Judging the 'passability' of dynamic gaps in a virtual rugby environment

Affordances have recently been proposed as a guiding principle in perception–action research in sport (Fajen, Riley, & Turvey, 2009). In the present study, perception of the ’passability’ affordance of a gap between two approaching defenders in rugby is explored. A simplified rugby gap closure scenario was created using immersive, interactive virtual reality technology where 14 novice participants (attacker) judged the passability of the gap between two virtual defenders via a perceptual judgment (button press) task. The scenario was modeled according to tau theory (Lee, 1976) and a psychophysical function was fitted to the response data. Results revealed that a tau-based informational quantity could account for 82% of the variance in the data. Findings suggest that the passability affordance in this case, is defined by this variable and participants were able to use it in order to inform prospective judgments as to passability. These findings contribute to our understanding of affordances and how they may be defined in this particular sporting scenario; however, some limitations regarding methodology, such as decoupling perception and action are also acknowledged.     

Posture-related affordances guide attacks in basketball

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the decision made by the attacker to drive to the left or right of the defender.

Method

Participants were 32 novice and intermediate basketball players who were assigned the role of attacker or defender in a one-on-one subphase. We manipulated the defender’s posture and measured both the postures of defenders and attackers and the ensuing decision on drive direction.

Results

As hypothesized, the posture of defenders guided the decision behavior of the attacker. Both novice and intermediate attackers made the same affordance-based decision by driving to the side of the defender’s most advanced foot, but only when the distance between attacker and defender was small. Moreover, novice attackers conveyed postural information regarding their upcoming drive direction while intermediate attackers were better able to conceal this information.

Conclusions

These results lend further support to the notion of information-based control of interpersonal actions in sport contexts.     

Angular relationships regulate coordination tendencies of performers in attacker–defender dyads in team sports

This study examined the continuous interpersonal interactions of performers in dyadic systems in team sports, as a function of changing information constraints. As a task vehicle, we investigated how attackers attained success in 1v1 sub-phases of basketball by exploring angular relations with immediate opponents and the basket. We hypothesized that angular relations would convey information for the attackers to dribble past defenders. Four basketball players performed as an attacker and defender in 1v1 sub-phases of basketball, in which the co-positioning and orientation of participants relative to the basket was manipulated. After video recording performance behaviors, we digitized participant movement displacement trajectories and categorized trials as successful or unsuccessful (from the attackers’ viewpoint). Results revealed that, to successfully dribble past a defender, attackers tended to explore the left hand side of the space by defenders by increasing their angular velocity and decreasing their angular variability, especially in the center of the court. Interpersonal interactions and goal-achievement in attacker–defender dyads appear to have been constrained by the angular relations sustained between participants relative to the scoring target. Results revealed the functionality of exploratory behaviors of participants attempting re-align spatial relations with an opponent in 1v1 sub-phases of team games.     

Looking, language, and memory: Bridging research from the visual world and visual search paradigms

In the visual world paradigm as used in psycholinguistics, eye gaze (i.e. visual orienting) is measured in order to draw conclusions about linguistic processing. However, current theories are underspecified with respect to how visual attention is guided on the basis of linguistic representations. In the visual search paradigm as used within the area of visual attention research, investigators have become more and more interested in how visual orienting is affected by higher order representations, such as those involved in memory and language. Within this area more specific models of orienting on the basis of visual information exist, but they need to be extended with mechanisms that allow for language-mediated orienting. In the present paper we review the evidence from these two different – but highly related – research areas. We arrive at a model in which working memory serves as the nexus in which long-term visual as well as linguistic representations (i.e. types) are bound to specific locations (i.e. tokens or indices). The model predicts that the interaction between language and visual attention is subject to a number of conditions, such as the presence of the guiding representation in working memory, capacity limitations, and cognitive control mechanisms.     

