Mitigating disruptive effects of interruptions through training: what needs to be practiced?

It is generally accepted that, with practice, people improve on most tasks. However, when tasks have multiple parts, it is not always clear what aspects of the tasks practice or training should focus on. This research explores the features that allow training to improve the ability to resume a task after an interruption, specifically focusing on task-specific versus general interruption/resumption-process mechanisms that could account for improved performance. Three experiments using multiple combinations of primary tasks and interruptions were conducted with undergraduate psychology students. The first experiment showed that for one primary and interruption task-pair, people were able to resume the primary task faster when they had previous practice with the interruption. The second experiment replicated this finding for two other sets of primary and interruption task-pairs. Finally, the third experiment showed that people were able to resume a primary task faster only when they had previous practice with that specific primary and interruption task-pair. Experience with other primary and interruption task-pairs, or practice on the primary task alone, did not facilitate resumption. This suggests that a critical component in resuming after an interruption is the relationship between two tasks. These findings are in line with a task-specific mechanism of resumption and incompatible with a general-process mechanism. These findings have practical implications for developing training programs and mitigation strategies to lessen the disruptive effects of interruptions which plague both our personal and professional environments.     

The powers of noise-fitting: reply to Barth and Paladino

Barth and Paladino (2011) argue that changes in numerical representations are better modeled by a power function whose exponent gradually rises to 1 than as a shift from a logarithmic to a linear representation of numerical magnitude. However, the fit of the power function to number line estimation data may simply stem from fitting noise generated by averaging over changing proportions of logarithmic and linear estimation patterns. To evaluate this possibility, we used conventional model fitting techniques with individual as well as group average data; simulations that varied the proportion of data generated by different functions; comparisons of alternative models' prediction of new data; and microgenetic analyses of rates of change in experiments on children's learning. Both new data and individual participants' data were predicted less accurately by power functions than by logarithmic and linear functions. In microgenetic studies, changes in the best fitting power function's exponent occurred abruptly, a finding inconsistent with Barth and Paladino's interpretation that development of numerical representations reflects a gradual shift in the shape of the power function. Overall, the data support the view that change in this area entails transitions from logarithmic to linear representations of numerical magnitude.     

Motivational climate interventions in physical education: A meta-analysis

Objective

The purpose of this study was to synthesize findings from motivational climate interventions employing [Ames, 1992a] and [Ames, 1992b] and [Epstein, 1988] and [Epstein, 1989] TARGET framework within school-based physical education contexts.

Design

The present study employed a quantitative research synthesis design. Meta-analysis uses empirical studies to summarize past research by drawing overall conclusions from separate investigations. This research design highlights important and unsolved issues related to motivational climate interventions within physical education.

Methods

Standard meta-analytic procedures incorporating inclusion and exclusion criteria, literature search, coding procedures, and statistical methods were used to identify and synthesize 22 studies with 24 independent samples. Cohen’s (1988) criteria for effect sizes were used to interpret and evaluate results.

Results

There was an overall small positive treatment effect (g = 0.103) for groups exposed to mastery motivational climates. Outcome analyses identified the most consistent and largest overall treatment effects for behavioral outcomes (g = 0.39–0.49) followed by affective outcomes (g = −0.27 to 0.59) and cognitive outcomes (g = −0.25 to 0.32). Moderator analyses were directed by study heterogeneity and identified several trends in intervention features and study features with the most substantial trend for participant features as elementary students had the largest overall treatment effect (g = 0.41).

Conclusions

Outcome and moderator analyses identified several trends in methodological features, participant features, and study features that should be addressed in future physical education motivational climate interventions.     

The art and science of guessing

This research examined how one affectively reacts to others' guesses at a value one cares about, such as one's income. Conventional wisdom suggests that people will feel happier upon receiving more favorable guesses (e.g., higher income) than less favorable guesses. We found the opposite pattern. We propose a model to explain the effect and identify its boundaries and report experimental evidence for the model. This research enriches existing literature on self-enhancement and yields practical implications for how to approach guessing in interpersonal communications.     

