Increasing task complexity and ice hockey skills of youth athletes

The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effects on cognitive performance of progressively adding tasks specific to ice hockey (skating, stick handling, and obstacle avoidance) during a visual interference task (Stroop Color Word Test-interference condition). In addition, the effects on locomotor performance of progressively adding tasks of stickhandling, visual interference, and obstacle avoidance related to maximal skating speed and minimal obstacle clearance were investigated in eight male athletes ages 10 to 12 years. Results revealed decreased performance on both cognitive and physical measures with increased task complexity, suggesting that adding complexity to an environment influences hockey skill performance.     

The changing dynamics of religious authority on Pakistani religious television

This paper analyses the production, ownership and control of Pakistani religious talk shows, which have emerged as a popular genre of religious programming, subsequent to the liberalisation of Pakistani media in 2002. Much scholarship has implicated the nexus between Islam and televisual media in enabling the fragmentation of religious authority, by altering ‘lay’ engagements with Islam and thereby eliciting wider participation in religious discourse. In contrast, this paper focuses on the changing terms of asserting religious authority in the newly liberalised media context. Based on an analysis of the innovative formats and modes of editorial control characterising contemporary religious shows, I posit the significance of religious talk shows in both altering the nature of scholarly participation in religious public debate, and subjecting featured scholars to non-scholarly interests and agendas. I argue that the latter two insights into the nature of religious authority on television are only accessible from a production-based perspective, which is crucial for evaluating the wider implications of broadcast media for religious authority.     

Consolidation and translation regulation

mRNA translation, or protein synthesis, is a major component of the transformation of the genetic code into any cellular activity. This complicated, multistep process is divided into three phases: initiation, elongation, and termination. Initiation is the step at which the ribosome is recruited to the mRNA, and is regarded as the major rate-limiting step in translation, while elongation consists of the elongation of the polypeptide chain; both steps are frequent targets for regulation, which is defined as a change in the rate of translation of an mRNA per unit time. In the normal brain, control of translation is a key mechanism for regulation of memory and synaptic plasticity consolidation, i.e., the off-line processing of acquired information. These regulation processes may differ between different brain structures or neuronal populations. Moreover, dysregulation of translation leads to pathological brain function such as memory impairment. Both normal and abnormal function of the translation machinery is believed to lead to translational up-regulation or down-regulation of a subset of mRNAs. However, the identification of these newly synthesized proteins and determination of the rates of protein synthesis or degradation taking place in different neuronal types and compartments at different time points in the brain demand new proteomic methods and system biology approaches. Here, we discuss in detail the relationship between translation regulation and memory or synaptic plasticity consolidation while focusing on a model of cortical-dependent taste learning task and hippocampal-dependent plasticity. In addition, we describe a novel systems biology perspective to better describe consolidation.     

Insecure Attachment and Subclinical Depression,Anxiety, and Stress: A Three-Dimensional Model of Personality Self-Regulation As a Mediator

Although the effects of insecure attachment on vulnerability, incidence, and developing mental disorders have been confirmed by many studies, the mechanism of this effect is still unknown. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate the mediating and moderating role of the three-dimensional model of personality self-regulation in the relationship between insecure attachment and subclinical depression, anxiety, and stress. Four hundred Iranian students at Shiraz University were recruited and completed the following scales: the Revised Adult Attachment, Depression Anxiety Stress, Integrative Self-Knowledge, Mindful Attention Awareness, Self-Control, and Self-Compassion. Results showed that there was a moderate correlation among all the variables under study in the expected directions. Multiple mediating models analyses indicated that regarding the relationship between insecure attachment and depression, the components of integrative self-knowledge, self-control, and self-compassion functioned as mediators. However, regarding the relationship between insecure attachment and anxiety and stress, the components of integrative self-knowledge, mindfulness, and self-compassion relatively functioned as mediators. Further, our results showed that only mindfulness and self-compassion were identified as moderators in the relationship between insecure attachment and depression. It is concluded that insecure attachment may cause psychological damage due to deficiency in the components of the three-dimensional model of personality self-regulation, and that mindfulness and self-compassion may play a protective role in the relationship between insecure attachment and depression.     