Relative - not absolute - judgments of credibility affect susceptibility to misinformation conveyed during discussion

People remember different details about the same events, and when they discuss events they exchange new – and misleading – information. Discussion can change memory, especially when the source of new information is highly credible. But we do not know whether the effects of credibility are based on absolute judgments – judging a source's credibility independently from our own credibility – or relative judgments – judging a source's credibility only in relation to our own credibility. We addressed this question by manipulating subjects' expectations, leading them to believe that they either had the same, higher or lower “visual acuity” than their partner while they watched a movie together. To create ample opportunities for the pairs to mention misleading details to one another, each member unknowingly saw a different version of the movie. The pairs then discussed some of the critical differences, but not others. Later, everyone took an independent recognition test. Subjects' susceptibility to misinformation depended on their own credibility relative to their partner's, supporting the idea that susceptibility to misinformation depends on relative differences in credibility.     

Visualizing the temporal dynamics of spatial information processing responsible for the Simon effect and its amplification by inhibition of return

Research has shown that the Simon effect is larger for targets suffering from inhibition of return (IOR). We used speed–accuracy trade-off (SAT) methodology to explore the temporal dynamics underlying this interaction. In Experiment 1, a new method for sorting the data was used to reveal a monotonic decay in the impact of task-irrelevant location information that is responsible for the Simon effect. In Experiment 2, we show that IOR delays both task-relevant identity and task-irrelevant location codes; a relatively longer delay for location than identity codes accounts for the effect of IOR on the Simon effect. When location information was made task-relevant in Experiment 3, IOR delayed the accumulation of this information by about the same amount as when location was irrelevant. The results suggest that IOR, therefore, has a greater effect on location than identity information.     

Content-context binding in verbal working memory updating: on-line and off-line effects

The role of content–context binding in working memory updating has received only marginal interest, despite its undoubted relevance for the updating process. In the classical updating paradigm, the main focus has been on the process of discarding information when new information is presented. Its efficacy has been determined by measurement of the accuracy of recalled, updated information. In the current study we measured the working memory updating process directly, employing a dynamic memory task composed of alternating sequences of learning, active maintenance and updating phases. Binding was manipulated by changing the type of updating (total or partial) and the strength of the perceptual connection between items. The on-line updating process and the off-line efficacy were separately analysed. Both on-line and off-line measures indicated that partial updating conditions, where the operation of updating content–context binding was required, were more demanding than both total updating conditions and memory and maintenance phases. Our results suggest that working memory updating can be identified not only as a process of substitution of information, but also as inhibition of no longer relevant information and, above all, as a binding updating.     

Asymmetric cross-modal effects in time perception

It is common to judge the duration of an audiovisual event, and yet it remains controversial how the judgment of duration is affected by signals from other modalities. We used an oddball paradigm to examine the effect of sound on the judgment of visual duration and that of a visual object on the judgment of an auditory duration. In a series of standards and oddballs, the participants compared the duration of the oddballs to that of the standards. Results showed asymmetric cross-modal effects, supporting the auditory dominance hypothesis: a sound extends the perceived visual duration, whereas a visual object has no effect on perceived auditory duration. The possible mechanisms (pacemaker or mode switch) proposed in the Scalar Expectancy Theory [Gibbon, J., Church, R. M., & Meck, W. H. (1984). Scalar timing in memory. In J. Gibbon & L. Allan (Eds.), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: Vol. 423. Timing and time perception (pp. 52–77). New York: New York Academy of Sciences] were examined using different standard durations. We conclude that sound increases the perceived visual duration by accelerating the pulse rate in the visual pacemaker.     

Extending end-state comfort effect: do we consider the beginning state comfort of another?

Sharing a drink or passing a tool to another person is frequently done in our daily lives. However, a second thought is rarely given about how the object should be handed; instead we pay attention to other factors (e.g., the company). This interaction (handing a tool to someone) is interesting, since it may give insight to how motor intentions are predicted. Research has demonstrated that individuals exhibit an end-state comfort effect when manipulating objects, and it is of interest to determine how this is applied to a joint-action paradigm. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if participants would anticipate the confederate's postural requirements and pass tools in a manner that allowed the confederate to have beginning state comfort and thus facilitate the motion sequence as a whole. That is, would the participant incur the cost of the movement by adopting an awkward posture to facilitate the use of the tool by the confederate? The results demonstrated that participants allowed the confederate to adopt a comfortable beginning state comfort on 100% of the trials for all the tools. However, the participants did not sacrifice end-state comfort, demonstrating that the participants were able to plan ahead to both maximize their own end-state comfort and the beginning state comfort of the confederate.     

