Perceptual and Motor Skills

This study compared effectiveness of the concentration period in two groups of shooters to evaluate the influence of their expertise while concentrating on the target. Marksmen (pistol shooters, 10 men and 5 women) and pentathletes (6 men and 7 women) took part in a shooting competition in keeping with the rules of each event. Participants were then asked to imagine themselves shooting, at the laboratory. Five variables representing the activity of the autonomic nervous system were continuously recorded (skin resistance and potential, skin blood flow, skin temperature, instantaneous heart rate). Autonomic responses recorded during concentration, actual shooting, and mental imagery were compared by calculating the ratios concentration/shooting and imagery/shooting. The resultant mean ratio was used to characterize each participant. The same autonomic nervous system pattern was observed during concentrating on the target, mental imagery, and actual shooting. However, marksmen showed ratios closer to 1.0 than pentathletes, absolute mean differences being .06 and .3, respectively. Shorter duration and weakest amplitude responses were recorded during the concentration phase in the Pentathlete group, suggesting that they have more difficulty in using mental imagery during competition than marksmen. When subjects performed well, a specific response pattern was observed in the Marksman group, but not in the Pentathlete group, except in skin potential. In both Marksman and Pentathlete groups, a majority of negative skin potential responses were found in the concentration and shooting phases for the best shots.

By using a sequence of digits it is possible to indicate the path of Corsi's block-tapping test by drawing a line to join the central points of the cubes which make up the sequence. By doing this one can analyze the sequence of digits according to quantitative parameters. There were three characteristics of the spatial path taken into consideration in this research: the number of cubes which constitute a series of digits, the number of times the path intersected itself, and the length of the path measured in millimeters. The experiment, carried out with 70 university students, showed that all three factors were significant on analysis of variance, and also that there were differences between the sexes, the men performing better. No interactions were significant. Despite this, additional significant differences were found among the series with the same number of cubes, intersections, and length, meaning that other variables influence the difficulty of the spatial path.

Seminal evidence for the Mozart effect was presented by Rauscher, Shaw, and colleagues in 1993 and 1994. A critical evaluation of their methodologies and interpretation of findings raises questions that must be answered before this evidence can be regarded as valid. We discuss issues such as their scoring of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the experimental design used in their 1993 study, the validity of their 1993 IQ measure, the duration of the Mozart effect, their choice of experimental tasks in relation to predictions of the trion model of neural functioning, and the statistical analyses and interpretation of results in the 1993 and 1994 studies.

Assessment of practical skills in physical education lessons have often been criticised as subjective. In this study three experienced judges' ratings poorly predicted the 116 students' scores on the French badminton short service test.

Cup stacking has been adopted recently by many physical education programs to enhance rudimentary motor skills such as hand-eye coordination and ambidexterity as well as quickness and concentration; however, no empirical evidence has been published to support these claims. We examined the influence of cup stacking on hand-eye coordination and reaction time of 24 boys and 18 girls in second grade as measured by the Soda Pop and Yardstick tests, respectively. Two physical education classes were randomly assigned as treatment and control groups and were pre- and posttested for hand-eye coordination and reaction time. The treatment group participated in a 5-wk. cup-stacking program. Significant improvements were noted for both hand-eye coordination and reaction time between the pre- and posttest scores for this group but not for the control group. Therefore, cup stacking is indeed effective in enhancing hand-eye coordination and reaction time.

We examined the vertical jump performance of each leg among 10 right-footed female ballet dancers with 1 yr. of international professional experience (quadrilles: Opera ballerinas). Their mean age was 17.5 yr. (SD = 03). The maximal height of the unilateral jump was recorded, and muscle mass was evaluated by biphotonic absorptiometry method. Muscle mass and maximal jump height were similar for the two legs. A strong inverse relation was found between the muscle mass of the right leg (67%) and maximal jump height (r = −.81, p < .01) but not for the left leg. These results highlight a functional asymmetry and the effect of motor laterality in dance.

