Commitment, enjoyment and motivation in young soccer competitive players

Building upon Deci's and Ryan (1985) Self-determination theory as well as the sportive behavioral correlates of the model of Commitment (Scanlan et al., 1976), this study tries to establish the relationship between motivation and commitment in youth sport. For this purpose 454 young competitive soccer players answered the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) during the regular season. The SMS measures the three dimensions of the Motivational continuum (the Amotivation, the Extrinsic Motivation and the Intrinsic Motivation). The SCQ measures the Sportive Commitment and its composing factors such as the Enjoyment, the Alternatives to the sport, and the Social Pressure. Our findings provided a clear pattern of the influence of motivation in sport enjoyment and commitment, outlining the positive contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enjoyment and commitment. Amotivation, contributes positively to alternatives to sport and negatively to enjoyment and commitment, It should be noted that extrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to enjoyment whereas intrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to commitment.     

Behavioral evidence for a differential modulation of semantic processing and lexical production by aging: a full linear mixed-effects modeling approach

The effect of normal aging on lexical production and semantic processing was evaluated in 72 healthy participants. Four tasks were used, picture naming (PN), picture categorization (PC), numerical judgment (NJ), and color judgment (CJ). The dependence of reaction time (RT) and correct responses with age was accounted by mixed-effects models. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing for verbal, executive, and memory functions. The RTs increase significantly with age for all tasks. After parceling out the non-specific cognitive decline, as reflected by the NJ task, the RT for the PN task decreases with age. Behavioral data were interpreted in relation with neuropsychological scores. Our results suggest that (a) naming becomes more automatic and semantic processing slightly more difficult with age, and (b) a non-specific general slowdown of cognitive processing occurs with age. Lexical production remained unaltered, based on compensatory automatic processes. This study also suggests a possible slowdown of semantic processing, even in normal aging.     

Age effects on different components of theory of mind

The effects of aging on the cognitive and affective dimensions of theory of mind (ToM), and on the latter’s links with other cognitive processes, such as information processing speed, executive functions and episodic memory, are still unclear. We therefore investigated these effects in young (n = 25), middle-aged (n = 20) and older adults (n = 25), using separate subjective and objective assessment tasks. Furthermore, a novel composite task probed participants’ abilities to infer both cognitive and affective mental states in an interpersonal context. Although age affected the objective ToM tests, results revealed a direct aging effect on the second-order ToM, but an indirect one on the first-order cognitive ToM, mediated mainly by age-related declines in executive functions. This study supports the notion of an age-related distinction between subjective and objective assessments of ToM, and confirms that ToM is a complex mental ability with several characteristics reliant to some extent on executive processes.     

Cognitive processes in writing during pause and execution periods

The present study investigated how writing processes are activated during pause and execution periods. In two experiments, handwriting demands were manipulated by asking participants to compose with their familiar handwriting or with a high-demanding cursive uppercase calligraphy. Experiment 1 investigated narrative writing, a task with low planning demands. Experiment 2 addressed essay writing, a task with stronger planning demands. Occurrences of processes and their cognitive effort were analysed by asking participants to respond to random auditory probes and then to report their ongoing mental activity according to learned categories referring to the planning, translating, and revising writing processes. All together, the findings indicate that demands on planning did not affect how writing processes were activated during pauses and execution periods but automaticity of handwriting did. When handwriting was effortless, translating was mostly activated in parallel with motor execution, whereas revising and planning were mainly activated during pauses. However, none of the writing processes could be characterised as being typical of pauses, since translating was activated to a similar extent as the other two processes. By contrast, when handwriting was effortful, participants shifted to a more sequential functioning and activated translating mainly during pauses.     

The Longitudinal Interplay of Adolescents' Self-Esteem and Body Image: A Conditional Autoregressive Latent Trajectory Analysis

Suppose P_I and P₂ are two competing discrimination procedures. 1Co com-, its are pare the relative discriminatory power of both procedures, test statistics are suggested for the hypothesis that P_l and P₂ performed no better than, random assignment versus the alternative that P₁ did significantly better than P_e.     

Geographic region effects on adolescent physical self: An exploratory study

The objectives of this exploratory study were to examine gender differences in physical self‐concept, and the influence of geographic place of residence on both adolescents' physical self‐concept and gender differences in physical self‐concept. The Physical Self Inventory was used to measure physical self‐perceptions and global self‐esteem. Participants were 323 boys and 282 girls living in the North or South of France. First a Mann‐Whitney U test was used to assess gender differences and the influence of geographic region differences on physical self‐perceptions (physical self‐worth, physical condition, sport competence, attractive body, physical strength) and global self‐esteem. Then a Kruskal‐Wallis ANOVA for ranked data was used to assess geographic region influence on boys' and girls' physical self‐concept and global self‐esteem. The results showed that not only did boys have significantly higher physical self scores (on all scales) and global self‐esteem than girls, but also that adolescents from the North of France had higher physical self scores (on all scales) and global self‐esteem than adolescents from the South. Moreover, many differences were found between boys and girls on physical self scores (on all scales) and global self‐esteem according to their geographic place of residence. The main results showed that girls from the South had lower scores on the attractive body, physical strength, physical self‐worth, and global self‐esteem scales than all other adolescents, and that boys from the South had lower scores on the attractive body and global self‐esteem scales than did boys and girls from the North.     

Automatic knowledge learning and case adaptation with a hybrid committee approach

When Case Based Reasoning systems are applied to real-world problems, the retrieved solutions usually require adaptations in order to be used on new contexts. Therefore, case adaptation is a desirable capability. However, case adaptation is still a challenge for this research area. In general, the acquisition of knowledge for case adaptation is harder than the acquisition of cases. This paper explores the automatic learning of adaptation knowledge and explores the use of a hybrid committee approach for automatic case adaptation.     

Let’s Open the Decision-Making Umbrella: A Framework for Conceptualizing and Assessing Features of Impaired Decision Making in Addiction

Neuropsychology Review - Decision-making impairments play a pivotal role in the emergence and maintenance of addictive disorders. However, a sound conceptualization of decision making as an...