Is expressive suppression always associated with poorer psychological functioning? A cross-cultural comparison between European Americans and Hong Kong Chinese

The habitual use of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy has been consistently linked to adverse outcomes in a number of domains, including psychological functioning. The present study aimed to uncover whether the suppression-health relationship is dependent on cultural context, given differing cultural norms surrounding the value of suppressing emotional displays. We hypothesized that the negative associations between suppression and psychological functioning seen in European Americans would not be seen among members of East Asian cultures, in which emotional restraint is relatively encouraged over emotional expression. To test this hypothesis, we asked 71 European American students and 100 Chinese students from Hong Kong to report on their use of expressive suppression, life satisfaction, and depressed mood. A moderation analysis revealed that expressive suppression was associated with adverse psychological functioning for European Americans, but not for Chinese participants. These findings highlight the importance of context in understanding the suppression-health relationship.     

Explaining away the negative effects of evaluation on analogical transfer: the perils of premature evaluation

Four experiments explored effects on analogical transfer of evaluating solutions to base problems. In contrast to reports of positive effects of explanation, evaluation consistently reduced transfer rates and impaired mental representations of base material. This effect was not ameliorated by encoding for a later memory test, summarizing, or engaging in similar processes at encoding and recall. However, providing a prior explanation task removed the inhibitory effect of evaluation. It appears that evaluation leads to encoding of extraneous material that interferes with access to solution-critical analogous information. Prior explanation inoculates against negative effects on transfer by ensuring that new information introduced via evaluation is organized around existing representations of relevant information of the base problem. The results suggest that the source of difficulty in analogical transfer may reside not only in retrieval and mapping but also in the initial encoding of problems.     

Changes in trunk orientation do not induce asymmetries in covert orienting

We explored the effect of trunk orientation on responses to visual targets in five experiments, following work suggesting a disengage deficit in covert orienting related to changes in the trunk orientation of healthy participants. In two experiments, participants responded to the color of a target appearing in the left or right visual field following a peripheral visual cue that was informative about target location. In three additional experiments, participants responded to the location (left/right) of a target using a spatially compatible motor response. In none of the experiments did trunk orientation interact with spatial-cuing effects, suggesting that orienting behavior is not affected by the rotation of the body relative to the head. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Changing-state disruption of lip-reading by irrelevant sound in perceptual and memory tasks

Three experiments investigated irrelevant sound interference of lip-read lists. In Experiment 1, an acoustically changing sequence of nine irrelevant utterances was more disruptive to spoken immediate identification of lists of nine lip-read digits than nine repetitions of the same utterances (the changing-state effect; Jones, Madden, & Miles, 1992). Experiment 2 replicated this finding when lip-read items were sampled with replacement from the nine digits to form the lip-read lists. In Experiment 3, when the irrelevant sound was confined to the retention interval of a delayed recall task, a changing-state pattern of disruption also occurred. Results confirm a changing-state effect in memory for lip-read items but also point to the possibility that, for lip-reading, changing-state effects may occur at an earlier, perceptual stage.     

The relationship between factorial composition of test items and measures of test reliability

For continuous distributions associated with dichotomous item scores, the proportion of common-factor variance in the test,H ², may be expressed as a function of intercorrelations among items.H ² is somewhat larger than the coefficienta except when the items have only one common factor and its loadings are restricted in value. The dichotomous item scores themselves are shown not to have a factor structure, precluding direct interpretation of the Kuder-Richardson coefficient,r _K-R, in terms of factorial properties. The value ofr _K-R is equal to that of a coefficient of equivalence,H ² , when the mean item variance associated with common factors equals the mean interitem covariance. An empirical study with synthetic test data from populations of varying factorial structure showed that the four parameters mentioned may be adequately estimated from dichotomous data.This study was supported in part by an Air Force project (Contract Number AF18(600-170), monitored by the Crew Research Laboratory, Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center, Randolph Air Force Base, Randolph Field, Texas. Permission is granted for reproduction, translation, publication, use and disposal in whole and in part by or for the United States Government. Further support was given by the Northwestern University Graduate School. The computational assistance of Mr. Norman Miller is acknowledged. Professor Meyer Dwass provided mathematical advice both directly and indirectly relevant to the paper.     

Preliminary development of the Body Image Affect Scale

A new body-image questionnaire was developed to measure the affect associated with a negative body image. Responses showed a Cronbach coefficient alpha of .84 and a negative correlation of -.21 with using humor in times of stress.