In the applied context, short time-series designs are suitable to evaluate a treatment effect. These designs present serious problems given autocorrelation among data and the small number of observations involved. This paper describes analytic procedures that have been applied to data from short time series, and an alternative which is a new version of the generalized least squares method to simplify estimation of the error covariance matrix. Using the results of a simulation study and assuming a stationary first-order autoregressive model, it is proposed that the original observations and the design matrix be transformed by means of the square root or Cholesky factor of the inverse of the covariance matrix. This provides a solution to the problem of estimating the parameters of the error covariance matrix. Finally, the results of the simulation study obtained using the proposed generalized least squares method are compared with those obtained by the ordinary least squares approach. The probability of Type I error associated with the proposed method is close to the nominal value for all values of ρ₁ and n investigated, especially for positive values of ρ₁. The proposed generalized least squares method corrects the effect of autocorrelation on the test's power.

The current research assesses relationships among coping skills, trait sport confidence, and trait anxiety. Two samples (n = 47 and n = 77) of international competitors from surf life saving (M = 23.7 yr.) and touch rugby (M = 26.2 yr.) completed the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, Trait Sport Confidence Inventory, and Sport Anxiety Scale. Analysis yielded significant correlations amongst trait anxiety, sport confidence, and coping. Specifically confidence scores were positively associated with coping with adversity scores and anxiety scores were negatively associated. These findings support the inclusion of the personality characteristics of confidence and anxiety within the coping model presented by Hardy, Jones, and Gould, Researchers should be aware that confidence and anxiety may influence the coping processes of athletes.

This study considered the influence of competitive anxiety and self-confidence state responses upon athletic performance. 66 male beach volleyball players completed the translated and modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2 which included the original intensity scale and a direction scale of Jones and Swain. Players' performance was scored from the video records using a standard rating scales. Correlations indicated scores on Direction subscale of modified Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2 and Self-confidence were moderately positively (r = .27 to .51) correlated with different skill components and sum of skill components of beach volleyball. Stepwise multiple regressions indicated that, as anticipated, directional perceptions of cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence were significant predictors of beach volleyball performance but accounted for only 42% of variance. Original Intensity subscales of somatic and cognitive anxiety did not predict performance. Findings support the notion that direction of anxiety responses must be taken into consideration when examining anxiety-performance association in sport.

Harmonic priming studies have reported facilitated processing for chords that are harmonically related to the prime context. Responses to the target (the last chord of an 8-chord sequence) were faster and more accurate when the target was strongly related, i.e., a tonic chord, to the preceding prime context than when it was less related, i.e., a subdominant chord. Results have been interpreted in terms of musical expectations and processing speed: the prime allows listeners to develop expectations for future events which lead to facilitated processing of the most strongly expected event. The present experiment investigated an alternative hypothesis suggesting that the harmonic structure of the prime context might create an ambiguity about “when” to respond that is stronger in contexts ending on less related targets than in contexts ending on strongly related targets. A change of musical timbre was used as surface marker indicating without ambiguity the temporal occurrence of the target. Participants made speeded intonation judgments of the target, i.e., judging whether targets are acoustically consonant or dissonant. The findings replicate the previously reported priming effect and rule out that processing differences are solely due to ambiguities about when in time the target will occur.

This study assessed whether a boy with profound multiple disabilities and minimal motor behavior could learn to use a new response-microswitch combination to control environmental stimulation. The response selected was a chin movement; a mechanical microswitch was set up for this response. The boy learned to use the microswitch, increasing the frequency of the chin response and the level of pleasant stimulation following such response. The performance was retained at a 2-mo. postintervention check.

Blinking behavior during conversation may be different between conditions in listening and responding to questions because sifting attention from external to internal is possibly associated. The purpose of this study was to compare blinking behavior, duration, heart rates, and mental states during the tasks of listening to and responding to questions in Japanese and English. Participants were 67 (35 men and 32 women) undergraduate students. Blink rate while responding to questions in English did not differ from that while responding to questions in Japanese, but blink rate while listening to questions in English was significantly reduced compared to that while listening to Japanese. While anxiety and uneasiness were increased by the English conversation, blink rate and heart rate were decreased. Blinking behavior may be related to thinking and attention.

