however, greater right-hand dominance was positively correlated with more minutes of obtained sleep and greater sleep efficiency. Findings were consistent with previous reports which suggest measures of brain lateralization may be related to sleep and health but further suggest that these relationships may be easily obscured by extraneous environmental factors when assessed in an uncontrolled setting.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the frequency of violent behaviors in educational centers, according to self-report of the teaching staff. To that end, a questionnaire about school violence was administered to a sample of 616 teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Galicia, Spain. Disruptive and antisocial behaviors in the student population were reported to affect the teaching effort negatively. The compiled data indicate verbal aggression is the most common form of violence used by the student population and reveal the dissatisfaction of teaching staff not prepared for this challenge. Teachers felt the need to devise new effective responses to promote concord in educational communities.

State and trait anxiety levels in elite Spanish women basketball players were investigated and possible differences in sources of anxiety identified, comparing National Team and First Division players. 84 players participated (13 National Team members, 71 First Division players). A quantitative/qualitative design was used. Results indicated that National Team members had lower State and Trait Anxiety scores than did the First Division players and both groups had lower scores than established population norms. Playing time was significantly related to State and Trait Anxiety for both groups of players and those who had more minutes of playing time had lower scores. Qualitative analyses indicated that the primary sources of anxiety reported by these athletes related to personal issues pertaining to feeling physically and mentally unprepared for practice and games.

Questionnaires were administered to 120 students. Cluster analysis was used to examine whether specific groups could be described by a writing self-efficacy scale, English writing anxiety scale, and a written General English Proficiency Test. Three clusters were observed. Demographic variables were compared for each cluster, including age, sex, program of study, years of English instruction, native language, and number of English speaking acquaintances. Efforts to reduce writing anxiety and promote writing self-efficacy could enhance writing scores of participants.

This study, based on the theory of deliberate practice, examined the practice relevance, effort, and inherent enjoyment aspects of the theory. 25 college undergraduates practiced playing a melody on an electronic keyboard for three 20-min practice sessions. Following each session, the perceived relevance of the practice for improving performance of the melody, the effort needed to learn the melody, and the inherent enjoyment of the practice were each rated on 10-point scales. Findings were consistent with theory and similar to previous studies also involving music practice and other tasks.

The purpose of this study was to investigate gait spatial parameters at the point of departure, with obstacle heights adjusted to individual body scale. Undergraduate student volunteers (M age = 22.4 yr., SD = 2.1; 6 women, 1 man) were asked to step once, then cross over an obstacle and stop. This behavior was video recorded to extract kinematic data. The obstacle heights corresponded to high (knee-height) and low obstacles (half the knee-height). Points of departure corresponded to far (length of the lower limb) and close (half the length of the lower limb). The close point of departure influenced the trailing foot's placement ahead of the obstacle as well as step length. The high obstacle influenced the trailing foot's toe clearance. An interaction between factors was observed for leading foot toe clearance. Results indicate that body scale affected the participants' locomotor behavior during the obstacle-avoidance task.

Variations of the Craik-O'Brien, Müller-Lyer, reversed Müller-Lyer, orthogonal Müller-Lyer, and Ponzo illusions were created using 10 to 12 parallel lines. 20 participants judged which of two physically equal lines in the patterns appeared longer. For 4 of the 5 patterns, the parallel lines created illusions which corresponded to those produced by the template figures. The results suggest that length is encoded by frequency of neural response and that the parallel line illusions, as well as their classical counterparts, emerge from interactions which distort this frequency code.

Self-assessed tactical skills were investigated among 191 youth soccer players from ages 14 through 18 playing in different field positions. On a yearly basis, all players completed the Tactical Skills Inventory for Sports with scales for attacking and defensive situations and for declarative and procedural knowledge. A model to assess whether tactical skills change over time in each field position was developed using multilevel analysis. The models indicated that defenders and midfielders did not improve their tactical skills, whereas attackers increased their tactical skills from ages 14 to 18 years. The representing part of tactical skills for defenders is Acting in Changing Situations, for midfielders Positioning and Deciding, whereas Knowing About Ball Actions was the qualifying factor for attackers. Possible explanations for these differences in tactical skills among elite youth soccer players are the selection procedures at a younger age and task-specific experiences.

The purpose of this study was to describe skills and offensive tactics frequently used in pick-up basketball games. 65 participants were recruited from public basketball courts. An observational instrument was developed to analyze the performances of pick-up games. Participants' performances were videotaped and coded. Results indicated that the passing skills most frequently observed in the games were chest pass, overhead pass, and bounce pass. For dribbling, crossover dribble and change-of-pace dribble were frequently observed. Jump shot, set shot, and layup were also frequently used. The offensive tactics frequently used included drive, cut, and set screen. The study may be beneficial for helping young people prepare to play pick-up basketball games.

