Imagery intervention in open and closed tennis motor skill performance

To assess use of imagery intervention in performance of two tennis motor skills the quasi-experimental design included a pre- and posttest and a control group. The tennis service shot and service receiving skill were selected as representative of open and closed skills, respectively. 48 subjects, male tennis players, whose ages ranged from 16 to 18 yr. (M = 17.2), were divided into two groups: (1) Technical practice only which was used as control group and (2) Imagery group who received both imagery and technical practice. Analysis of covariance showed a significant main effect for the imagery intervention on the closed skill (p = .002). Findings suggest that imaging a positive outcome may be more powerful in improving performance of closed skill movements than of open skill movements.     

The development of intergroup bias in childhood: how social norms can shape children's racial behaviours

The present research examined the developmental course of racial behaviours in childhood. It tested the hypothesis that White children's expressions of racial prejudice do not necessarily decline in middle childhood due to the development of particular cognitive skills but that instead, as argued by the socio-normative approach, children older than seven will go on expressing prejudiced attitudes under appropriate conditions. This would be explained by the presence of an anti-racism norm, along with the existence of values promoting equal rights, which impede blatant expressions of racism. In the first study 283 White children aged 6-7 and 9-10 years performed a task of resource allocation to White and Black target children in conditions of high (White interviewer was present) or low (White interviewer was absent) salience of the anti-racist norm. The 6- to 7-year-old children discriminated against the Black target in both conditions whereas older children discriminated against the Black child only when the anti-racist norm was not salient. In Study 2, 187 White children aged 6-7 and 9-10 years performed the same resource allocation task in conditions of explicit activation of similarity vs dissimilarity or egalitarian vs merit-based norms regarding race relations. Supporting the hypothesis of the role of racist or anti-racist norms on the expression of intergroup discrimination, results have again shown that 6- to 7-year-old children discriminated against the Black target in both conditions while older children presented significantly different prejudiced/nonprejudiced behaviours consistent with the activated norms. These results were discussed in terms of the need for a reanalysis of the assumptions and research results of the cognitive-developmental theory and of further developments in the socio-normative approach regarding the development of prejudice in childhood.     

Subjective social status and intergroup attitudes among ethnic majority and minority children in Portugal

A measure of subjective social status (SSS) was examined among high (White), and low (Black and Roma) ethnic status children in Portugal within a developmental design including 6–8‐year‐old and 9–12‐year‐old children. White children favoured their in‐group over the Black and Roma out‐groups on the SSS measure, social preferences and positive as well as negative trait attributions. Generally, the Black and Roma showed equal SSS, preferences and trait attribution for their in‐group and the high status White out‐group, but not the other low‐status out‐group. With age White children generally demonstrated higher SSS for Black and Roma, preferred them more and attributed more positive traits. For low‐status groups, an age effect was found only for Black children who preferred the Roma more with age and attributed more positive traits. Changes on preferences and trait attribution depending on age‐group were mediated by SSS. It is concluded that minority group's SSS does not parallel the objective status hierarchy but, rather, is a dynamic reorganisation of group's relative positions serving strategies to cope with their minority condition.     

The major's therapy: Ernest Hemingway's “In Another Country”

“In Another Country” draws upon Hemingway's experiences during World War I. Narrated by a wounded young American, this story is a parable of early machine-rehabilitation therapy, one in which the strong optimism of a physician employing new machines is contrasted with the skepticism of an Italian major (“the greatest fencer in Italy”) who, disbelieving in the machines, nevertheless comes regularly for therapy to his hand. That daily attendance is interrupted only when the major's young wife dies suddenly. The major, who had instructed the American never to put himself “in a position to lose,” has himself just “lost” the wife he had married when he felt sure that his own wounding had effectively taken him out of danger of being killed at the front. His continued stoicism offers the young soldier an example of ethical and moral behavior, for after her funeral he resumes his daily routine of machine-therapy. Seen against the ineffectiveness of the machines, the major's behavior seems to offer an example of the only “therapy” possible in this world of wounds and machines.     

Decrease of Precurrent Behavior as Training Increases: Effects of Task Complexity

The Psychological Record - When someone is described as memorizing a phone number, part of what is being asserted is that the person is capable of dialing the number without looking it up in the...     

Selective inactivation of adenosine A(2A) receptors in striatal neurons enhances working memory and reversal learning

The adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) is highly enriched in the striatum where it is uniquely positioned to integrate dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and other signals to modulate cognition. Although previous studies support the hypothesis that A(2A)R inactivation can be pro-cognitive, analyses of A(2A)R's effects on cognitive functions have been restricted to a small subset of cognitive domains. Furthermore, the relative contribution of A(2A)Rs in distinct brain regions remains largely unknown. Here, we studied the regulation of multiple memory processes by brain region-specific populations of A(2A)Rs. Specifically, we evaluated the cognitive impacts of conditional A(2A)R deletion restricted to either the entire forebrain (i.e., cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, fb-A(2A)R KO) or to striatum alone (st-A(2A)R KO) in recognition memory, working memory, reference memory, and reversal learning. This comprehensive, comparative analysis showed for the first time that depletion of A(2A)R-dependent signaling in either the entire forebrain or striatum alone is associated with two specific phenotypes indicative of cognitive flexibility-enhanced working memory and enhanced reversal learning. These selective pro-cognitive phenotypes seemed largely attributed to inactivation of striatal A(2A)Rs as they were captured by A(2A)R deletion restricted to striatal neurons. Neither spatial reference memory acquisition nor spatial recognition memory were grossly affected, and no evidence for compensatory changes in striatal or cortical D(1), D(2), or A(1) receptor expression was found. This study provides the first direct demonstration that targeting striatal A(2A)Rs may be an effective, novel strategy to facilitate cognitive flexibility under normal and pathologic conditions.     

Effect of prefrontal cortex damage on resolving lexical ambiguity in text

The function of suppression of context-inappropriate meanings during lexical ambiguity resolution was examined in 25 adults with prefrontal cortex damage (PFCD) localized to the left (N=8), right (N=6), or bilaterally (N=11); and 21 matched Controls. Results revealed unexpected inverse patterns of suppression between PFCD and Control groups, with measures suggesting decreased interference across time in the PFCD group and increased interference in the Control group. The PFCD group, however, had significantly lower accuracy rates for the context-inappropriate condition. Results suggest a loss of the control aspects of inhibitory processes in lexical ambiguity resolution following PFCD. An aging effect on suppression function is also suggested.     

Minorities' acculturation and social adjustment: The moderator role of meta‐perceptions of majority's acculturation attitudes

Two studies addressed the role of Black meta‐perception of acculturation attitudes on the relation between minority acculturation attitudes and their social adjustment (school achievement and perceived quality of intergroup relations). Participants in both studies were Black Lusophone adolescents living in Portugal. Study 1 (N = 140) indicated that participants' attitude regarding the host culture was positively correlated with their school achievement and to their evaluation of intergroup relations. It also indicated that participants' meta‐perception of majority attitude add to the explained variance of participants' social adjustment. Study 2 (N = 62) manipulated the perceived majority high/low support of immigrants' learning the host culture. The dependent variable (DV) was perceived quality of intergroup relations. Only in the low support condition were participants' attitudes towards the host culture positively related to perceived quality of Black–White relationships. These results suggest that perceived social context is central to understand the relationship between minority adolescents' acculturation attitudes and key dimensions of their adjustment to host societies.