This study examined the differences in current and ideal body size among 108 Japanese and 129 Croatian preschool children (M = 4.9 yr.). Boys and girls in both samples showed similarities by selecting the figure representing their current body size. Significant sex differences were found in selection of an ideal figure in the Japanese sample but not in the Croatian group. Japanese girls showed greater preference for a thinner figure than boys. In selection of an ideal body size significant cultural differences were found only for boys: Japanese boys preferred thinner figures. Results relating to body discrepancy (Current minus Ideal figures) indicated that there were fewer satisfied Japanese girls than Croatian girls whereas for the boys, a significantly larger number of Japanese than Croatian boys wished to be heavier.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the type of sport is associated with coping styles. 80 athletes (weightlifters, runners, swimmers, and triathletes) were administered the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. Analysis showed weightlifters had a lower mean score on Avoidance coping than the other groups of athletes. Differences concerning sex and ability were found as well.

The methodological and empirical foundations underlying the theories on human left-handedness are examined, including the definition and classification of left-handedness, its relation to pathology, and the results on family, adoption, and twin research. It is argued that major research findings on left-handedness are based on inadequate empirical methods, and the concrete definitions and assessment procedures do not meet validity and reliability criteria. This also casts doubt on the relationship between left-handedness and pathology reported in the literature. Furthermore, findings from family, adoption, and twin studies do not allow interpretation of possible direct genetic contributions to explaining left-handedness. It is concluded that the methodological limitations of a causal explanation should encourage an examination of the epistemological and methodological premises of theory formulation. The functional method and a theoretical framework based on early childhood experiences and the neural plasticity of the brain may be more appropriate for the selection of empirical methods in research of human left-handedness.

Individual differences in muscle contractile speed during static explosive muscle contraction are reflected in the developmental phase of the force-time curve. The purposes of this study were to clarify the properties and reliability of the inflection point of force-time, statistically dividing speed during static explosive grip into two phases and to assess the relations between that inflection point and others. Static explosive grip data were measured two times with a 5-min. rest (sampling frequency; 100 Hz). 32 healthy, young men (age: 15.5 ± 0.8 yr., height: 173.9 ± 7.3 cm, body mass: 71.5 ± 11.2 kg) participated. 8 static explosive grip parameters were selected: time of reaching, integrated area, and quotient values of the integrated areas up to 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 sec. divided by maximal grip force. The inflection point was calculated statistically from two regression lines fitted to a developmental phase and the almost steady-state phase of reaching maximal grip force by applying a two-phase regression model. The reliabilities of maximal grip force, time of reaching 90% of maximal grip force, and the integrated area until 0.5 sec. and 1.0 sec. after the onset of grip were good (ICC = .77 to .93). The time of reaching an inflection force value appeared at 0.3 sec. after the onset of grip, corresponding to 80% of maximal grip force, and the reliabilities of the parameters regarding inflection point were good (ICC = .77 to .95). The time determined by boundary data between the former and the latter regression data set and the regression coefficient during the developmental phase correlated significantly with the time of reaching 90% of maximal grip force, the integrated area, and the quotient values of the integrated areas up to 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 sec. divided by maximal grip force (rs = −.78 to −.96 and −.75 to 0.88, respectively, p < .05). However, these parameters did not correlate with maximal grip force. A force during the developmental phase and maximal grip force can depend on different physiological factors. The time determined by boundary data between the former and the latter regression data set and the regression coefficient during the developmental phase are useful parameters for evaluating static explosive grip.

The present study evaluated the association among sex, sport, and injured body region of sport injuries. The subjects were 329 men and 127 women, ranging in age from 17 to 28 years, attending classes in the departments of Physical Training and Sport of Atatürk University (Erzurum, Erzincan, and Ağri in Turkey). There were no differences between men and women in percentages of injuries. The difference among various sports in the percentages of injured athletes was statistically significant. Running had the lowest percentage of injuries and basketball had the highest percentage. The most frequently injured body regions were the foot and the ankle in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and running, but in wrestling, the knee. These findings suggest that injury rates are associated with the sport rather than sex of player, and the most frequently injured body regions are the lower extremities. Therefore, the muscles of lower extremity should be strengthened to avoid injuries.

