A Dual Process Account of Coarticulation in Motor Skill Acquisition

Many tasks, such as typing a password, are decomposed into a sequence of subtasks that can be accomplished in many ways. Behavior that accomplishes subtasks in ways that are influenced by the overall task is often described as “skilled” and exhibits coarticulation. Many accounts of coarticulation use search methods that are informed by representations of objectives that define skilled. While they aid in describing the strategies the nervous system may follow, they are computationally complex and may be difficult to attribute to brain structures. Here, the authors present a biologically- inspired account whereby skilled behavior is developed through 2 simple processes: (a) a corrective process that ensures that each subtask is accomplished, but does not do so skillfully and (b) a reinforcement learning process that finds better movements using trial and error search that is not informed by representations of any objectives. We implement our account as a computational model controlling a simulated two-armed kinematic “robot” that must hit a sequence of goals with its hands. Behavior displays coarticulation in terms of which hand was chosen, how the corresponding arm was used, and how the other arm was used, suggesting that the account can participate in the development of skilled behavior.     

Competitive Dynamics in Forecasting: The Interaction of Skill and Uncertainty

The outcomes in many competitive tasks depend upon both skill and luck. Behavioral theories on risk taking in tournaments indicate that low‐skilled individuals may have incentives to take more risks than high‐skilled ones. We build on these theories and suggest, in addition, that when luck is more important in determining outcomes, the increase in risk taking is larger for low‐skilled than high‐skilled individuals. We test this hypothesis by analyzing stock analysts' forecasts of companies' earnings per share under market conditions that vary in volatility and thus imply different levels of luck in outcomes. Specifically, noting that forecasts that deviate widely from the consensus—which is observable by the analyst—potentially carry career‐related rewards but also reputational risks, we examine the degree of deviation from consensus exhibited by analysts of different skill levels (measured by both past forecasting accuracy and education) in different market conditions. We find that average deviations from consensus increase as markets become more volatile. At the same time, under conditions of high volatility, low‐skilled analysts exhibit larger increases in deviations from consensus than high‐skilled analysts. These field data results support our hypothesis based on of risk taking in tournaments. We discuss alternative interpretations such as, for example, self‐serving attributions and indicate directions for future research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

R&D Project Selection: A Decision Process Approach

The fundamental decision problem of an R&D firm is to select projects in which to invest. Most reported models dealing with this subject use sophisticated mathematical models maximizing specific attributes of the projects without dealing with the underlying motivation of the decision maker. This paper summarizes a successful application of a decision-making process involving multicriteria in the selection of R&D projects in the Ecogen Israel Partnership. We emphasize the structure of the decision problem, with the main goal of helping the decision maker to better understand the nature of his problem. We systematically generate the objective hierarchy of the decision maker, including his main criteria, subcriteria attributes and alternatives. The ‘best’ alternative can then be found using most interactive procedures found in the literature. As the decision maker is totally involved in the entire decision-making process he is better able to understand his problem and preferences.     

Selection of a Third‐Party Logistics Provider: Capturing the Interaction and Influence of Performance Metrics with the Analytical Network Process

When a business decides to outsource its logistics operations to improve its performance, the organization will need to select a third‐party logistics provider (3PL) that shares common goals and satisfies service level requirements. In this paper, we identify a set of 3PL performance measures from the perspective of the supply chain and organize them into a time‐phased format, beginning with the post production stage and continuing through the delivery of the goods to the customer distribution center. The supply chain flow is presented as a Metrics Arrow. To integrate the performance metrics (PM) into one model, we propose an analytical network process (ANP) to capture all PM and to understand the interrelated influences among them. Additionally, to derive the weights for PM, the proposed ANP model offers managerial insight into the relative impact of each metric as well as warning signals or trigger points within the network of PM. The model provides a realistic framework to choose the 3PL that can help achieve the greatest improvements within the supply chain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mother-Infant Interaction Kinect Analysis (MIIKA): An automatic kinematic-based methodology for the investigation of interpersonal distance during early exchanges

Interpersonal distance is a core aspect of mother-child interaction. While conventional measures based on human coders do not fully capture the dynamics of this feature, computational methods provide automatic measures which can detect even small changes and more accurate estimates both spatially and temporally. Using RGB-D sensors (Microsoft Kinect V2), the present study describes a setup to automatically examine interpersonal distance during mother-child interactions, termed Mother-Infant Interaction Kinect Analysis (MIIKA). First, the laboratory setting and the data extraction method are described. By using an ad-hoc algorithm for kinematic data extraction, MIIKA returns three metrics: barycenter position (distance and velocity of approach and separation), movements (number of small, medium and large approaches and separations) and contributions (proportional contributions of mother and child to approaches and separations). Secondly, preliminary MIIKA metrics are described for a non-clinical mother-child dyad as an exemplification of the protocol. As interpersonal distance can be affected by contingent situations, we detected mother-infant full skeleton during three interactional contexts characterized by different kinds of dyadic exchanges: a free play session, a task-oriented activity and an emotionally arousing condition. Results highlighted similarities and differences between the three interactional contexts. MIIKA appears to be a promising setup to automatically examine interpersonal distance in early mother-child interactions.     

The Use of Time-Series Designs: Interaction between Skill Level and Application

The use of time-series designs and analyses in social science research has been extolled as the optimal theory building, evaluation, and practice. This article presents the knowledge necessary to employ various time-series designs and analyses at different levels of background, hypotheses, design, and analysis and examines the implications of the interaction between consumer skill level and application for impact on the consumer-statistical consultant relationship.     

