The Vocational Preference Inventory scores and environmental preferences

This study investigated the relationship between vocational interest as measured by the Vocational Preference Inventory and preferences of 175 undergraduates for structured or unstructured environments. Males having clear-cut preferences for structured situations had significantly higher Realistic-Conventional scores than those not having those preferences (p < .05). Additionally, males with structured preferences had significantly lower Social-Artistic scores (p < .025). Results for females were similar, but not statistically significant. Males also had significantly higher (p < .01) Realistic-Conventional scores than females. The significant relationships between VPI scores and preferences for structured and unstructured situations support Holland's contention that interest scores are expressions of personality needs.     

Transfer of training and skill assumptions in tracking tasks

Matched groups of subjects were used to test the learning and transfer effects that follow changes in the display, the muscular reactions and the directional relationship between stimulus and response in a tracking task. Two arrangements were compared in the relationship studies: one arrangement of the stimuli and reactions was similar, and the other was opposed to that used in many every-day skills. The familiar arrangement was easier to learn. There was high positive transfer from the unfamiliar to the familiar, and little transfer from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

The physical dimensions of the display were varied to give two tasks with different stimuli. The initial learning times were equal for both tasks, and the transfer between them was high, positive, and equal. Two further tasks varied in the extent, speed and force of the required muscular movements. One task proved more difficult to learn initially, and there was greater transfer from the difficult to the easy task than from the easy to the difficult. A further experiment tested the effects of changing the difficulty of a tracking course, and it was found that learning was more rapid on the more difficult course. A difference in difficulty between two tasks, therefore, determined both the amount of transfer between them and the rate of learning the tasks.

New measures were developed to test the transfer between tasks of unequal content, and the effect of such inequalities upon the rate of learning. The findings are discussed, as are their possible implications for transfer measurement and their bearing upon existing theories of transfer.     

Preference modulates smelling behaviour in olfactory decision tasks

When people are shown a pair of images and asked to identify which one is more attractive, their gaze shifts to the image they will eventually choose, prior to making the decision. Many researchers have examined the relationship between this gaze bias and decision processes, but not the relationships between other sensory modalities and decision processes. This study examined behaviour in relation to olfactory decision tasks. In accordance with the concept of gaze bias, the likelihood of participants smelling the item they eventually chose immediately before the decision was greater when they were instructed to identify an item that was more, versus less, favoured. The likelihood of smelling the item that was eventually chosen last was also greater than chance when participants were instructed to identify the more masculine item. These results suggest that a bias to sample a chosen item last is a common phenomenon regardless of sensory modality.     

Expressed vocational choices and later employment compared with Vocational Preference Inventory and Kuder Preference Record-Vocational scores

Expressed vocational choices were more predictive of employment status four years after high school graduation for males than were scores on either the Vocational Preference Inventory or the Kuder Preference Record-Vocational. The Vocational Preference Inventory and expressed choices were about equally efficient in predicting future employment for females. The Kuder Preference Record-Vocational was far less predictive of future employment than the other measures employed in the study. Predictions for males were more accurate than for females on all measures.     

Demonstrating and eliminating the aggregation effect in physical skill tasks

Confidence judgments can be elicited in multiple ways. One of these procedures is to provide confidence judgments regarding each of a number of cases (individual judgments). A second procedure is to provide confidence judgments about a set of items (an aggregate judgment). Much research has demonstrated an aggregation effect—that individual judgments are more confident than aggregate judgments—within the cognitive knowledge domain. However, this effect has not previously been investigated with physical performance skill tasks. In three experiments, participants gave individual and aggregate judgments regarding the number of successful tosses they would make in either a ring toss, ping‐pong toss, or basketball toss task. In keeping with the aggregation effect, individual judgments were more confident than were aggregate judgments of success. Additionally, we eliminated the aggregation effect in Experiments 2 and 3 by employing a case‐specific base rate manipulation. Consistent with previous research with cognitive tasks, these results suggest that individual confidence judgments for physical skill tasks are determined primarily by characteristics associated with the individual case to be judged, whereas aggregate confidence judgments are determined by a more general evaluation of one's ability in the domain. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An event-related visual occlusion method for examining anticipatory skill in natural interceptive tasks

This article describes a new automated method for the controlled occlusion of vision during natural tasks. The method permits the time course of the presence or absence of visual information to be linked to identifiable events within the task of interest. An example application is presented in which the method is used to examine the ability of cricket batsmen to pick up useful information from the prerelease movement patterns of the opposing bowler. Two key events, separated by a consistent within-action time lag, were identified in the cricket bowling action sequence—namely, the penultimate foot strike prior to ball release (Event 1), and the subsequent moment of ball release (Event 2). Force-plate registration of Event 1 was then used as a trigger to facilitate automated occlusion of vision using liquid crystal occlusion goggles at time points relative to Event 2. Validation demonstrated that, compared with existing approaches that are based on manual triggering, this method of occlusion permitted considerable gains in temporal precision and a reduction in the number of unusable trials. A more efficient and accurate protocol to examine anticipation is produced, while preserving the important natural coupling between perception and action.     