This investigation assessed two training methods to heighten awareness of the oral cavity in normal adult speakers of English. A pretest-posttest design was used. 40 subjects (M age = 25.6 yr., SD = 8.7) who passed a speech and hearing screening were placed into two equal-sized groups. Each group received 10 hr. of training over 3 wk. The Experimental group received verbal instructions regarding how the phonemes of English are produced, including tongue height, location, and contact with other structures in the oral cavity. Subjects in the Experimental group also used a tongue blade to enhance lingual awareness. The Control group received instructions in articulatory placement only. The Lingual Awareness Test required subjects to imitate 7 English syllables and answer 4 multiple-choice questions regarding lingual contact for each syllable. Posttest scores for the Experimental group were significantly better for one phoneme. The Control group made no significant improvement.

In this study, a questionnaire to assess achievement orientation in sport for Japanese athletes was developed. We created the questionnaire by picking items from free descriptions of Japanese athletes and using factor analysis of the responses in a Japanese sport setting. The subjects were 2,415 athletes (M = 16.7 yr., SD = 2.7) in Japan. Factor analyses in this study identified three factors. Top Level Orientation, Demonstrating Ability Orientation, and Win Orientation, respectively. An examination of the intercorrelations among the three scores showed the subscales were related. There were no correlations between the new measure and the Japanese versions of the Sport Orientation Questionnaire and the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire except that the correlation of Win Orientation and the SOQ Athletic Success Orientation was low and negative. These results suggested that the three subscales appeared to be separate but related factors, and that it is an original measurement for only Japanese athletes. The overall factor reliability and validity based on the sample suggested that the Sport Achievement Orientation Questionnaire for Japanese Athletes can be valuable means for the investigation of achievement orientation in Japanese sport and exercise settings.

This study tested 29 young Taiwanese men and 31 young Taiwanese women to examine the effects of pulling type (one-handed and two-handed) and height (48 cm, 84 cm, 120 cm, and 156 cm) on maximum horizontal isometric pulling strengths. Analysis showed differences in pulling strength between one-handed and two-handed efforts were surprisingly small for free pulling postures. The pulling strength decreased significantly with pulling height. The highest pulling strength was approximately two to three fold the lowest pulling strength across the four pulling heights. The women's pulling strength was approximately 59% to 67% of men's pulling strength. The test-retest correlations for pulling strength were satisfactory. The correlations between pulling strength and subjects' anthropometry were not sufficiently high to justify the prediction of strength. Most correlations between strengths in any two different pulling conditions were high and significant.

The purpose of this study was to examine concurrent validity of a new test for coordinated exertion of force. Coordinated exertion of force was measured using computerized target pursuit from the following viewpoints: the relations between the new test, a pursuit-rotor test, and a pegboard test. College students (24 men and 24 women) were required to change their grip exertion to match changing demand values (displayed in either a bar chart or a wave form) appearing on the display of a personal computer. The sum of the differences between the demanded values and grip-exertion values for 25 sec. was a parameter to evaluate the new test. The reliabilities of the new test, the pursuit-rotor, and the pegboard test were acceptable (ICC = .70 to .99). Scores on the new test showed low correlations with the pursuit-rotor and the pegboard test. The relation between the two different displays in the new test was significant but low (r = .49, p<.05). It was inferred that the new test measures a somewhat different ability than that measured by the pursuit-rotor and pegboard test and that the abilities tested by the types of displayed demand values are somewhat different.

The researchers examined the effects of reducing attentional demands on reading comprehension test scores. Third grade students (N = 939) completed two forms (T & S) of the Stanford 9 Reading Comprehension Test (54 items, 50 min.) in the spring of 1999. Form T (state-mandated) was administered following standardized procedures in one session. Form S (alternate) was administered in multiple, divided-time sessions, that is, the total test time and items were divided in halves and thirds per session to lessen attentional demands. A repeated-measure analysis of variance yielded significant effects for average and low readers. A resource match explanation and a metacognitive explanation are offered for the results, and educational implications are discussed.

