Task preparation and stimulus-evoked competition

The authors investigated how task competition evoked by a stimulus that affords both a currently relevant and a temporarily irrelevant task is affected by invalid preparation, i.e., preparation for the irrelevant task. Although invalid preparation was associated with a general performance cost, effects of stimulus-cued task competition were not enhanced on invalidly prepared trials. This result suggests that either preparation activates representations different from the ones by which stimulus cuing is mediated or that stimulus processing is postponed until invalid preparation has been corrected. In addition, invalid preparation resulted in impaired performance of the respective task when it became relevant on a subsequent trial. This result is consistent with the idea that competition due to invalid preparation is countered by task-specific inhibition.     

准备时间和预先信息对任务切换的影响

两个实验采用任务线索范式,考察了准备时间和预先信息对任务切换的影响。实验1的准备时间为可预测,实验2的为不可预测,以考察准备时间的可预测性对任务切换的影响。以被试执行重复任务、切到任务和切离任务的正确反应时为主要指标,结果：（1）在准备时间可预测和不可预测两种条件下,准备时间和预先信息之间存在显著交互作用。在可预测条件中,重复和切到任务的反应时随着准备时间的增加而减少,但切到代价无显著变化,切离任务的反应时不受准备时间的影响,切离代价表现出反准备效应;不可预测条件下,三种任务的反应时都随着准备时间的增加而减少,但是切到和切离代价表现出反准备效应;（2）切离任务的反应时和代价显著高于切到任务的反应时和代价;（3）在这两种条件下,都没有出现切换代价的准备效应     

A Sociological Approach to the Analysis of Preparation for Work Life

Preparation for work life is interpreted as involving 4 main kinds of preparation: (a) preparation for life in an organization, involving authority, security quests, impersonality, routine, conflict, mobility, and demotion, (b) preparation for a set of role relationships, (c) preparation for a level of consumption, involving a certain style of life, and (d) preparation for an occupational career, involving changes in the nature of jobs, and different types of jobs depending on the position in the life cycle. Conclusions suggest a broadening of the concept of “vocation,” and a change in approach to the analysis of the decision-making process from traditional stochastic analysis to “disjointed incrementalism,” that is, making decisions for short time-periods only, and with strict limitation on available data and resources.     

The Role of Self-Efficacy in Explaining Psychological and Financial Preparation for Retirement: A Behavioural Study of Retirement Transitioning in Uganda

The individual’s level of perceived self-efficacy could be an important driver for early retirement preparation. Most employees in Ugandan organisations reach that age of retirement without sufficient knowledge on how they will survive during their post-retirement life. This study sought to examine whether self-efficacy predicts psychological preparation and financial preparation for retirement. The sample of 924 employees aged 24–60 years selected voluntarily from four three service-oriented organisations participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis was run to confirm whether the factor indices (latent variables) extracted from exploratory factor analysis were actually measures of psychological preparation and financial preparation for retirement. Structural equation modelling was used to test regression relationships, and correlation between latent variable of the dependent constructs was tested using Pearson product moment correlation coefficients. The findings indicated a four-factor model for psychological preparation and a two-factor model for financial preparation. Self-efficacy predicted only three factors of psychological preparation and finance management mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and personal initiative. With these findings, it was concluded that individuals with capacity to adapt new changes can easily re-engage in other jobs. Similarly, those concerned with their social identity will focus on developing career skills that would yield the same level of importance in society. However, finance management training is crucial to the development of strategies and competences that empower people to maintain satisfying lifestyles after retirement. Finally, self-efficacy is a driving factor of personal initiative but the relationship is reinforced when finance management competences are acquired.     

On the limits of advance preparation for a task switch: do people prepare all the task some of the time or some of the task all the time?

This study investigated the nature of advance preparation for a task switch, testing 2 key assumptions of R. De Jong's (2000) failure-to-engage theory: (a) Task-switch preparation is all-or-none, and (b) preparation failures stem from nonutilization of available control capabilities. In 3 experiments, switch costs varied dramatically across individual stimulus-response (S-R) pairs of the tasks-virtually absent for 1 pair but large for others. These findings indicate that, across trials, task preparation was not all-or-none but, rather, consistently partial (full preparation for some S-R pairs but not others). In other words, people do not prepare all of the task some of the time, they prepare some of the task all of the time. Experiments 2 and 3 produced substantial switch costs even though time deadlines provided strong incentives for optimal advance preparation. Thus, there was no evidence that people have a latent capability to fully prepare for a task switch.     