Domain general mechanisms account for imagined transformations of whole body perspective

Three experiments investigated the contribution of domain general processes to imagined transformations of whole body perspective. In a task where participants make left–right judgements about a schematic human figure, reaction times made from the point of view of the figure are longer when the figure does not share the same spatial orientation as the participant and are substantially longer than those made from the participant's own point of view. These phenomena have been attributed to a specialised mechanism for imagined perspective transformations. In the present experiments, the effect of orientation on performance was influenced by factors that affect spatial stimulus–response (S–R) compatibility; it was attenuated with reduced dimensional overlap and reversed by crossed S–R mappings. Performance in a control experiment in which no figure was present suggests that processes moderating S–R mappings may account for the effect of adopting another's point of view. Our findings demonstrate a role for domain general processes in imagined transformations of whole body perspective, imply that egocentric codes for spatial relationships within visually presented bodies are automatically generated, and undermine evidence for a specialised mechanism for imagined perspective transformations.     

Anticipation of tennis-shot direction from whole-body movement: The role of movement amplitude and dynamics

While recent studies indicate that observers are able to use dynamic information to anticipate whole-body actions like tennis shots, it is less clear whether the action’s amplitude may also allow for anticipation. We therefore examined the role of movement dynamics and amplitude for the anticipation of tennis-shot direction. In a previous study, movement dynamics and amplitude were separated from the kinematics of tennis players’ forehand groundstrokes. In the present study, these were manipulated and tennis shots were simulated. Three conditions were created in which shot-direction differences were either preserved or removed: Dynamics-Present–Amplitude-Present (D^PA^P), Dynamics-Present–Amplitude-Absent (D^PA^A), and Dynamics-Absent–Amplitude-Present (D^AA^P). Nineteen low-skill and 15 intermediate-skill tennis players watched the simulated shots and predicted shot direction from movements prior to ball-racket contact only. Percent of correctly predicted shots per condition was measured. On average, both groups’ performance was superior when the dynamics were present (the D^PA^P and D^PA^A conditions) compared to when it was absent (the D^AA^P condition). However, the intermediate-skill players performed above chance independent of amplitude differences in shots (i.e., both the D^PA^P and D^PA^A conditions), whereas the low-skill group only performed above chance when amplitude differences were absent (the D^PA^A condition). These results suggest that the movement’s dynamics but not their amplitude provides information from which tennis-shot direction can be anticipated. Furthermore, the successful extraction of dynamical information may be hampered by amplitude differences in a skill-dependent manner.     

Creativity Under Attack: How People’s Role in Competitive Conflict Shapes Their Creative Idea Generation

Although creativity is helpful if not needed to deal with conflicts, research on the effects of conflict on creativity shows inconsistent findings. In this study, the possibility that effects may depend on people’s role in conflict was considered. Whether, when, and why assuming the role of attacker or defender in conflict affects creative idea generation was therefore investigated. The prediction was tested if attackers are more creative than defenders. In addition, control over the situation as a moderating variable and anxiety as a mediator were considered. Participants (n = 115, M_age = 22.06, SD_age = 2.75, 83 women) were recruited in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and were randomly assigned to an attacker, defender, or role control condition. Controllability over the situation was manipulated within-subjects and anxiety and creativity were measured during 2 rounds of idea generation. Results revealed no differences in creative performance and anxiety between defenders and attackers and that defenders generated a greater number of ideas than people in the role control condition. Exploratory analyses further revealed that attackers and defenders generated a greater number of aggressive ideas. Finally, attackers and defenders experienced more anxiety, but increased anxiety did not account for observed differences in the number of (aggressive) ideas. The effect of controllability could not be investigated due to a failed manipulation. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

Metamemory for faces, names, and common nouns

This study examined the metacognitive aspects of face–name learning with the goal of providing a comprehensive profile of monitoring performance during this task. Four types of monitoring judgments were solicited during encoding and retrieval of novel face–name associations. Across all of the monitoring judgments, relative accuracy was significantly above chance for face and name targets. Furthermore, metamemory performance was similar between both target conditions, even though names were more difficult to recognize than faces. As a preliminary test of the stability of monitoring accuracy across different categories of stimuli, we also compared metamemory performance between face–name pairs and noun–noun pairs. Prospective monitoring accuracy was similar across the categories of stimuli, but retrospective monitoring accuracy was superior for noun targets compared with face or name targets. Altogether, our results indicate that participants can monitor their memory for face–name associations at a level above chance, and retrospective monitoring is more accurate with nouns compared with faces and names.     