Deep and superficial cervical muscles respond differently to unstable motor skill tasks

Biomechanical modelling and physiological studies suggest that various spinal muscle layers differ in their contribution to spine movement and stiffness. This study aimed to investigate the activation of deep and superficial muscles in stable and unstable task conditions. Nine healthy participants performed a task of controlling a metal ball on a plate fixed to the head in seated position. In unstable tasks, visual feedback was provided by mirrors to move the ball to the centre of the plate by small head movements and maintain the position for 3 s. Task difficulty was adjusted in a stepwise progression of difficulty using five surfaces with materials of decreasing resistance. In the stable condition, the ball was fixed to the plate's centre. EMG was recorded with surface (sternocleidomastoid, anterior scalenes, upper trapezius) and fine-wire electrodes (rectus capitis posterior major, obliquus inferior, multifidus, semispinalis cervicis, splenius capitis). The outcome variable was root mean square (RMS) EMG during the part of the task when the ball was maintained in the centre position. Results revealed greater cervical muscle activity in the unstable than stable conditions (p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.746). Control of deep and superficial cervical muscles differed (p = 0.003, η_p² = 0.354). Deep cervical muscle activity was greater with unstable tasks, but did not differ with task difficulty. In contrast, superficial cervical muscle activity increased in a stepwise manner with increasing challenge. These results support the notion that the central nervous system uses different strategies for control of deep versus superficial muscle layers of the cervical spine in association with instability.     

Preference for Different Sequences of Increasing or Decreasing Rewards

Preference for different increasing (or decreasing) sequences of rewards has been found to depend both on the magnitude of increase or decrease from step-to-step in the sequence and on the rate of change with which rewards increase or decrease. This experiment examined the effects on preference of different magnitudes and rates of change of reward. Using rewards for actual task performance, four increasing and four decreasing sequences were studied, each consisting of 24 rewards of varying magnitude. Sequences differed according to four possible models of rate change: linear, exponential, logarithmic, and step function. Preferences for given reward sequences obtained prior to extensive task and reward experience (decision utility) were not closely related to preferences after such experience (predicted utility). In the increasing reward sequences, subjects preferred the step sequence (with its single large increase at the end) prior to experience, but after experience they preferred the exponential, linear, and logarithmic sequences which entailed continuous reward-to-reward improvement throughout the sequence. In the decreasing sequences, subjects were less definite in their preferences. Prior to experience they most preferred the logarithmic sequence with its decelerating decline in magnitude of rewards, while after experience they least preferred the step function, with its huge loss at the end of the sequence.     

The public's probabilistic numeracy: How tasks,education and exposure to games of chance shape it

As we navigate a world full of uncertainties and risks, dominated by statistics, we need to be able to think statistically. Very few studies investigating people's ability to understand simple concepts and rules from probability theory have drawn representative samples from the public. For this reason we investigated a representative sample of 1000 Swiss citizens, using six probabilistic problems. Most reasoned appropriately in problems representing pure applications of probability theory, but failed to do so in approximations of real‐world scenarios – a disparity we replicated in a sample of first‐year psychology students. Additionally, education is associated with probabilistic numeracy in the former but not the latter type of problems. We discuss possible reasons for these task disparities and suggest that gaining a comprehensive picture of citizens' probabilistic competence and its determinants requires using both types of tasks. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exposure to repetitive tasks induces motor changes related to skill acquisition and inflammation in rats

The authors elucidate exposure-response relationships between repetitive tasks, inflammation, and motor changes with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Using a rat model of reaching and handle pulling, they examined effects of performing a high-repetition, low-force (HRLF); low-repetition, high-force (LRHF); or high-repetition, high-force (HRHF) task (2 hr/day, 3 days/week, 12 weeks) on reach rate and force, percentage of successful reaches, duration of participation, and grip strength. Reach rate and reach force improved with HRLF, and percentage success increased in all groups in Week 9, and in HRLF and HRHF in Week 12, indicative of skill acquisition. Duration and grip strength showed force-dependent declines with task performance. A subset of HRHF rats received ibuprofen in Weeks 5-12. Ibuprofen significantly improved reach rate, reach force, and duration in treated rats, indicative of an inflammatory influence on reach performance. Ibuprofen improved percentage of successful reaches in Week 9, although this increase was not sustained. However, declines in grip strength, a nocifensive behavior, were not prevented by ibuprofen. Examination of cervical spinal cords of untreated and ibuprofen treated HRHF rats showed increased IL-1beta, an inflammatory cytokine, in neurons. These findings suggest that only a preventive intervention could have addressed all motor declines.     

宗教的起源:适应或偶然?

如果把宗教视作一种和生物进化类似的自然现象,那么它就应该有起源和发展的过程。近年来,探索这个意义上的宗教起源已经成为了进化心理学等认知科学领域的一个研究方向。一部分科学家认为,宗教可能是作为促进了人的生存和繁殖机会的一种适应,在自然选择的过程中进化了出来。另一部分科学家则认为宗教是意识进化的一个副产品。或者,宗教的起源是适应和副产品的综合产物。