Effects of practice and alcohol on performance of a perceptual-motor task

Practice may modify the effects of alcohol on perceptual-motor performance in at least three different ways: (1) alcohol may affect learning—that is, the rate at which performance of a skill improves with practice; (2) alcohol may have a greater effect on performance when the skill is unfamiliar than when it is practised; and (3) practice with alcohol may allow adaptation to its effects. These were investigated using a simple computer game in which subjects attempted to destroy a tank by pressing a key to release a bomb from a plane horizontally traversing the screen above it. The results demonstrated that (1) performance improved with practice; (2) with alcohol (0.8 mg/kg body weight), subjects were more variable and less accurate; (3) improvement with alcohol was greater than without alcohol, but as performance was impaired by alcohol, there was greater scope for improvement; (4) those who practised with alcohol still improved when switched to no alcohol late in practice; and (5) alcohol had the same effect early and late in practice. It is therefore concluded that there is no evidence to support any of the three suggestions outlined above.     

Effects of camera arrangement on perceptual-motor performance in minimally invasive surgery

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is performed for a growing number of treatments. Whereas open surgery requires large incisions, MIS relies on small incisions through which instruments are inserted and tissues are visualized with a camera. MIS results in benefits for patients compared with open surgery, but degrades the surgeon's perceptual-motor performance. We used a laparoscopic simulator to measure effects of type (top, front, side) and number (1, 3) of camera views on manual manipulation and manual aiming tasks. These experimental manipulations had implications for perceptual and cognitive processing including frame of reference, movement compatibility, compression, task-information specificity, information integration, attentional demands, and information extraction. Camera views generally degraded performance compared with direct viewing, but learning occurred. Generally, a top view resulted in the best performance, followed by front and side views. Benefits of multiple views depended on practice and the direction of grasper movement. Mappings between movement direction and camera view, the consistency of those mappings, and task difficulty affected performance. The benefits and costs for perceptual and cognitive processing that were introduced by a given camera view were not necessarily weighted equally. Costs and benefits must be considered specifically for each task and for each combination of camera view and movement direction. Surgeons may consider using a top view, using side views only when necessary, and using a consistent view when performing repetitive movements.     

The analysis of drawing from memory performance in brain-damaged patients

The drawing from memory task is frequently used in cognitive neuropsychology to investigate visual processing impairments. However, in surprising contrast to most other neuropsychological tests, the analyses of results on this task are most often based solely on qualitative judgements about the normality of a patient's performance. In most case reports, these judgements are not made with reference to normative data and are not made by individuals who are impartial with respect to the study (that is, using a blind rating procedure). There are several grounds for arguing that such analyses are inadequate. First, seemingly abnormal drawings made by a patient may well be within the range of performance shown by control subjects. Second, judgments that are not based on a blind rating procedure are likely to be influenced by knowledge about the patient's performance on other tasks. We describe an alternative assessment procedure that addresses both of these concerns.     

Information processing abilities and performance on two perceptual-motor tasks

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the hypothesized information-processing mechanisms, thought to be reflected by the slope and intercept of the regression of choice reaction time on stimulus information or information transmitted could account for performance on two novel laboratory tasks. In addition, analyses were performed to determine whether these theorized mechanisms represent stable within individual abilities or task specific capabilities. Analysis indicated that the slopes obtained from two different choice reaction time paradigms were unrelated while intercepts were moderately correlated. Examination of the pattern of zero-order correlations further showed that regression components were not meaningfully related to performance on either novel task, suggesting that knowledge of information-processing mechanisms, as assessed in choice RT paradigms, did not enhance the understanding of performance in more complex tasks.     

Frequency of stuttering during challenging and supportive virtual reality job interviews

This paper seeks to demonstrate the possibility of manipulating the frequency of stuttering using virtual reality environments (VREs). If stuttering manifests itself in VREs similarly to the way it manifests itself in real world interactions, then VREs can provide a controlled, safe, and confidential method for treatment practice and generalization. Though many researchers and clinicians recognize the need for generalization activities in the treatment of stuttering, achieving generalization in a clinical setting poses challenges to client confidentiality, safety, and the efficient use of a professionals’ time. Virtual reality (VR) technology may allow professionals the opportunity to enhance and assess treatment generalization while protecting the safety and confidentiality of their clients. In this study, we developed a VR job interview environment which allowed experimental control over communication style and gender of interviewers. In this first trial, persons who stutter (PWS) experienced both challenging and supportive VR job interview conditions. The percentage of stuttered syllables was calculated for both interviews for each participant. Self-reported ratings of communication apprehension and confidence were also obtained, and were not significantly correlated with stuttering severity. Results indicated that interviewer communication style affected the amount of stuttering produced by participants, with more stuttering observed during challenging virtual interviews. Additionally, the amount of stuttering observed during the VR job interviews was significantly, positively correlated with the amount of stuttering observed during an interview with the investigator prior to VR exposure. Participants’ subjective reports of the VR experience indicate reactions similar to those they report experiencing in the real world. Possible implications for the use of VR in the assessment and treatment of stuttering are discussed.

Educational objectives: After reading this article, the reader will be able to—(1) list some of the challenges to treatment generalization; (2) describe how virtual reality technology can assist in alleviating some of these challenges; (3) describe how the frequency of stuttering varies across two different virtual environments.     

Contextual cuing and memory performance in brain-damaged amnesics and old people

In Experiment 1, groups of Korsakoff amnesics and alcoholic controls learned a list of paired-associate words in a standard testing room or in a room with distinctive contextual features. Recall was tested 48 hr later in the same or other context. This procedure was repeated in Experiment 2 with old people living in institutions or in the community, but matched for age, health, education, and socioeconomic background. The amnesic patients and institutionalized old people, relative to their comparison groups, were more impaired in recalling the lists under standard conditions and were more responsive to contextual cuing, especially when the distinctive cues were provided during original learning. The results highlight the susceptibility to interference of Korsakoff amnesics and institutionalized old people and offer further evidence that both groups are more responsive to salient contextual cues than either young people or old people living in the community.     

Psychoticism and response to treatment in neurotic patients

A study is reported of neurotic patients at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, who were given the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and who were rated by their doctors for prognosis and final assessment after treatment. The results indicated that those patients who had elevated psychoticism scores took longer to improve and that doctors rated them harder to treat at final assessment. It is suggested that early knowledge of patients with a poor prognosis, in the form of their Psychoticism score, might prove helpful to psychiatrists and psychologists, both for diagnosis and (primarily) for choice of appropriate treatment.     

Psychological test differentiation of neurotic and organically induced performance disorders

Current methods of diagnosing psychological performance, which are primarily status-oriented, are inadequate to permit satisfactory differentiation between brain-organically and neurotically induced performance disturbances. We therefore attempted to contribute to the solution of this problem by adopting a new psychodiagnostic approach (measurement of intraindividual variability) and using multi-point measurements with the aid of attentiveness tests. The fact that 80 to 90% of 254 neurotic and brain-damaged subjects could be correctly diagnosed in the way indicates that the new approach to performance diagnosis is suitable for clinical use.