Quiet eye duration,expertise, and task complexity in near and far aiming tasks

. Skilled (n = 12) and less skilled (n = 12) billiards players participated in 2 experiments in which the relationship between quiet eye duration, expertise, and task complexity was examined in a near and a far aiming task. Quiet eye was defined as the final fixation on the target prior to the initiation of movement. In Experiment 1, skilled performers exhibited longer fixations on the target (quiet eye) during the preparation phase of the action than their less skilled counterparts did. Quiet eye duration increased as a function of shot difficulty and was proportionally longer on successful than on unsuccessful shots for both groups of participants. In Experiment 2, participants executed shots under 3 different time-constrained conditions in which quiet eye periods were experimentally manipulated. Shorter quiet eye periods resulted in poorer performance, irrespective of participant skill level. The authors argue that quiet eye duration represents a critical period for movement programming in the aiming response.     

Effects of anxiety on inferential reasoning task performance

Three experiments were conducted in which high anxiety and low anxiety subjects were required to construct inferences. In Experiment 1 there was no anxiety-related performance deficit when inferring a necessary anaphoric relation, a process argued to be automatic. Experiments 2 and 3 involved the verification of unnecessary inferences, a process argued to involve the utilization of the working memory system. In both Experiments 2 and 3 there was an anxiety-related performance deficit. The results are consistent with a working memory-oriented account of anxiety-related performance effects, as deficits were restricted to capacity-demanding tasks.     

Effects of load stressors, cognitive complexity and type A coronary prone behavior on visual-motor task performance

In two separate experiments, 25 and 42 adult working males participated in a visual-motor task modeled on a video game. The game was designed to permit measurement of strategy, risk taking, errors committed, and overall task performance. Predictions of complexity theory for task performance were supported. In the second experiment, participants were divided into four subgroups on the basis of Type A versus Type B coronary-prone behavior (measured on the structured interview) and on the basis of unidimensional versus multidimensional responding (measured by a complexity interview with stems of the sentence completion test). Type A coronary-prone behavior did not contribute to differences in visual-motor performance. More multidimensional persons exceeded their unidimensional counterparts, especially in the application of strategy. The extension of complexity theory approaches to simpler tasks is discussed. It is noted that the frequently voiced assumptions of Type A individuals-that their behavior style tends to lead to higher performance levels-is not supported.     

External focus of attention improves performance in a speeded aiming task

Athletic skills are often executed better when learners focus attention externally (e.g., on the trajectory of the ball after a tennis serve), rather than internally (e.g., on the position of their arm) (e.g., Wulf, 2007a). The current study explored the effects of attention focus on learning of speeded responses, and examined whether these benefits hold for retention and transfer. Participants performed a computerized speeded aiming task while focusing on the direction of the cursor (external focus) versus the direction in which their hand moved the mouse (internal focus). One week later, half of the participants performed the same task again (retention), and half performed the task under conditions in which the mouse movements were changed (transfer). Relative to internal focus, external focus led to faster acquisition and better maintenance of speeded responses over the retention interval.     

Effects of environmental enrichment on cognitive performance of pigs in a spatial holeboard discrimination task

This study investigated the effects of environmental enrichment on the cognitive performance of female conventional farm (growing) pigs in a spatial holeboard task. Ten pairs of littermates matched for weight were used. From each litter, one piglet was randomly assigned to a barren environment; the other was assigned to an enriched environment from 4 weeks of age. The enriched environment was double the size of the barren environment, had a floor covered with straw, a rooting area filled with peat, and one of the four different enrichment toys which were exchanged daily. Starting at 11 weeks of age, all pigs were tested in a spatial holeboard discrimination task in which 4 out of 16 holes were baited. Furthermore, basal salivary cortisol levels of all pigs were determined after the end of all testing. All pigs were able to acquire the pattern of baited holes (acquisition phase, 40 trials) and the diagonally mirrored pattern (reversal phase, 20 trials). During the acquisition phase, the reference memory performance of the enriched-housed pigs was better than that of their barren-housed littermates, i.e. they reduced visits to the unbaited set of holes. During the reversal phase, enriched-housed pigs had a better general working memory performance than the barren-housed pigs as indicated by reduced revisits to holes already visited during a trial, irrespective of whether they were of the baited or the unbaited set. The enriched-housed pigs also searched for the hidden bait faster during both phases. The environments did not affect basal salivary cortisol levels. In conclusion, environmental enrichment slightly improved the cognitive performance of pigs in a spatial learning task. We hypothesise that the long period of habituation to and testing in the holeboard acted as enrichment that partially reduced the effects of barren housing.     

Prior task failure as a determinant of biofeedback and cognitive task performance

In a study of the effects of controllability of outcomes upon behavior in a biofeedback context, 40 college students were assigned to four groups differing in pretreatment: (1) a success-failure group, given false feedback in a fictitious blood-vessel control task for two sessions designed to convey success followed by two sessions of failure feedback; (2) a failure-failure group, given false failure feedback throughout pretreatment; (3) a contingent failure group, receiving actual feedback in a temperature biofeedback task with criteria that assured failure throughout pretreatment; and (4) a control group, given no specific task during this phase. In a subsequent phase, all subjects received actual frontal (forehead) electromyographic (EMG) response training with biofeedback. In analyses of the results, during EMG training, the contingent failure group attained lower levels than the other three groups. By contrast, on a cognitive (anagram) task, interpolated between pretreatment and EMG training, the contingent failure group demonstrated relatively poorer performance than the other groups. The results are discussed in terms of reactance and learned helplessness theories of perceived loss of control in this context.Some of the data reported here were included in a thesis submitted by the second author in partial fulfillment of requirements for the master's degree in psychology, University of Hawaii, 1981. The entire paper was the basis for a presentation at the annual meeting of the Biofeedback Society of America, Albuquerque, 1984.     