This study analyzed the relationship between field dependence–independence and complex motor skills. According to the requirements of each sporting activity, subjects' motor system can be mainly controlled through exteroceptive or proprioceptive information. Sport performances require the athlete to disembed himself, other players, or the ball from the background, and decision-making appears to require cognitive restructuring. 26 athletes (13 men and 13 women) involved in acrobatic sports (gymnastics, trampoline, half-pipe snowboard, synchronized 3-m springboard, acrobatic rock, skateboard, and free skating) and 26 athletes (13 men and 13 women) involved in individual racket sports (tennis and table-tennis) completed the Group Embedded Figures Test. Participants (at least 10 years of practice) were from 16 to 35 years of age (M = 22.0, SD = 3.1). No significant difference among athletes on scores for field dependence–independence was evidenced given this expertise, sex, or age. Significantly higher scores were obtained by athletes in acrobatic sports, indicating that they tended to be predominately more field-independent whereas the lower scores were obtained by tennis and table-tennis players.

An experiment assessed whether novice table-tennis players' ball-balancing and bouncing skills could predict their performances after a semester of being coached. A pretest-posttest design was used to test this hypothesis with 82 male and 77 female physical education students who initially performed the skills and subsequently participated in a round-robin tournament. Moderate negative but significant (p<.01) Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were obtained between some of the ball control skills scores and overall ranking in the table-tennis tournament.

Interaction among cognitive, meta-cognitive, and emotional factors seems to play a determining part in achievement behavior and especially in scholastic performance. In this study some preliminary results are presented of the implementation of a multidimensional cognitive-behavioral psychoeducational program especially designed for students with reading disabilities in which parents and teachers also take part. The aim of the program was to provide students with appropriate emotional and cognitive skills with which to address their learning problems. First results on the efficacy of the implemented program to 20 primary school boys and girls with special reading disabilities encourage research on management of learning problems with focus on cognitive and emotional aspects in which parents and teachers contribute. Research including a control group is necessary.

A reliability check of Lester's (2000b) 1970–1995 time series that examined associations between the availability of firearms and their use for homicide and suicide in Canada. For the period 1974 to 1999, the relative availability of firearms as measured by the rate of accidental death from firearms and the average of the percentages of suicides + homicides using firearms was positively associated with the rate of homicide by firearms but not negatively associated with the rate of homicide by all other methods, and positively associated with the rate of suicide by firearms and negatively associated with the rate of suicide by all other methods. Correlations for the homicide versus murder rates, homicide rate using guns versus murder rate using guns, and homicide rate by all other methods versus murder rate by all other methods were very similar. There was a decrease over time of total suicide and homicide rates and firearm suicide and homicide rates, and with a slight indication of substitution of other methods for suicide.

Warning signals enhance psychomotor performance by optimising preparation for the arrival of an event. Recent evidence, however, suggests that a warning signal can also disrupt attentional preparation by interfering with the process of preparing. It was hypothesised that a warning signal consisting of a change to the task-relevant items (array onset) may be more effective than a traditional warning signal consisting of the arrival, or removal, of a bar-cue which is independent of the task array. In three experiments array onset was a more effective warning signal than the bar-cue because reaction times were significantly faster without an increase in errors. In addition, an auditory warning signal resulted in faster reaction time than the bar-cue but in performance equivalent to that with an onset warning signal. Thus, the superiority of an auditory warning signal, reported by Davis and Green, was not found, when the interference of the visual warning signal with preparation was reduced. These results suggest that a visual warning signal consisting of a change to the stimulus array is more effective than an event independent from the stimulus array.

This paper describes first results of the development of a new test to measure perceptual speed in everyday situations. The new items are best described as images depicting typical situations in everyday life, which have some picture elements in common. The pictures were presented to the subjects for a short time, and their task was to indicate which of 5 goal stimuli were present in the respective pictures seen before. In two studies, the scalability of the new items according to the Rasch model was investigated. In Study 1 data from 316 subjects with heterogeneous educational backgrounds were used in the empirical analysis. The results of Study 1 indicate that Rasch homogeneity and thus positive psychometric properties for the new test could be obtained. This result was further validated using a second sample (N = 198). The validation study replicates the results obtained in Study 1. These results represent a substantial condition sine qua non for following studies on the construct and criterion validity of the new test.

