Effects of the difference between self and coactor scores upon the audit responses that allow access to these scores

An audit response allows access to an existing score from a subject's own performance (self audit) or from his coactor's performance (coactor audit). A previous study found that social stimuli (coactor present) increased audits relative to a non-social (no coactor) condition. The increase, designated a social-stimulus effect, was found to be due more to the coactor's score than to his mere presence. This finding suggested that the difference between self and coactor scores might affect the size of the social-stimulus effect. In the present study, six pairs of human subjects matched-to-sample for points that were exchangeable for money. During a session, matching-to-sample problems were distributed so that a subject's score was ahead, behind, or about even with his coactor's score. The even condition produced the largest social-stimulus effects, i.e., the most audits that could not be attributed to non-social variables such as time or number of problems. The even condition may have produced the largest social-stimulus effects because it was the only condition where the major social reinforcer (being ahead) could be both present or absent and, consequently, the even condition was the only one where audits had a discriminative function with respect to the presence of the major social reinforcer.     

Audit responses: responses maintained by access to existing self or coactor scores during non-social, parallel work, and cooperation procedures

Human subjects, mostly between 11 and 16 yr old, matched to sample for points that were exchangeable for money. An audit response was defined as a response maintained by allowing a subject access to an existing score on his own (self audit) or a coactor's (coactor audit) performance. In Experiment I, changes from non-social procedures (no coactor) to social procedures (coactor present) increased self and coactor audits. Since both types of audits occurred at about the same rates during cooperation and parallel work procedures, the increases did not depend on the subjects' response interactions. Although Experiment I did not demonstrate that subjects were comparing scores, the frequent occurrence of each kind of audit within a brief time period (interpersonal audit) did indicate that it was reinforcing to have both scores at the same time. These interpersonal audits suggested that the coactor's score increased self audits during social procedures. Experiment II supported this notion: relative to a non-social procedure, self audits increased more during a parallel work procedure when the coactor's score was accessible than when it was not accessible. Thus, increases in other behaviors that occur in the presence of a coactor, i.e., social facilitation, may also result from or be increased by providing a coactor's score.     

Joint response–effect compatibility

When performing jointly on a task, human agents are assumed to represent their coactor’s share of this task, and research in various joint action paradigms has focused on representing the coactor’s stimulus–response assignments. Here we show that the response–effect (R–E) contingencies exploited by a coactor also affect performance, and thus might be represented as if they were used by oneself. Participants performed an R–E compatibility task, with keypresses producing spatially compatible or incompatible action effects. We did not observe any R–E compatibility effects when the task was performed in isolation (individual go–no-go). By contrast, small but reliable R–E compatibility effects emerged when the same task was performed in a joint setting. These results indicate that the knowledge of a coactor’s R–E contingencies can influence whether self-produced action effects are used for one’s own motor control.     

Suppression effects on musical and verbal memory

Three experiments contrasted the effects of articulatory suppression on recognition memory for musical and verbal sequences. In Experiment 1, a standard/comparison task was employed, with digit or note sequences presented visually or auditorily while participants remained silent or produced intermittent verbal suppression (saying "the") or musical suppression (singing "la"). Both suppression types decreased performance by equivalent amounts, as compared with no suppression. Recognition accuracy was lower during suppression for visually presented digits than during that for auditorily presented digits (consistent with phonological loop predictions), whereas accuracy was equivalent for visually presented notes and auditory tones. When visual interference filled the retention interval in Experiment 2, performance with visually presented notes but not digits was impaired. Experiment 3 forced participants to translate visually presented music sequences by presenting comparison sequences auditorily. Suppression effects for visually presented music resembled those for digits only when the recognition task required sensory translation of cues.     