Residual costs in task switching: testing the failure-to-engage hypothesis

Reaction time is typically longer on trials on which the task changes. Thisswitch cost is reduced by the opportunity to prepare for the change before the stimulus onset, but there remains aresidual cost that resists reduction by further opportunity for preparation. De Jong (2000) proposed a model for evaluating the contribution to the residual cost of (1) failure to achieve endogenous task-set reconfiguration on a proportion of trials, and (2) limitations to the completeness of reconfiguration attainable by endogenous means. We report good fits of the model to the data from one previous and one new task-switching experiment, suggesting that the residual switch cost may indeed be attributable to a probabilistic failure to complete advance preparation. But strong incentives for preparation only marginally increased the estimated preparation probability, suggesting some intrinsic limitation to the ability to achieve endogenous preparation for a task switch on every trial.     

What do we really know about witness preparation?

Witnesses often meet with an attorney or witness preparation specialist before trial to review, discuss, and sometimes modify the substance and delivery of their anticipated testimony. This process is commonly referred to as witness preparation. During witness preparation, witnesses are taught to use effective testimony delivery skills (e.g., verbal and nonverbal communication skills) so that they will be perceived as being credible and persuasive in the courtroom. Although social scientists know much about communication skills, credibility, and persuasion, few published studies have attempted to determine whether or not these factors can be modified through witness preparation training. The present article reviews the psychological literature pertaining to witness preparation and makes recommendations for needed witness preparation research.     

Short cue presentations encourage advance task preparation: a recipe to diminish the residual switch cost

In the task-switching literature, it has frequently been demonstrated that although advance task preparation reduces the switch cost, it never really eliminates the switch cost. This remaining residual switch cost received much attention, and it has been argued that advance preparation is restricted in nature. In the present study, the role of task-cue presentation in the establishment of the residual switch cost was investigated. In 4 experiments, the cue was removed during the preparation interval, and it was hypothesized that this would encourage participants to complete advance task preparation. The results of all 4 experiments provided support for this hypothesis: When the cue was presented for a short time and then removed, the residual switch cost completely disappeared. This was found for different cue types. Furthermore, Experiment 3 demonstrated that it was not the presence of the cue itself but merely differences in advance task preparation that caused the effects. This suggests that advance task preparation is not as restricted in nature as previously assumed.     

A critical review of pediatric preoperative preparation procedures: Processes,outcomes, and future directions

Many hospitals currently provide psychological preparation for children facing impending surgery. This article discusses the processes which are presumed to operate in various preparation techniques and the impact of these strategies on children and their parents. In critically reviewing previous work, it is shown how the research is fraught with methodological problems and interpretive limitations. In addition, there is a lack of empirical efforts to actually measure the various change processes at work in preparation procedures. The importance of taking into consideration individual difference dimensions is pointed out. Future directions for research are suggested.     

Effects of response preparation on developmental improvements in inhibitory control

Studies in adults indicate that response preparation is crucial to inhibitory control, but it remains unclear whether preparation contributes to improvements in inhibitory control over the course of childhood and adolescence. In order to assess the role of response preparation in developmental improvements in inhibitory control, we parametrically manipulated the duration of the instruction period in an antisaccade (AS) task given to participants from ages 8 to 31 years. Regressions showing a protracted development of AS performance were consistent with existing research, and two novel findings emerged. First, all participants showed improved performance with increased preparation time, indicating that response preparation is crucial to inhibitory control at all stages of development. Preparatory processes did not deteriorate at even the longest preparatory period, indicating that the youngest participants were able to sustain preparation at even the longest interval. Second, developmental trajectories did not differ for different preparatory period lengths, highlighting that the processes supporting response preparation continue to mature in tandem with improvements in AS performance. Our findings suggest that developmental improvements are not simply due to an inhibitory system that is faster to engage but may also reflect qualitative changes in the processes engaged during the preparatory period.     

Can response preparation begin before stimulus recognition finishes?