This study assessed the possibility of reducing hand mouthing, i.e., bringing fingers into or over the mouth, by an adolescent with multiple disabilities through a technology-based stimulation strategy. The strategy ensured that (a) the participant received 10 sec. of preferred stimulation contingent on the response of bringing both hands into a box with objects, and (b) the stimulation would be interrupted prematurely if the participant removed one or both hands from the box for 2 sec. The study involved an ABAB sequence (in which A represented baseline and B intervention phases) and a 3-mo. postintervention check. Data showed that the response of bringing both hands into the box increased from a mean frequency of about four per 10-min. session during baseline to a mean frequency of over 30 per session during the second intervention phase and the postintervention check. During these periods, the participant's mean hand-mouthing time per session was below 1.5 min. (compared to above 7 min. during baseline) and the mean stimulation time per session was about 4 min. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Covalently bonding multiple fluorine atom tags to the precursors of monoamines could provide compounds for functional imaging. Theoretically, the fluorine atoms can produce detectible signal if concentrated in vesicles inside neurons. Prior to committing more costly resources to the project, evidence was sought for uptake of the molecules into neurons in living organisms. Two ¹⁹F tag configurations of seven or nine atoms were investigated. Crayfish aggression provided a paradigm for obtaining preliminary data on the scarce new molecules. After establishing that 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) elicited serotonin-like effects, the fluorine tagged versions (PF-5-HTP) were investigated; then, the elevated aggression produced by these precursors to serotonin was blocked by coadministering fluoxetine. Treatment order effects and interrater reliability of the behavioral inventory were evaluated. Preliminary evidence that these imaging compounds are taken up into neurons obtained by studying crayfish behavior later found support using more sophisticated neuroscience techniques.

The main questions addressed in this work were whether and how adaptation to suppression of visual information occurs in a free-fall paradigm, and the extent to which vision availability influences the control of landing movements. The prelanding modulation of EMG timing and amplitude of four lower-limb muscles was investigated. Participants performed six consecutive drop-landings from four different heights in two experimental conditions: with and without vision. Experimental design precluded participants from estimating the height of the drop. Since cues provided by proprioceptive and vestibular information acquired during the first trials were processed, the nervous system rapidly adapted to the lack of visual information, and hence produced a motor output (i.e., prelanding EMG modulation) similar to that observed when performing the activity with vision available.

Motor learning textbooks provide specific recommendations for the use of whole and part practice during motor skill acquisition. Magill recommended basing decisions on Naylor and Briggs' hypothesis of task complexity and organization, while Schmidt and Wrisberg recommended basing decisions on skill classification. To evaluate the accuracy of these recommendations, a meta-analysis was conducted. Through a literature search, 44 articles were located, and 20 provided sufficient information to calculate effect sizes. Effect sizes were calculated using means for whole and part practice for acquisition and retention. Although several analyses were compromised by insufficient studies investigating whole and part practice, mean effect sizes generally supported motor learning textbooks. To better verify the empirical validity of recommendations for the use of whole and part practice, more studies are necessary.

The relationships between economic conditions, cultural characteristics, personality dimensions, intelligence scores, and road-traffic accident mortality rates were investigated in 30 member and five accession countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Economic indicators included the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, the unemployment rate, and the Gini index. Cultural variables included five Hofstede's cultural dimensions, seven Schwartz cultural value dimensions, NEO-PI-R scales, and the intelligence quotient (IQ). The results showed positive associations between favorable economic conditions (high income per capita, high employment rate, and low income inequality) and high traffic safety. Countries with higher road-traffic accident fatality rates were characterized by higher power distance and uncertainty avoidance as well as embeddedness and emphasis on social hierarchy. Countries with lower road-traffic accident fatality rates were more individualistic, egalitarian, and emphasized autonomy of individuals. Conscientiousness (from NEO-PI-R) and IQ correlated negatively with road-traffic accident fatalities.

Human monitoring performance was compared for different screens within a single display. Participants' performance with random signals and different numbers of split screens was tested for a period of time. The performance measures were hit rate, false alarm rate, and response time. Results indicated that the response time and false alarm rate significantly increased with the number of split screens. Results also showed that signal frequency significantly influenced the false alarm rate. The location of the 9-screen display was analyzed on hit rate and false alarm rate. More attention was paid to the center screen as indicated by both the higher hit rate and false alarm rate. Findings suggest that designers of monitoring systems should take into consideration the trade-off between the number of multiple split screens and the limited human capability for monitoring performance. Furthermore, it is suggested that high risk and critical information should be placed in the center region to be detected effectively.