This pilot study examined the validity of a new scale of perceived exertion during acute bouts of resistance exercise in young children. The researchers developed an 11-point numerical scale with five pictures representing youths at various levels of exertion while lifting weights. 26 children (M age 10.1 ± 1.2 yr.) performed one set of 10 repetitions at 35%, 55%, and 75% of their one-repetition maximum on the chest press and leg press exercises using child-size weight training machines. Scaling procedures for the perceptual anchors on the perceived exertion scale were based on one repetition maximum testing. Children could use this scale to translate into numbers their perceptions of physical exertion during upper and lower body resistance exercise. Perceived exertion distributed as a positive linear function of the percent of one repetition maximum on the chest press and leg press exercises (rs = .70 to .77), and perceived exertion increased significantly across all three exercise intensities on both exercises. These preliminary findings provide partial evidence for validation when this scale was used during resistance exercise with children. Additional validation regarding perceived exertion during resistance exercise with children is warranted.

We empirically tested the assumption that study time increases recognition accuracy because the storage of information is better when study time is longer as Shiffrin and colleagues have reported, an assumption common to parallel models of recognition. In the present study with 123 subjects, we examined the effect of item strength on four measures: hit rate, false alarm rate, d′, and β, for a single-word recognition task with longer study times than those usually used in the literature. Analysis indicated significant increase for hit rate and d′ and a decrease in false alarm rate, as one goes from weak to stronger study conditions, and a change in ln(β) when study time is greater than 1 sec. These results suggest that familiarization is one, but not the only, factor underlying the strength-mirror effect.

Previous research on consumer satisfaction suggests that the anticipation of providing a later evaluation leads to more negative appraisals. Within the context of higher education, the current experiment focused on the evaluation of a presentation and its presenter. College students (35 men, 59 women) were randomly assigned to six conditions regarding evaluative expectations and peer recommendations. Students watched a brief video of a lecture on an educational topic and then evaluated the speaker and presentation. Anticipation of providing evaluations did not influence the subsequent evaluations; however, peers' positive recommendations led to more positive evaluations whereas negative recommendations led to more negative evaluations.

Given pharmaceutical advancements, more people with HIV will be living to old age. Cognitive declines have been observed both during normal aging and in people with HIV; whether there are cumulative cognitive declines in adults aging with HIV remains unknown. Based on current literature, adults aging with HIV may be at risk for psychomotor declines that resemble parkinsonianism.

The skill of writing numerals necessitates a certain developmental maturity. Studying the age at which children start to develop this skill and assessing problems they encounter while writing numerals should give direction to their training. From 8 schools a total of 267 children, ages 60 to 89 mo., were asked to write the numerals 1 to 9. Analysis showed that 80% of the children wrote most of the numerals correctly, 15% wrote inverted numerals, 2.0% wrote some numerals as letters, and 4% did not write certain numerals at all. In addition, 64% of children ages 60 to 65 mo. gave correct responses, and the perception of correct responses increased across age groups until 95% were correct in the group who were 84 to 89 mo. There was no significant difference between girls and boys in these writing skills.

A growing body of research now suggests that a substantial number of criminal offenders display neuropsychological deficits, especially frontal-executive dysfunctions. The present study investigated the possibility of similar deficits by comparing the performance of 60 adolescent sex offenders court-ordered to a residential treatment facility with the performance of 60 nonsexual delinquent offenders matched on several pertinent sociodemographic characteristics and scores on four neuropsychological tests: (1) the Trail Making Test, (2) the Controlled Oral Word Association test of the Multilingual Aphasia Examination, (3) the Tower of London, and (4) the Wisconsin Card-sorting Test. Analysis indicated a pattern of frontal-executive dysfunction in a subset of both groups of offenders; this pattern has both theoretical and treatment implications.

This study involved professional golfers who played in 1999 on the Professional Golfers' Association Tour (PGA Tour, N = 2,967), Senior Professional Golfers' Association (SPGA Tour, N = 2,751), and the Ladies Professional Golfers' Association (LPGA Tour, N = 2,638) and investigated whether there is independence between golfers' scores on consecutive rounds within tournaments. The mean correlations between scores on consecutive rounds for players on the PGA Tour (r = −.08, p<.01) and LPGA Tour (r = −.03, p = .05) were negative although negligible and of little practical importance. There was a small, positive correlation (r = .27, p<.01) between scores on consecutive rounds for players on the SPGA Tour. Such evidence suggests the greater dependence of golf scores on the SPGA Tour may be due to the greater range of players' skill on that tour.