Perfectionism and Test Anxiety among High-School Students: the Moderating Role of Academic Hardiness

Recent evidence suggests that test anxiety is increasing among students; however, relatively little is known regarding the related factors of test anxiety. The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the relationships between two forms of perfectionism, academic hardiness, and test anxiety, and (2) examine the moderating role of academic hardiness on the association between two types of perfectionism and test anxiety. This study included 520 students ranging from 15 to 21 years of age from eight high schools in Tehran, Iran completed the self-administered questionnaires. The results of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) revealed that students with high levels of personal standards perfectionism and high levels of academic hardiness were less likely to experience test anxiety, while students with high levels of evaluative concerns perfectionism were more likely to experience test anxiety. A multi-group analysis revealed that academic hardiness moderated the relationship between evaluative concerns perfectionism and test anxiety. These findings enhance existing literature by revealing moderating processes that explain how perfectionism effects test anxiety.     

Exploring the Phenotype of Phonological Reading Disability as a Function of the Phonological Deficit Severity: Evidence from the Error Analysis Paradigm in Arabic

The dominant error types were investigated as a function of phonological processing (PP) deficit severity in four groups of impaired readers. For this aim, an error analysis paradigm distinguishing between four error types was used. The findings revealed that the different types of impaired readers were characterized by differing predominant error types. The dysphonetic errors predominated in readers with severe PP deficit and the morphological errors predominated in those with moderate deficits. Finally, readers with attention difficulties showed a predominance of semiphonetic errors. These findings were discussed in relation to reading disability subtypes and their clinical implications.     

Processing temporary syntactic ambiguity: the effect of contextual bias

This paper reports two experiments using sentences with a temporary ambiguity between a direct object and a sentence complement analysis that is resolved toward the normally preferred direct object analysis. Postverbal noun phrases in these sentences could be ambiguously attached as either a direct object or the subject of a sentence complement, whereas in unambiguous versions of the sentences the subcategorization of the verb forced the direct object interpretation. Participants read these sentences in relatively long paragraph contexts, where the context supported the direct object analysis ("preferred"), supported the sentence complement analysis ("unpreferred"), or provided conflicting evidence about both analyses ("conflicting"). Self-paced reading times for ambiguous postverbal noun phrases were almost equivalent to the reading times of their unambiguous counterparts, even in unpreferred and conflicted context conditions. However, time to read a following region, which forced the direct object interpretation, was affected by the interaction of verb subcategorization ambiguity and contextual support. The full pattern of results do not fit well with either an unelaborated single-analysis ("garden path") model or a competitive constraint-satisfaction model, but are consistent with a race model in which multiple factors affect the speed of constructing a single initial analysis.     

Figuring out la femme fatale: conceptual and assessment issues concerning psychopathy in females

Despite the growing number of studies on psychopathy in females, the core characteristics of this personality disorder among females remain uninvestigated. Most studies on psychopathy in females have attempted to understand the disorder by applying male criteria to adult females: they have ignored putative gender differences in the constitution and expression of this disorder. Several issues require resolution: first, whether practitioners apply the same criteria to diagnose psychopathy in women, second, whether the instruments used to assess psychopathy are tapping the same construct across gender, third, whether the same types of behavioral expression of key traits are similar across genders, and fourth, whether the diagnosis possesses the same forensic utility across genders. The relevant literature is reviewed and issues of design and analysis are considered.     

The Mediating Role of Contingent Self-Esteem in the Association Between Self-Objectification and Self-Esteem

Objectification theory provides an explanatory conceptual framework for describing women’s lived experiences. By using a social psychological approach, the present study focuses on the mediating role of contingent self-esteem within the objectification framework. Participants were 178 female college-students who took part in a paper-and-pencil survey. We explored the possibility that contingent self-esteem can mediate the relationship between body surveillance and body shame with self-sexualizing behavior and self-esteem. Based on the results, we suggest that self-objectification brings about contingent self-esteem. This mental state can explain changes in self-esteem in turn. We propose that contingent self-esteem can play an essential role in the context of objectification theory.