The influence of degree of expertise and objective task complexity on perceived task complexity and performance

Research on expertise has shown that nonexperts may sometimes outperform experts. Some researchers have suggested that superior performance by experts depends on the match between the experts' cognition and the demands of the task. The authors explored this issue using a quasi-experiment set in an organization. They examined how 3 sets of similar tasks that differ in their type of complexity can lead to differences in task perceptions and performance among experts, intermediates, and novices. The results suggest that experts and novices pay attention to different aspects of a task and that this affects both their perceptions of task complexity (i.e., task analyzability and variability) and their performance on the task.     

Effects of anxiety on attentional allocation and task performance: An information processing analysis

An information processing signal detection methodology was employed to examine attentional allocation and its correlates in both normal comparison (NC) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) participants. In particular, the impact of neutral distractor and negative feedback cues on performance of an attention vigilance task was investigated. Individuals with GAD (N = 15) evidenced impaired performance on an attention vigilance task relative to NC participants (N = 15) when neutral distractor cues were presented. Contrary to prediction, no group differences in performance were detected under conditions in which participants were presented negative feedback cues they were told were relevant to their performance. Instead, GAD participants exhibited improvement during the experimental task such that their performance was equivalent to NC participants. Across trials, the clinically anxious group endorsed significantly higher levels of worry and negative affectivity; however, they failed to respond with concomitant physical arousal (e.g. increased muscle tension). These data are discussed within the context of Eysenck and Calvo's (1992, Cognition and Emotion, 6, 409–434) processing efficiency theory. Additionally, the results of this investigation provide support for Barlow's (1988, Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic) conceptualization of anxiety as requiring the interaction of cognitive schema and physiological arousal.     

State anxiety, performance accuracy, and work pace in a simulated pharmacy dispensing task

This study examined the effects of scores on state anxiety on overall accuracy of performance and speed of working in a simulated pharmacy dispensing task. 75 undergraduates worked in a simulated pharmacy environment, designed by Schell and Grasha in 1998, to fill 42 mock orders for simulated pharmacy items. Participants' accuracy and work pace in the simulation, presimulation stress, and postsimulation perceived workload and state anxiety were measured. Analysis indicated that state anxiety and overall accuracy were strongly related. State anxiety appears to be one of the best predictors of errors in the simulated pharmacy dispensing task found so far, while the lack of relationship between work pace and accuracy was confirmed. Work pace predicted accuracy, indirectly, but only after statistically removing the effects of anxiety, task frustration, significant-other stress, and grade point average.     

Multidimensional influences of anxiety and assessment type on task performance

We examined state evaluation anxiety, trait evaluation anxiety, and neuroticism in relation to New Zealand first-year university students’ (n = 234) task performance on either a...     

Irrelevant thoughts,emotional mood states,and cognitive task performance

In two experiments, we investigated the relationship shared by irrelevant thoughts, emotional mood states, and cognitive task performance. At an empirical level, irrelevant thoughts were defined as thoughts that did not facilitate successful task performance. We used the same general procedure for both experiments: three groups of college students received happy-, neutral-(control), or sad-mood inductions and performed a memory task. The procedure for obtaining thoughts varied between experiments. The subjects in Experiment 1 listed their thoughts after the memory recall task. In Experiment 2, the subjects were tape-recorded while performing a memory task and producing concurrent verbal protocols. The subjects in both experiments then judged their thoughts in terms of frequency, intensity, and irrelevance. We found a similar pattern of results in both experiments: (1) The proportions of irrelevant thoughts and recall performance were negatively related, and (2) happy and sad students produced reliably greater proportions of irrelevant thoughts than did neutral (control) students.     

Effects of task interdependence on the relationship between helping behavior and group performance

The authors examine whether task interdependence moderates the relationship between the helping form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and group performance. In a laboratory study, 62 groups with 3 members each completed a card-sequencing activity in which the level of task interdependence among group members was manipulated. Independent evaluators assessed helping by viewing videotapes of the groups' interactions during the sequencing activities. Performance was measured as a combined function of group speed and accuracy. Two prior field studies reported contradictory results regarding the impact of helping on group performance. Results from this study suggest that task interdependence may explain these results, and that the relationship between helping and group performance depends on the level of task interdependence required of group members.     

Performing under pressure: the effects of physiological arousal, cognitive anxiety, and gaze control in biathlon

The authors provide evidence that choking under pressure is associated with changes in visual attention. Ten elite biathlon shooters were tested under separate low-pressure (LP) and high-pressure (HP) conditions after exercising on a cycle ergometer at individually prescribed power output (PO) levels of 55%, 70%, 85%, and 100% of their maximum oxygen uptake. The authors determined difference scores by subtracting each athlete's score in the LP condition from his or her score in the HP condition for heart rate (d-HR), rate of perceived exertion (d-RPE), cognitive anxiety (d-CA), and cognitive worry (d-CW), and final fixation on the target or quiet eye gaze (d-QE). Using regression analysis, the authors determined predictors of accuracy for each HP PO level. At PO 55%, the authors found 3 predictors (d-HR, d-RPE, d-QE) that accounted for .62 of the adjusted R2 variance. Accuracy was higher when d-QE was lower and d-RPE and d-HR were higher than the values found in the LP condition. At PO 100%, however, an increase in d-QE and d-RPE accounted for .58 of the adjusted R2 variance. Accuracy was dependent on an increase in external focus (positive d-QE) independently of heart rate. At the highest PO level, directing visual attention externally to critical task information appeared to insulate the athletes from choking under HP.