Preferred tempo in the learning of a gross cyclical action

Seventy-five subjects, randomly assigned to one of five training conditions, were required to learn to make large-amplitude, high-tempo, fluent movements on a so-called ski-simulator over a period of four days. Subjects trained under different tempo conditions. In four of the conditions the tempo was prescribed (“preferred”, high, low, or increasing), augmented feedback being provided to enable subjects to stay on “target”. “Preferred” tempo was based on the weight of the subject and was derived from a regression equation based on previous empirical research. In a fifth condition, subjects trained on “discovery learning” principles, i.e. without the tempo being prescribed. The results obtained on the three parameters (amplitude, frequency, and fluency) during the daily test sessions (in which the tempo was not prescribed) formed the data for the analyses.

A learning effect was apparent on all three parameters over the four-day training period. Subjects who trained under the high or the low prescribed tempos, however, were shown to produce significantly smaller amplitude movements than subjects who trained under the other three conditions. Training under the low-tempo condition was also shown to have disadvantageous effects on the parameters tempo and fluency. It was concluded that, for these kinds of action, training at a high or a low tempo—and particularly the latter—has undesirable effects. Such disadvantageous effects, however, were shown to be avoidable if training is begun with the “preferred” tempo of the subject and increased successively by 7% over days.     

Work, Competences and Learning Scenarios for the Future

Il arrive que les occasions d'apprentissage et d'acquisition des compétences et des aptitudes soient tiées aux opportunités professionnelles et ainsi, indirectement, au développement de l'économie. L auteur illustre, avec cinq scénarios, comment l'apprentissage peut être conditionné par des choix macro-économiques et macro-sociaux.
Opportunities for learning and the acquisition of competences or skills happen to be linked to work opportunities and thence indirectly to the development of the economy. The author sketches five scenarios indicating how learning may be conditioned by macroeconomic and macro-social choices.     

Rugby versus Soccer in South Africa: Content familiarity contributes to cross-cultural differences in cognitive test scores

In this study, cross-cultural differences in cognitive test scores are hypothesized to depend on a test's cultural complexity (Cultural Complexity Hypothesis: CCH), here conceptualized as its content familiarity, rather than on its cognitive complexity (Spearman's Hypothesis: SH). The content familiarity of tests assessing short-term memory, attention, working memory, and figural and verbal fluid reasoning, was manipulated by constructing test versions with an item content derived from either Afrikaans or Tswana culture in South Africa. Both test versions were administered to children of both cultures. The sample consisted of 161 urban Afrikaans, 181 urban, and 159 rural Tswana children (M_age = 9.37 years). Children generally performed best on the test version that was designed for their own group, particularly on the cognitively and culturally complex working memory and figural fluid reasoning tests. This relation between content familiarity and cognitive test performance supports CCH and disconfirms SH.     

The role of position in object selection in vision

Summary Within contemporary visual-information-processing psychology, two classes of selective-attention theories can be distinguished: position-not-special theories and position-special theories. The position-not-special theories postulate that attentional selection by colour, by form, and by position are equivalent selective operations. The position-special theories assume that selection by position is more basic or direct than selection by colour or by form. Examples of both types of theory are briefly described, and irrelevant and relevant evidence is critically discussed. It is concluded that the relevant evidence is directly compatible with the position-special views and that the position-not-special theories require additional extraneous assumptions. The position-special model presented in Van der Heijden (1992) is elaborated in further detail. It is shown that this model is compatible with two important and often substantiated assumptions of the position-not-special theories: the assumption that pre-attentive analysers organize the visual scene in objects against a background, and the assumption that visual-selective attention can be directed at objects isolated in this way. This position-special theory is a parsimonious theory because it can identify the mentalistic conceptselective attention with the materialistic conceptspatial position.     

Testing hypotheses involving Cronbach's alpha using marginal models

We discuss the statistical testing of three relevant hypotheses involving Cronbach's alpha: one where alpha equals a particular criterion; a second testing the equality of two alpha coefficients for independent samples; and a third testing the equality of two alpha coefficients for dependent samples. For each of these hypotheses, various statistical tests have been proposed. Over the years, these tests have depended on progressively fewer assumptions. We propose a new approach to testing the three hypotheses that relies on even fewer assumptions, is especially suited for discrete item scores, and can be applied easily to tests containing large numbers of items. The new approach uses marginal modelling. We compared the Type I error rate and the power of the marginal modelling approach to several of the available tests in a simulation study using realistic conditions. We found that the marginal modelling approach had the most accurate Type I error rates, whereas the power was similar across the statistical tests.     

Personality and Dutch Emigrants' Reactions to Acculturation Strategies

This experimental questionnaire study examined individual differences in affective and normative reactions to acculturation strategies. A sample of 265 Dutch emigrants with a dual cultural background read scenarios describing the experiences of an emigrant. Eight (4 × 2) different scenario versions were developed, each referring to 1 of 4 acculturation strategies ( Berry, 1997 ) and representing either the Frisian or the Dutch native culture. Participants reacted most positively to the integration strategy. There were no differences in reactions to Frisian or Dutch original culture. With respect to the influence of personality, as measured with the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire ( van der Zee & van Oudenhoven, 2000 ), individuals high in flexibility responded more positively to the assimilation strategy than did individuals who scored low on this dimension.     

Automated verbal credibility assessment of intentions: The model statement technique and predictive modeling

Recently, verbal credibility assessment has been extended to the detection of deceptive intentions, the use of a model statement, and predictive modeling. The current investigation combines these 3 elements to detect deceptive intentions on a large scale. Participants read a model statement and wrote a truthful or deceptive statement about their planned weekend activities (Experiment 1). With the use of linguistic features for machine learning, more than 80% of the participants were classified correctly. Exploratory analyses suggested that liars included more person and location references than truth‐tellers. Experiment 2 examined whether these findings replicated on independent‐sample data. The classification accuracies remained well above chance level but dropped to 63%. Experiment 2 corroborated the finding that liars' statements are richer in location and person references than truth‐tellers' statements. Together, these findings suggest that liars may over‐prepare their statements. Predictive modeling shows promise as an automated veracity assessment approach but needs validation on independent data.