Number of players who gain ball possession as a function of basketball mass among 9-11-year-old male players

This study analyzed whether a ball with a higher (540-g) or lower (440-g) mass than the regulation ball (485-g) resulted in a larger number of participants gaining ball possession during games. Prior studies have indicated that ball handling is facilitated by decreasing the mass of the ball. It was assumed that a greater number of children gaining possession of the ball indicated greater ease of use and more control. Thus, the hypothesis was that the number of participants who gained ball possession would increase when using a ball of lower mass. The participants were 54 boys from six youth basketball teams. Participants played four games with each one of the three different balls and the number of possessions was calculated using videos of each game. The hypothesis was only partially supported: the number of participants who gained possession with the regular ball was similar to that with the 440-g ball and with the 540-g ball, but a greater number of participants gained possession with the 440-g ball in comparison to the 540-g ball. This result suggests balls that differ by more than 65 g may affect actual game outcomes.     

Associations of social relationships with consultation for symptoms of depression: a community study of depression in older men and women in Québec

To assess associations between social relationships and consultation for symptoms of depression, data from a representative sample of 2,811 French-speaking community-dwelling older adults in Québec were used. Less than half of the older adults meeting DSM criteria for depression (N = 379; 47.1%) had sought consultation about their depression-relevant symptoms in the preceding 12 months. Having a cohabitant partner or having children were not associated with frequency of consultation for women. Men without a partner tended to consult more frequently than men with a cohabiting partner (OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 0.81, 7.88). None of the men without a confidant had consulted. Among the 67 men with a confidant, consultation was more frequent among those not cohabiting with a partner (70%) than among those with a cohabiting partner (46%). The influence of social relationships on consultation for depression differed in men and women in this population of depressed elderly people in Québec.     

Talking about visually perceived events: Communication effects on eyewitness memory

Communicators' tuning of a message about a social target to their audience's evaluation can shape their representation of the target. This audience‐tuning effect has been demonstrated with ambiguous text passages as input material. We examined whether the effect also occurs when communicators learn about the target's behaviours from visual (nonverbal) input material. In Experiment 1, participants watched a soundless video depicting ambiguous behaviours of a target, described the video to an audience who liked (vs. disliked) the target, and subsequently recalled the video. Both message and recall were biased towards the audience's judgement. In Experiment 2, the video depicted a forensically relevant event, specifically ambiguous behaviours of two persons involved in a bar brawl. Participants tuned their event retellings to their audience's responsibility judgement and remembered the event accordingly. In both experiments, the effect of the audience's judgement on recall was statistically mediated by the extent to which the message was tuned to the audience. The more participants experienced a shared reality with their audience the stronger was the message‐recall correlation (Experiment 2). We conclude that the audience‐tuning effect for visually perceived information depends on the communicators' creation of a shared reality with their audience. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Desensitization to media violence: links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior

This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content.     

“Which Palestine Should We Teach?” Signatures,Palimpsests, and Struggles over School Textbooks

The present paper offers a reflection on school textbooks produced and introduced by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the year 2000 onward. The aim is to examine the debates over these textbooks, by situating them over the backdrop of larger geopolitical dynamics and intra-Palestinian social and political struggles.     

Representational momentum in aviation

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of expertise on motion anticipation. We conducted 2 experiments in which novices and expert pilots viewed simulated aircraft landing scenes. The scenes were interrupted by the display of a black screen and then started again after a forward or backward shift. The participant's task was to determine whether the moving scene had been shifted forward or backward. A forward misjudgment of the final position of the moving scene was interpreted as a representational momentum (RM) effect. Experiment 1 showed that an RM effect was detected only for experts. The lack of motion anticipation on the part of novices is a surprising result for the RM literature. It could be related to scene unfamiliarity, encoding time, or shift size. Experiment 2 was run with novices only. It was aimed at testing the potential impact of 2 factors on the RM effect: scene encoding time and shift size. As a whole, the results showed that encoding time and shift size are important factors in anticipation processes in realistic dynamic situations.     

Parkinson's disease differentially affects adaptation to gradual as compared to sudden visuomotor distortions

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have difficulties in movement adaptation to optimize performance in novel environmental contexts such as altered screen cursor-hand relationships. Prior studies have shown that the time course of the distortion differentially affects visuomotor adaptation to screen cursor rotations, suggesting separate mechanisms for gradual and sudden adaptation. Moreover, studies in human and non-human primates suggest that adaptation to sudden kinematic distortions may engage the basal ganglia, whereas adaptation to gradual kinematic distortions involves cerebellar structures. In the present studies, participants were patients with PD, who performed center-out pointing movements, using either a digitizer tablet and pen or a computer trackball, under normal or rotated screen cursor feedback conditions. The initial study tested patients with PD using a cross-over experimental design for adaptation to gradual as compared with sudden rotated hand-screen cursor relationships and revealed significant after-effects for the gradual adaptation task only. Consistent with these results, findings from a follow-up experiment using a trackball that required only small finger movements showed that patients with PD adapt better to gradual as against sudden perturbations, when compared to age-matched healthy controls. We conclude that Parkinson’s disease affects adaptation to sudden visuomotor distortions but spares adaptation to gradual distortions.     

Full naming with bi-dimensional abstract stimuli in six-year-old children

The aim of this study was to evaluate a procedure to reveal the emergence of full naming in typically developing children. In Experiment 1, five 6-year-old children (a) learned tacts of pictures and the emergence of the selection of these pictures upon hearing their names was tested; and (b) the selection of other pictures was taught and the emergence of the tacts was tested. All children showed the emergence of picture selection and 3 children showed the emergence of the tacts. In Experiment 2a, the children's correct repetition of the names of 3 pictures was verified first, then the experimenter presented the pictures with their names without requiring any behavior other than attending. Finally, the emergence of picture selection and the tacts was tested. Experiment 2b replicated Experiment 2a with words that were easier to pronounce. Picture selection and the tacts emerged; this performance documented full naming for the first time with typically developing children. These procedures can be used to induce naming capacity in children who lack it; hence, they can be applied to teach children with learning delays.     

Development and validation of a Spanish version of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, ACSI-28

This study involved the translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) for a Spanish-speaking sport environment. The sample was made up of 1,253 Spanish athletes, 967 males and 286 females. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the 7-factor structure found in the English version was replicated in the Spanish translation in both males and females. Likewise, the reliability coefficients were similar to those of the English version, with values exceeding .80 for the total score. Several of the subscales correlated positively with sports experience and performance level. The Spanish version of the ACSI-28 thus maintains the factor structure of the original and exhibits similar psychometric properties. Consequently, it can reliably be applied to Spanish-speaking athletes for research and evaluation purposes.     

Implementation of training programs in self-regulated learning strategies in Moodle format: results of a experience in higher education

This paper tests the efficacy of an intervention program in virtual format intended to train studying and self-regulation strategies in university students. The aim of this intervention is to promote a series of strategies which allow students to manage their learning processes in a more proficient and autonomous way. The program has been developed in Moodle format and hosted by the Virtual Campus of the University of Oviedo. The present study had a semi-experimental design, included an experimental group (n=167) and a control one (n=206), and used pretest and posttest measures (self-regulated learning strategies' declarative knowledge, self-regulated learning macro-strategy planning-execution-assessment, self-regulated learning strategies on text, surface and deep learning approaches, and academic achievement). Data suggest that the students enrolled in the training program, comparing with students in the control group, showed a significant improvement in their declarative knowledge, general and on text use of learning strategies, increased their deep approach to learning, decreased their use of a surface approach and, in what concerns to academic achievement, statistically significant differences have been found in favour of the experimental group.