Emergence and the Analytic Third: Working at the Edge of Chaos

This paper provides an integration of dynamic systems principles with the concept of the Analytic Third to further understand the therapeutic properties of the alliance between analyst and patient. I argue that the Analytic Third is an emergent phenomenon, in which something that is more than the sum of its parts is created, leading to an expansion of the capacity for play and spontaneity—with words, in relating to others, within the metaphor of the transference—which is one of the essential elements of therapeutic action. Rupture and repair is the central movement of therapeutic action, with mutual understanding building both mutual recognition and a stronger self-object bond. Adolescents can perhaps offer us the most striking and dramatic illustrations of emergence, because their analyses are particularly likely to unfold chaotically, often rapidly oscillating between periods of introspection and nonreflective action, but eventually shifting toward adaptation. A series of clinical vignettes taken from the analysis of an adolescent boy are utilized to illustrate these principles.     

Quantifying Family Process:Issues in the Analysis of Interaction Sequences

The analysis of behavior sequences can be a useful technique for understanding family process and has been increasingly employed as a result of developments in family theory. Some of the most popular sequential analytic methods are reviewed, and problems of applying these methodologies to investigations of family interaction are discussed. Independence-of-observations, nonstationarity, and autocontingency are differentiated as three distinct types of serial dependence. In addition, issues concerning the choice of data type, analysis of low base rate behaviors, and the decision as to whether to correct for base rates are considered. Guidelines are presented for dealing with each of these issues in the context of the research or clinical question being addressed.     

Predicting Driver's Intention Based on Own Vulnerability: A Social Interaction Process between Road Users at an Intersection in Japan

When road users predict the future movement of an approaching vehicle at an intersection, they need to consider not only the physical environment but also the predicted behavioral intention of the approaching driver. In the present experiments, we asked participants to imagine how a vehicle would approach in a natural traffic environment. In Experiment 1, participants estimated the time‐to‐contact with an approaching vehicle as longer when they were physically vulnerable. In Experiment 2, we confirmed that differences in participants’ eye height did not explain the findings of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we asked participants to indicate the last possible moment at which they could cross an intersection in front of an approaching vehicle. Participants left a shorter safety margin when they were more physically vulnerable than the approaching vehicle. The results indicate that road users’ perceived vulnerability is a cue for them to trust the approaching driver's intention to decelerate. This viewpoint is important for interventions to prevent unrealistic trust that an approaching vehicle will avoid an accident and subsequent trust‐based behaviors.     

Validating Personnel Selection: A Process Model for Research and Practice

This article highlights the need for a clearer conceptual appreciation of the relationships among and between predictors and criteria, and for a better understanding of measurement issues in selection. A process model of selection is outlined that includes recent research on the changing relationships of ability to performance at different stages of skill acquisition, the interaction between type of task and validity, the role of motivational constructs in the measurement and validation process, and the reciprocally interacting influences of work experience and individual characteristics. Comment is offered on issues such as general versus specific abilities, the ‘big five’in personality, aptitude by treatment or training interactions and maximal versus typical performance. Measurement issues are discussed throughout, but particularly in relation to the assessment process.     

The Emergence of a Sustainable Future: Brainstorming Better Ways to Globalize at the Esalen Institute

This article provides excerpts and highlights from the insights of twenty global leaders, business executives, and sustainability experts who gathered at the Esalen Institute in California for four days in March 2002 to discuss how to best leverage change toward an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable global economy. The conference topic was sparked by the path-breaking book Natural Capitalism, which outlines an expanded vision of capitalism suitable for the environmental era. The natural capitalism model is qualitatively different from industrial era capitalism in that it counts both humanity and ecosystem services as valid sources of capital in addition to the traditionally recognized sources, financial and manufactured. One early adopter of natural capitalism, CEO of the Atlanta-based carpet tiling company, Interface, shared how increased efficiency and greater employee and customer satisfaction have resulted. Although some of the conference participants forecasted that globalization is likely to bring humanity face-to-face with a planetary-wide environmental, financial, and social crisis, the overall message of this gathering was positive. Through the imaginative implementation of evolutionary and biomimicry design models in the cultural, financial, and economic spheres, novel solutions to global problems already are being discovered, and, if such innovative and solutions-oriented design thinking can spread rapidly enough, humanity may be able to ameliorate-or even obviate-the deleterious effects of globalization.     

Mysteries of the Psychoanalytic Process: Reflections on Chaos,Complexity, and Emergence

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - Psychoanalysis is inherently messy and mysterious. The mysteries of the psychoanalytic process are viewed through the lens of chaos and complexity theory....     

A Closer Look at the Role of Applicant Age in Selection Decisions

Participants evaluated hypothetical applicants recruited from a younger (university students) or older (American Association of Retired Persons) population for 2 young-typed jobs, one more strongly young-typed than the other. Participants were given applicant information, including age and personal characteristics, that varied in the extent to which it was consistent with raters' job stereotypes. Results indicated that younger applicants were evaluated more favorably than older applicants. However, an Applicant Age × Job interaction effect indicated that the older applicant was evaluated less favorably for the more strongly compared with the less strongly young-typed job. In addition. applicants whose personal characteristics (other than age) were more consistent with raters' job stereotypes were evaluated more favorably than applicants whose characteristics were less consistent. Results also indicated that applicant age and personal characteristics interacted to influence applicant evaluations. The implications of these and other study results are discussed.     

Rival Methodologies in Emergence Theory: A Non-Dual Approach

Jason Roberts proposes that Karl Rahner's theology of nature serves as an appropriate dialogue partner for natural scientists like Terrence Deacon in his naturalistic approach to the emergence of higher-order levels of existence and activity within the natural sciences. Yet Rahner and Deacon employ different understandings of formal causality in their respective approaches to evolutionary theory: for Rahner, causal agency vis-à-vis constituents; for Deacon, objective constraint on the agency of constituents. Yet a compromise position may be available based on a modest revision of the relationship between societies and their constituent actual entities in A.N. Whitehead's cosmology.