The present experiments were designed to determine whether information obtained early in the process of recognizing a stimulus can be used to begin preparing keypress responses before recognition of the stimulus has completely finished. This question is relevant to the recent debate between discrete (e.g., Sternberg, 1969a) and continuous (e.g., McClelland, 1979) models of human information processing. Stimulus sets were chosen so that recognition processes could extract incomplete preliminary information about a stimulus much faster than they could extract secondary information needed for unique stimulus identification. Discriminability of the secondary information was manipulated to vary the opportunity for response preparation based on preliminary information, with difficult secondary discriminations providing more time for response preparation than easy ones. Precues were given on some trials to allow response preparation to occur before the stimulus was presented, thereby reducing any difference in response preparation as a function of discriminability. Continuous models predict that precues should facilitate response preparation less when the secondary discrimination is difficult than when it is easy, and discrete models predict equal facilitation regardless of secondary discrimination difficulty. Evidence of response preparation was obtained with some but not all stimulus sets. The results were interpreted as support for the asynchronous discrete coding model (Miller, 1982a), in which response preparation can begin only after recognition processes have completely activated a code used in categorizing the stimulus.     

Time for action versus action in time: time estimation differs between motor preparation and execution

Theories relating to time perception and motor performance predict very different temporal distortions depending on the synchronisation or succession of temporal processing and motor behaviour. However, our knowledge about the temporal difference between motor preparation and execution is still scarce. In order to expand on prior studies, two different time reproduction tasks were utilised to measure motor preparation and motor execution. We found that motor preparation of a planned action allows participants to complete the time reproduction task more accurately and, in short duration trials, less variably than for motor execution. Furthermore, under-reproduction was found in motor preparation compared to motor execution, which may be caused by increased temporal information processing. According to the attentional gate theory, more attention allocated to time processing and reduced motor distraction leads to less temporal distortion in the motor preparation. The findings are also important for designing to study consciousness, temporal and visual processing.     

Psychotherapy in the school

Counseling and psychotherapy are two terms for the same function; there is no essential difference in the nature of the relationship, the process, the methods and techniques, the purposes or goals, or the results. Vocational counseling is not a different kind or level of counseling, requiring less background or preparation. If anything, preparation for vocational counseling requires more time than does preparation for therapeutic or personal counseling—the former includes the latter. Therefore, if counseling has a place in our schools, it cannot be limited to vocational counseling.

It appears that there is a need or place for counseling and counselors in our schools, and that recognition and acceptance of this need is growing. The school has the opportunity, and the responsibility, for providing counseling, broadly conceived, to its students.

The staff member who has been designated as a school counselor appears to be the logical person to provide counseling services. While it is true that in the past the school counselor has not in fact been a counselor, nor adequately prepared to function as a counselor, counseling is presently accepted as the major function of the school counselor, and his preparation is becoming essentially preparation for performing the counseling function. While there are some who resist this trend, it appears to be well established.     

Preparing for Deployment: Examining Family- and Individual-Level Factors

Deployment can be a significant source of stress for military families. Understanding how families prepare in the face of such stress, and which families are more versus less likely to prepare, is a priority of the Department of Defense. However, there has been scant research on how families prepare for deployments and the factors associated with engagement in preparation activities. The current study is a cross-sectional examination of the proportion of households engaging in deployment preparation activities and family-level and individual-level factors that are associated with these activities in a large and representative sample of married, deployable service members and their families from all military services and components (n = 1,621). Overall, results showed that families reported high rates of engaging in preparation activities, with particularly strong engagement in financial and legal preparation tasks. Talking about deployment to prepare a spouse or child was also relatively highly endorsed but not as frequently cited compared to other logistical preparation activities. Older spouses, officers, active component families, and those with higher marital satisfaction reported greater participation in preparation activities. Families with greater socioemotional difficulties, as indexed by child emotional problems or greater depressive symptoms in the service member or spouse, as well as those with lower spouse-reported marital satisfaction, were more likely to seek professional help. Evaluating the effectiveness of programs in reaching the families that may be least likely to prepare, as well as examining the longitudinal association between deployment preparation and postdeployment family adjustment, is an important area for further inquiry.     

Multicultural Training in Spirituality: An Interdisciplinary Review

Is spiritual diversity a neglected dimension in preparation for multicultural competency? The authors present an interdisciplinary overview of research related to multicultural training in spirituality and religion to address this issue. Findings indicate that counseling program leaders have minimal preparation in spiritual and religious diversity and interventions. In addition, spiritual and religious themes appear to be minimally included in counseling program curricula. Some evidence also indicates that religious and spiritual diversity is not considered as important in multicultural training as are other kinds of diversity. A movement to include spirituality and religious content in accreditation guidelines, however, points to a possible shift to expand preparation for religious and spiritual competency. The article concludes with implications for counselor preparation and supervision.     