The focusing effect of self-evaluation threat in coaction and social comparison

This article contends that the presence of a coactor leads to a focusing effect whenever this presence represents a threat or a potential threat to self-evaluation. Experiment 1 showed that attentional focusing appears in the presence of an actual (in the case of upward comparison) or potential (in the case of mere coaction) threat to self-evaluation but not in its absence (in the case of downward comparison). Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed that the presence of a coactor affects focusing because the coactor represents a potential threat and showed that introducing a threat in downward comparison can produce a focusing effect. Experiment 4 showed that removing the threat in upward comparison decreases the focusing effect. Experiment 5 confirmed that the effects observed in upward comparison are due to attentional focusing and not to an increase in effort. Contributions to social facilitation, social comparison, and attention research are discussed.     

The influence of individual versus aggregate social comparison and the presence of others on self-evaluations

In 5 studies, the authors investigated the effects of comparison with an individual versus comparison with the statistical average on self-evaluations of performance and ability. In Studies 1 and 2, participants took a test of lie detection ability and were provided with the average score and the score of an individual coactor. Both types of feedback significantly affected self-evaluations of performance, but only comparison with the coactor significantly affected self-evaluations of ability. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that the presence of a coactor moderated the effect of aggregate social comparison on self-evaluations of ability. The results provide preliminary support for the contention that minimizing the impact of comparison with the average is a self-serving strategy that is facilitated by the presence of others.     

Compensatory behaviour of visually impaired cyclists in everyday settings

This study investigated whether visually impaired cyclists, compared to cyclists without visual limitations, take other, potentially safer routes to destinations in their own living environment and whether they ride at a lower speed. In total, 19 matched pairs of a visually impaired cyclist and a normally sighted peer from the same neighbourhood recorded their everyday bicycle rides, using GPS action cameras. In addition, they completed an ‘assigned ride’, a ride for which only a starting and an ending point were provided by the researcher. A risk-assessment procedure showed that the route taken by visually impaired cyclists during this assigned ride was not less risky than the route taken by the normally sighted cyclists. Analysis of the everyday rides showed that, on average, cyclists with a visual impairment more frequently (i.e. for longer periods) cycled at a speed below 10 km/h compared to cyclists without visual impairment. Also, the visually impaired participants’ cruising speed was 1.4 km/h lower than that of their normally sighted counterparts. In conclusion, no evidence was found that visually impaired cyclists compensate strategically by taking different, potentially safer routes than normally sighted cyclists when riding in their own environment. They may (unconsciously) compensate tactically for their visual function limitations by riding at a lower speed when necessary. Mobility trainers in vision rehabilitation as well as road designers could apply these findings to optimise the cycling mobility of visually impaired people.     

Interplay between action and movement intentions during social interaction

Observing the movements of another person influences the observer's intention to execute similar movements. However, little is known about how action intentions formed prior to movement planning influence this effect. In the experiment reported here, we manipulated the congruency of movement intentions and action intentions in a pair of jointly acting individuals (i.e., a participant paired with a confederate coactor) and investigated how congruency influenced performance. Overall, participants initiated actions faster when they had the same action intention as the coactor (i.e., when participants and the coactor were pursuing the same conceptual goal). Participants' responses were also faster when their and the coactor's movement intentions were directed to the same spatial location, but only when participants had the same action intention as the coactor. These findings suggest that observers use the same representation to implement their own action intentions that they use to infer other people's action intentions and also that a dynamic, multitiered intentional mechanism is involved in the processing of other people's actions.     

Young Children's Comprehension of Educational Television: the Role of Visual Information and Intonation

Fisch's (2000) capacity model posits that comprehension of educational content on television can be impaired by program characteristics that increase the processing demands of either narrative or educational content. In several current educational television series for preschool children, stories are conveyed, not through meaningful dialogue, but through visual information and intonational cues embedded within nonsensical dialogue. To examine young children's ability to comprehend educational content under such conditions, 135 3- through 5-year-olds viewed two television segments about a family of chickens; approximately one-half viewed the segments with all dialogue spoken in nonsensical "chicken talk," and one-half viewed it with key English words and phrases inserted among the "chicken talk." In addition, one segment was expected to be easier to understand because its educational message (cooperation) involved behaviors that were visually concrete, whereas the other (honesty) concerned verbal behavior that was more visually abstract. Results indicated that comprehension was significantly stronger among older children and (across the age range) for the more visually concrete story about cooperation. However, comprehension was not significantly enhanced by the inclusion of English words and phrases. Thus, it appears that "concreteness" should be added to the factors affecting comprehension under the capacity model, but that young children can use visual information and intonational cues to understand educational content on television.     