To assess whether sport involvement, particularly as a fan, is central enough to one's self-concept to be mentioned in obituary content, it was hypothesized that a greater proportion of men's obituaries than women's would mention the deceased individual's sport fan identification. Obituaries were randomly selected from 19 newspapers and coded for specific affiliations (e.g., military) and involvement in leisure activities (e.g., sport participation). Consistent with the hypothesis, a chi-squared analysis indicated the men's obituaries (15.2%) were significantly more likely than the women's (5.2%) to mention sport fan identification. A higher proportion of the men's obituaries (24.4%) mentioned sport participation than the women's obituaries (7.4%).

This study assessed golfers' gaze behavior in both the preparation (line reading) and execution (ball striking) of putts with different break characteristics. Six golfers completed 25 3-m putts on five different slopes (flat, 0.9° and 1.8° left-to-right, 0.9° and 1.8° right-to-left), while their gaze behavior was analyzed using an Applied Science Laboratories Mobile Eye gaze-registration system. Frame-by-frame analyses of 136 putts were performed to assess the number and duration of fixations made during the preparation and execution phases of the putts. Putting performance was significantly poorer for the most severe break (1.8°) than for other conditions. The only gaze variable to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful putting outcome was the quiet eye period (the final fixation prior to the initiation of the putter movement). Specifically, participants had significantly longer quiet eye periods on successful than on unsuccessful putts.

Previously cyclic meditation and supine rest have been shown to improve performance in a letter cancellation task requiring attention, visual scanning, and motor speed. The present study assessed the performance in 57 volunteers (all male, M age = 26.5 yr., SD = 4.6) in three tasks, viz., a digit-letter substitution task (DLST), a letter-copying task, and a circle-dotting task. The DLST assessed attention and speed of information processing, while the other 2 tests assessed motor speed. Each participant was assessed before and after three types of sessions: Cyclic Meditation, Supine Rest, and Control (no intervention). DLST scores and scores for letter-copying and circle-dotting tasks improved significantly after cyclic meditation; the same scores also improved after supine rest. There was no change after the no-intervention/Control session. From the results it was difficult to conclude whether improved DLST scores after cyclic meditation were due to better information processing speed or improved motor speed.

V. A. Lefebvre proposed an algebraic model of self-reflexion in the 1980s, and one of the model's central predictions was that individuals would exhibit a clear asymmetry in their judgments when facing an ambiguous binary choice task. A replication of the results of a 1990 test of Lefebvre's model was attempted by asking individuals to sort pairs of pinto beans into boxes marked as either “good” or “bad.” Consistent with the model's predicted frequency of .618, the participants judged the beans to be good with an average frequency of .624. This result was also significantly higher than the frequency expected from random judgments (viz., .50).

Effects of the difficulty of a peripheral target, the priority assignment of attentional resources for simultaneous peripheral and foveal tasks, and the foveal task load and order of testing of cognitive foveal loadings on visual lobe shape characteristics were investigated. Analysis showed that lobe shape characteristics were affected by target difficulty but not the low foveal load. For the tasks used here, attentional resources were sufficient for participants to perform both peripheral and foveal tasks concurrently; therefore, priority assignment of attentional resources had no effect on lobe shape. With regard to order of testing of foveal loading, lobe roundness, boundary smoothness, and vertical symmetry improved with a positive practice effect for the groups tested in the high level–low level order. The implication is that providing training or practice to participants on a task with a higher level foveal load could optimize lobe roundness, boundary smoothness, and symmetry. Performance on the foveal task was better with easy peripheral targets than difficult targets and better for the foveal-primary than for the peripheral-primary conditions, presumably because of the larger proportion of attentional resources allocated to the foveal task for these two groups.

For 49 college students, cognitive complexity as measured by George Kelly's REP Grid technique was associated with Judging–Perceiving scores on the Keirsey-Bates Temperament Sorter.

An empirical study was carried out to examine the effects of color combination and ambient illumination on visual perception time using TFT-LCD. The effect of color combination was broken down into two subfactors, luminance contrast ratio and chromaticity contrast. Analysis indicated that the luminance contrast ratio and ambient illumination had significant, though small effects on visual perception. Visual perception time was better at high luminance contrast ratio than at low luminance contrast ratio. Visual perception time under normal ambient illumination was better than at other ambient illumination levels, although the stimulus color had a confounding effect on visual perception time. In general, visual perception time was better for the primary colors than the middle-point colors. Based on the results, normal ambient illumination level and high luminance contrast ratio seemed to be the optimal choice for design of workplace with video display terminals TFT-LCD.