Effects of a 6-week circuit training intervention on body esteem and body mass index in British primary school children

Research examining the impact of physical activity on children's body image has been limited and equivocal. The current researchers examined the effect of 6-week circuit-based training on body esteem and body mass index (BMI) in 68 British children (34 boys and 34 girls, aged 10–11 years, 16% overweight, 7% obese). The Body Esteem Scale for Children (BES-C) was administered to both the intervention group and control group, pre, post and 6 weeks post the intervention. BMI was directly assessed from height and body mass pre- and post-intervention. The results of this study revealed that, as compared to the control group, participation in 6-week circuit training significantly improved body esteem scores post-intervention. However, these scores were not sustained 6 weeks post-intervention. The improvement in body esteem scores from pre- to post-intervention was greater for girls as compared to boys. Additionally, BMI decreased significantly in the intervention group compared to the control group.     

Effects of similarity, difficulty, and nontarget presentation on the time course of visual attention

Long-lasting interference from an initial visual target on a subsequent one has been measured in two paradigms: rapid serial presentation of targets and nontargets at a single location, and simple presentation of two spatially separated targets. We note that comparisons between these paradigms might be invalid, since interference in each paradigm can be attributed to a different source: demands on selective attention, or demands to switch locations. We use a novel target presentation that both minimizes selection demands and eliminates location switching, yet we still find long-lasting interference. We suggest that all three paradigms discussed tap a common attentional limit. We also examine effects of similarity between targets, and effects of discrimination difficulty on the initial target. We find that similarity effects are more pronounced when nontargets are present, and we find no effect of discrimination difficulty on subsequent interference.     

The bow and sequential effects in absolute identification

The bow and sequential effects in absolute identification are investigated in this paper by following two strategies: (1) Experiments are performed in which sequential dependencies in signal presentations are manipulated, and 12) analyses are conducted (some of which are largely free of model-specific assumptions) which bear directly on the question of the origin of the sequential effects. The main result of the study is that absolute identification performance is greatly improved in a design in which each signal lies close to the preceding signal presented, even though the entire range of signals used is the same as in a random presentation design. This finding is consistent with the attention-band model of Luce, Green, and Weber (1976) and rejects hypotheses that suggest that the variability in the signal representation in absolute identification is a function solely of the range of signals being used. However, nonparametric analyses of sequential response errors show that a plausible assumption concerning the trial by-trial movement of the attention band provides an incomplete explanation of Seluential effects in absolute identification. These results are far better explained in terms of systematic shifts of category boundaries in a Thurstonian model, as suggested by Purks, Callahan, Braida, and Durlach (1980). Experiments are also performed which suggest that memory decay is not the major factor accounting for the bow effect in absolute identification.     

Chronic drinking, binge drinking, and drunk driving II

Data from the Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Survey on self-reported alcohol consumption and drunk driving were examined. Driving while intoxicated was significantly associated with both binge drinking and chronic drinking, but the measures of drinking were not significantly associated.     

Judgement of control revisited: Are the depressed realistic or pessimistic?

The study, firstly, examined the depressive realism postulate in relation to control judgments. A group of depressed and nondepressed undergraduates were exposed to a total of six judgement of control tasks (from 0% control tio 100% control). Depressed and nondepressed subjects did not differ in their control judgements. Secondlym, an attempt is made to classify subjects on the basis of these six judgements of control tasks as optimisticm, realistic and pessimistic in perceived control judgements.It was found that pessimistic rather than realistic subjects, had higher depressive symptomatology. Lastly, pessimism about control predicted the depressive symptomatology as assessed three months later. The results are discussed in relation to the phenomenon of depressive realism and the hopelessness theory of depression.     

Parental coping with their child's death

The impact of the death of 19 children form malignancy on subsequent patterns of parental coping was evaluated in a retrospective study of 33 Dutch parents, who had been bereaved for 19 months on average. Parents who had lost older children were compared with those who had lost younger ones on the Utrecht Coping List, which has been compared with a Dutch norm group. Coping styles of the bereaved parents differed significantly from those of the norm group. These differences were associated with the poorer mental health of the bereaved group as a whole. Parents of older children coped less well than those of younger ones.     

Asymmetrical state dependency from temporary septal area dysfunction in rats.

Rats with cannulas implanted in the septal area were conditioned, tested, or both conditioned and tested shortly after intracerebral injection of local anesthetic via the cannulas. A 2 X 2 factorial design was used to determine whether the presumed state of temporary septal area dysfunction, previously shown to produce amnesia, has state-dependent properties. A state-dependent learning effect was observed in the rats both conditioned and tested in the dysfunctional stat remembered the aversive conditioning better than those conditioned in the dysfunctional state but tested in the normal state. Since rats conditioned in the normal state but tested during septal dysfunction did appear to exhibit conditioned fear when tested, the state-dependent effect was asymmetrical. Performance effects of the procaine injection were observed and accounted for in determining the state-dependent nature of temporary septal area dysfunction.     

Attention bands in absolute identification

If both the number of one-dimensional signals and their range are sufficiently large (about 7 and 20 dB for loudness), the information transmitted in absolute identification is not much increased by increasing either variable (Miller, 1956; Braida & Durlach, 1972). The data can be represented in terms of Thurstonian discriminal dispersions in which the variance is proportional to the square of the signal range in decibels (Durlach & Braida, 1969; Gravetter & Lockhead, 1973), but it is by no means obvious what sorts of mechanisms would lead to this model. An alternative is proposed, namely, that there is a roving attention band, about 10 to 15 dB wide, such that signals falling within the band are represented by a sensory sample size about an order ot magnitude larger than when the same signal falls outside the band. With reasonable choices for parameters, including the subjective continuum growing as a power function of intensity with an exponent about 3, this nicely accounts for the data. In an attempt to examine the change of performance with range, we replicated the BraidaoDurlach experiment with many additional points. These data are not, however, adequate to decide between the two models.