Influence of the role of a partner on anxiety due to a physically threatening situation

This study aimed to examine the influence of the presence of a partner in terms of affiliation level and role on anxiety in a physically threatening situation.

In the first experiment, nine male subjects waited alone for the electric shock, and the other nine subjects waited with their partner.

In the second experiment, 36 female subjects were assigned to four experimental groups by the difference of the role of a partner (coactor or audience) and the affiliation level of a partner (friend or stranger), and subjects waited for the electric shock with their partner.

It was found that anxiety of subjects decreased when the partner was a coactor and/or a friend. It was suggested that these two functioned differently in anxiety reduction in a physically threatening situation.     

Visual impairment, verbal humor, and conservation

Through a cerebral hemispheric specialization model, I speculated that the reported discrepancy between visually impaired children's competency in language development and lags in cognition may be explained by the use of visual-spatial measurements of cognition. The performance of 51 visually impaired and 51 sighted children, ages 7 to 15 years, on a task of joke comprehension and conservation of weight scores was analyzed. I hypothesized that the ability to comprehend verbal humor would reflect the function of the left hemisphere of the brain and the ability to perform a Piagetian visual-spatial task would reflect the function of the right hemisphere. The findings indicate that although age and IQ contributed significantly to predicting joke comprehension, the ability to conserve did not have a unique contribution. In conclusion, I suggest that the cerebral hemispheric specialization model be considered when investigating language and cognition of visually impaired children.     

The role of sensory-motor information in object recognition: evidence from category-specific visual agnosia

The role of sensory-motor representations in object recognition was investigated in experiments involving AD, a patient with mild visual agnosia who was impaired in the recognition of visually presented living as compared to non-living entities. AD named visually presented items for which sensory-motor information was available significantly more reliably than items for which such information was not available; this was true when all items were non-living. Naming of objects from their associated sound was normal. These data suggest that both information about object form computed in the ventral visual system as well as sensory-motor information specifying the manner of manipulation contribute to object recognition.     

Managing daily life with age-related sensory loss: cognitive resources gain in importance

This paper investigates the role of cognitive resources in everyday functioning, comparing visually impaired, hearing impaired, and sensory unimpaired older adults. According to arguments that cognitive resources are of increased importance and a greater awareness of cognitive restrictions exists among sensory impaired individuals, in particular among visually impaired individuals, we hypothesized differential relationships between resources and outcomes when comparing sensory impaired and sensory unimpaired older adults. Findings are based on samples of 121 visually impaired, 116 hearing impaired, and 150 sensory unimpaired older adults (M = 82 years). Results from a sample of 43 dual sensory impaired older adults are reported for comparison. Assessment relied on established instruments (e.g., WAIS-R, ADL/IADL). Structural equation modeling showed that cognitive resources and behavior-related everyday functioning were more strongly related in the sensory impaired groups as compared to the sensory unimpaired group. Cognitive resources and evaluation of everyday functioning were significantly linked only among the sensory impaired groups. When medical condition was controlled for, these effects persisted. It is concluded that both cognitive training as well as psychosocial support may serve as important additions to classic vision and hearing loss rehabilitation.     

How Social Are Task Representations?