Response preparation in Parkinson's disease: automatic vs. controlled processing

Using a finger cuing paradigm, we investigated response preparation in Parkinson's disease (PD). The central question was whether PD individuals are differentially affected by preparatory cues that specify a more automatic response set configuration (that induces within-hand preparation) as opposed to a more controlled one (that induces between-hands preparation). Reaction times (RTs) and error rates were measured in 20 non-demented individuals with PD and 20 healthy control participants with a long and short preparation interval (500 ms and 2000 ms). RT benefits and/or costs were measured for cues indicating a within- and between-hands motor preparatory set. Overall, RTs were significantly longer, and errors more frequent, for PD participants than for control participants. More importantly, in comparison with control subjects, PD individuals showed a significant deficit in between-hands preparation but not in within-hand preparation. Furthermore, longer preparation intervals slowed down cued RTs of the control participants, but not those of the PD individuals. Together, these findings suggest that whereas automatic response preparation processes are spared in PD, controlled response preparation processes operate at a slower rate and/or are delayed in time.     

Career Preparation: A Longitudinal, Process-Oriented Examination

Preparing for an adult career through careful planning, choosing a career, and gaining confidence to achieve career goals is a primary task during adolescence and early adulthood. The current study bridged identity process literature and career construction theory (Savickas, 2005) by examining the commitment component of career adaptability, career preparation (i.e., career planning, career decision-making, and career confidence), from an identity process perspective (Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006). Research has suggested that career preparation dimensions are interrelated during adolescence and early adulthood; however, what remains to be known is how each dimension changes over time and the interrelationships among the dimensions during the transition from high school. Drawing parallels between career preparation and identity development dimensions, the current study addressed these questions by examining the patterns of change in each career preparation dimension and parallel process models that tested associations among the slopes and intercepts of the career preparation dimensions. Results showed that the career preparation dimensions were not developing similarly over time, although each dimension was associated cross-sectionally and longitudinally with the other dimensions. Results also suggested that career planning and decision-making preceded career confidence. The results of the current study supported career construction theory and showed similarities between the processes of career preparation and identity development.     

The effective time course of preparation

In reaction time (RT) research on nonspecific preparation, the preparation period is often identified with the foreperiod (FP), the interval between the offset of a neutral warning stimulus (S1) and the onset of the reaction stimulus (S2). However, the “effective preparation period” may be longer than FP: nonspecific preparation may start prior to FP (e.g., at the onset of S1) and/or continue after it (i.e., in parallel with the reaction process). In four experiments, we factorially varied FP and an additional factor (S1-duration; S2-luminance; stimulus–response compatibility) that probed the effective preparation period outside the bounds of FP. By examining how equivalent RT–FP functions obtain at the different levels of the additional factor, we showed that nonspecific preparation (1) starts at the onset of S1 for brief FPs but at its offset for longer FPs and (2) continues in parallel with S2-encoding but stops prior to response selection.     

Preparing fingers within and between hands: Examining the maximal preparation benefit in older age

Previous research has demonstrated an age-related deficit in the preparation of finger responses. A key question is whether the age-related deficit reflects differences in speed of preparation or differences in the maximal preparation benefit that can be attained given sufficiently long preparation intervals. The present study examined this issue by asking a group of younger and older adults to perform the finger-cueing task with four, relatively long, preparation intervals that varied randomly across trials. Reaction time results demonstrated that older adults were deficient in preparing two fingers on two hands at the two shortest preparation intervals, but not at the two longest ones. This outcome suggests that, with randomised preparation intervals, older adults require more time than younger adults to achieve the maximal level of between-hands preparation.     

Preparation for a forthcoming task is sufficient to produce subsequent shift costs

Shifting from one task to another is associated with significant costs. Recently, it has been questioned whether the mere preparation for a forthcoming task, without the task’s actually being executed, is sufficient to establish a new task set that results in shift costs when the execution of a task other than the prepared task is required. In a go/no-go study, it is shown that the mere preparation for a task is sufficient to produce shift costs, but only under conditions that encourage participants to engage in advance preparation for a precued task despite the possibility that the execution of this task will not always be required, because of occasional no-go trials. In addition, considerable reductions of shift costs after go trials could be observed under these conditions. When such a motivating context was not provided, only negligible shift costs were observed after a no-go trial, indicating that no task-set configuration had taken place without the need to perform the task. Furthermore, under these conditions, prolonging the preparation interval resulted in reaction time benefits that were similar for task shifts and repetitions, again indicating that no active task-set configuration took place.