The relationship between divided attention and implicit memory: a meta-analysis

This article reports a meta-analysis comparing the size of repetition priming in full and divided-attention (DA) conditions. The main analysis included 38 effect sizes (ES) extracted from 21 empirical studies, for a total of 2074 (full-attention) and 2148 (divided-attention) participants. The mean weighted ES was 0.357 (95% CI = 0.278–0.435), indicating that divided attention produced a small, but significant, negative effect on implicit memory. Overall, the distinction between identification and production priming provided the best fit to empirical data (with the effect of DA being greater for production tests), whereas there was no significant difference between perceptual and conceptual priming. A series of focused contrasts suggested that word-stem completion might be influenced by lexical–conceptual processes, and that perceptual identification might involve a productive component. Implications for current theories of implicit memory are discussed.     

The anatomy of antagonistic coregulation: Emergent coordination,path dependency,and the interplay of biomechanic parameters in Aikido

Using a video-supported cognitive ethnographic and phenomenological approach, we address the interactively generated dynamic of bouts in Aikido. This “soft” martial art enables a defender to blend with and then redirect an attacker’s aggressive energy so as to break his balance, while preserving an ethos of non-violence, mutuality, and respect. Our analysis explores the skills used to minutely adapt to the opponent, the causal-temporal structure of Aikido, notably the cumulative effect build-up and main decision points in a bout, as well as the perceptual cues from inter-body geometry, timing, and force dynamics that inform decisions. We then contrast different interaction scenarios by focusing on micro-events that shape defensive preferences. For a successful defense, technical modulations or even the preferred technique itself can be selected as the interaction unfolds (“decision-making-in-action”). For a closer look, we analyze the interplay of multiple parameters: flexibility of intention (i.e. early deciding vs. keeping options openlonger), technique (i.e. type of lever or throw), initial body symmetry, step combinations, spacing and timing relative to the attacker, degree of force, as well as possible skill differentials. We describe complex interdependencies between these parameters, which can be balanced in various ways as agents respond to the interaction dynamic.     

Can 15-month-old infants understand pretence? An investigation using the 'violation-of-expectation' paradigm

Productive tests are unsuitable for measuring infants' earliest understanding of pretence, because performance demands may render infants unable to produce the actions required to pass the test. Recently, Onishi, Baillargeon and Leslie (2007) used the violation-of-expectation (VOE) paradigm as a measure of infants' understanding of others' pretence that is free from such performance demands. They found that 15-month-old infants looked longer at an Unexpected event in which an actor pretended to pour into one cup but pretended to drink from another cup, compared to pretending to pour and drink with the same cup. On this basis, they argued that 15-month-old infants expect others' pretence to be consistent, demonstrating their understanding of others' pretence. However, infants may have responded to expectations they had about familiar action sequences, rather than to pretence per se. To test this hypothesis, the current study firstly replicated Onishi et al.'s results in a sample of 28 typically developing 15-month-old infants, and then added a condition using closely matched real versions of their pretend VOE tasks. It was found that infants looked longer at unexpected events, whether or not the events were real or pretend. It was concluded that 15-month-old infants may look longer at pretend events due to violations of expectations they have about familiar action sequences, rather than because they understand others' pretence behaviour.     

Parallel patterns of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence…as long as you don't look too closely

The effects of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence have both been explained in terms of a dual-route model under which spatial information about the stimulus, regardless of task relevance, is directly passed from perception to action. Recently, however, some alternatives to the dual-route model of the Simon Effect have been proposed (or re-introduced) as viable explanations. The present experiment compared the magnitudes of the effects of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence across a range of tasks that varied in their dimensional overlap. The results exhibited a remarkable parallel between the two phenomena when viewed only in terms of the interaction between stimulus set and response set. This could be taken as new evidence for a common origin. However, when the entire pattern of results was examined, a large difference between compatibility and congruence were also seen, which implies that there is at least one important difference between the two phenomena.