ABSTRACT— The classical Simon effect shows that actions are carried out faster if they spatially correspond to the stimulus signaling them. Recent studies revealed that this is the case even when the two actions are carried out by different people; this finding has been taken to imply that task representations are socially shared. In work described here, we found that the "interactive" Simon effect occurs only if actor and coactor are involved in a positive relationship (induced by a friendly-acting, cooperative confederate), but not if they are involved in a negative relationship (induced by an intimidating, competitive confederate). This result suggests that agents can represent self-generated and other-generated actions separately, but tend to relate or integrate these representations if the personal relationship between self and other has a positive valence.     

The effect of sight levels on daily stressors and coping styles

The structures of daily stressful events of visually impaired people are reported, and the effects of the sight levels of the subjects on these structures are examined. Sixty‐nine visually impaired people (22 males, 47 females) were interviewed and divided into three groups according to their sight levels. Subjects provided examples of stressful events for three coping styles (Don’t, Do by others, Do by oneself). Statistical analyses of the data indicated that the sight levels of visually impaired people are related to the structure of stressful events and coping styles.     

Tangible pictures: viewpoint effects and linear perspective in visually impaired people

Perception of raised-line pictures in blindfolded-sighted, congenitally blind, late-blind, and low-vision subjects was studied in a series of experiments. The major aim of the study was to examine the value of perspective drawings for haptic pictures and visually impaired individuals. In experiment 1, subjects felt two wooden boards joined at 45 degrees, 90 degrees, or 135 degrees, and were instructed to pick the correct perspective drawing from among four choices. The first experiment on perspective found a significant effect of visual status, with much higher performance by the low-vision subjects. Mean performance for the congenitally blind subjects was not significantly different from that of the late-blind and blindfolded-sighted subjects. In a further experiment, blindfolded subjects drew tangible pictures of three-dimensional (3-D) geometric solids, and then engaged in a matching task. Counter to expectations, performance was not impaired for the 3-D drawings as compared with the frontal viewpoints. Subjects were also especially fast and more accurate when matching top views. Experiment 5 showed that top views were easiest for all of the visually impaired subjects, including those who were congenitally blind. Experiment 5 yielded higher performance for 3-D than frontal viewpoints. The results of all of the experiments were consistent with the idea that visual experience is not necessary for understanding perspective drawings of geometrical objects.     

The importance of alignment in blind subjects' use of tactual maps

An experiment was conducted to test for the presence of alignment effects (previously found in sighted map users) in blind and visually impaired subjects using tactual maps. The term 'alignment effects' refers to the fact that when points represented as further up on a map do not correspond to points forward from the user in the environment, errors in the directional judgments made by subjects are greatly increased. The results show that alignment effects do exist in blind and visually impaired map users. Blind subjects encoded maps using the 'up equals forward' rule, and demonstrated some similarity to sighted subjects in the types of errors made. There was also some indication of improved performance over repeated trials. Differences between blind and sighted subjects were also found and were tentatively attributed to visual experience with object transformations and/or representational variables. Subject background variables were also investigated and some relationships between background of the subject and performance were drawn.     

Evaluating the approach run of class F11 visually impaired athletes in triple and long jumps

The present study examined stride pattern characteristics of Class F11 visually impaired long jumpers and triple jumpers. Athletes demonstrated initial ascending footfall variability followed by descending variability, on the second (long jumpers) and third (triple jumpers) stride prior to take-off, at a mean distance of 6.26 m (long jumpers) and 7.36 m (triple jumpers) from the take-off board. Toe-board-distance variability reached a maximum value of 0.36 m and 0.38 m for the long and triple jump, respectively. Last stride toe-board-distance variability was 0.29 m (long jump) and 0.25 m (triple jump). Class F11 visually impaired athletes exhibit regulation of goal-directed gait analogous to that of non-visually impaired athletes.     

Test-retest reliability of the Profile of Mood States using visually impaired athletes

The test-retest reliabilities of the Profile of Mood States when items were read aloud on consecutive days to 15 nationally ranked visually impaired athletes ranged from .78 to .95, so the scale can be used with visually impaired athletes who cannot complete the profile in the traditional written manner.