34 participants judged the duration of a 4-sec. interval which was preceded by a contextual interval of 2, 6, 10, or 14 sec. Underestimations of the test interval when the contextual intervals were longer suggested temporal durations are affected by a mechanism of comparing and contrasting analogous to the one producing some visual illusions.

Harter's Self-perception Profile for Children was designed to assess children's domain-specific judgments of their competence (scholastic, social, athletic, physical, and behavioral), as well as global self-worth. The psychometric properties and exploratory factor analysis of the profile for two Spanish samples of children (49% boys and 51% girls; M age = 11.1 yr., SD = 9.7), were examined (n = 23 from an after-school social care center in an economically deprived neighborhood and n = 120 from a private school mainly enrolling families of medium socioeconomic status). All attending children between 9 and 12 yr. old were included. Analysis showed sex differences, with girls scoring lower than boys on Athletic Competence and higher on Behavioral Conduct. Children from the economically deprived group had higher scores on Social Acceptance and lower scores on Physical Appearance. The cross-cultural analysis showed that the Spanish control group scored significantly higher than the original American control group on Global Self-worth. A Spanish validation with 9- to 12-yr.-olds clearly replicated the five-factor structure reported by Harter in 1985 and also replicated the results obtained in other European samples, showing reliable and valid psychometric properties.

The aim of this research was to examine age differences in children's perceptions of dangerous substances. Children's responses to photographs of child models encountering alcohol, a syringe, medicine, glue, and household bleach were coded for recognition of substance, awareness of potential danger, and understanding of danger or harm. Responses from 59 children (28 girls and 31 boys, who were all children of the required age in an urban primary school) were compared across three age groups (6–7 years, 8–9 years, and 10–11 years). 15 to 18 of 20 children in each of three age groups recognised all the dangerous substances. Significant differences across age groups were found for awareness of the potential harm from alcohol, glue, and medicine, but not for the syringe or bleach. Children reported less serious consequences from ingesting alcohol than other substances, the consequences of sniffing glue tended to be confused with the sticking properties of glue, children's understanding of transmission of germs, disease, and AIDS through syringes was varied, and there was a tendency among the older children to underestimate the potential harm of self-administration of medicines. Findings were discussed in relation to children's concepts of danger and safety education.

This project examined the personal and social bases of children's self-concepts about physical movement. Children completed the Movement Assessment Battery, ASK-KIDS self-concept inventory, personal and social self-categorizations. Participants were girls and boys from 5 to 12 years old. Study 1-(N = 242) confirmed that the ASK-KIDS self-concept inventory could be extended to physical movement for younger and older girls and boys. In Study 2 (N = 42), self-concepts about movement were not necessarily associated with actual performance and personal self-categorizations about oneself as a ‘bookish’ or ‘sporty’ person. In contrast, self-concepts about physical movement were associated with social self-categorizations regarding age and sex. Study 3 (N = 70) confirmed the social basis of children's self-concepts about movement. Self-concepts about physical movement were associated with children's sense of belonging and not with a sense of individuality. The findings have implications for the design of programs that motivate children to participate in physical activities.

This study assessed the validity and reliability of the Cantonese-translated version of the Borg 6–20 Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale during continuous incremental cycle ergometry by Hong Kong adults. A total of 54 participants (25 males and 29 females), ages 22.2 ± 4.7 yr., volunteered to participate. They performed two trials of identical continuous incremental cycling exercise 1 wk. apart for the reliability test. The objective measures of exercise intensity (heart rate, power output, and oxygen consumption) and the subjective measure of effort (RPE) were obtained during the incremental exercise. Significant (p<.01) Pearson correlations were found when RPE values were correlated with heart rate (rs ≥ .73), power output (rs ≥ .69), and oxygen consumption (rs ≥ .68). The overall test-retest intraclass correlation (R = .92) indicated that the scale was reliable. In conclusion, this Cantonese scale for rating of perceived exertion appears to be a valid and reliable psychophysiological tool to measure perceptions of exertion during controlled cycle ergometer exercise by Hong Kong adults.

Sex-related effects of forced unilateral nostril breathing on the autonomic nervous system are considered. Recent studies described the effects of such breathing on autonomic activity as sex-specific as in prior studies.