Body image, relationships, and time

The cultural standard of an impossible-to-attain ideal body image has been blamed for a plethora of psychological ills, from low self-esteem to eating disorders. In this study, the authors investigated the importance of current body image dissatisfaction compared with the ideal for married couples and for single people. The results indicated that although body image dissatisfaction exists in both married and single people, this discrepancy is of significantly less importance to married couples. The importance of long-lasting, satisfying relationships decreases the importance of body dissatisfaction and mitigates the impact of unrealistic ideal body image.     

Feedback and the rationing of time and effort among competing tasks

The study described here tested a model of how characteristics of the feedback environment influence the allocation of resources (time and effort) among competing tasks. Results demonstrated that performers invest more resources on tasks for which higher quality (more timely and more specific) feedback is available; this effect was partially mediated by task salience and task expectancies. Feedback timing and feedback specificity demonstrated both main and interaction effects on resource allocations. Results also demonstrated that performers do better on tasks for which higher quality feedback is available; this effect was mediated by resources allocated to tasks. The practical and theoretical implications of the role of the feedback environment in managing performance are discussed.     

Informational affordances: evidence of acquired perception–action sequences for information extraction

Visual objects can automatically prime actions allowing efficient interaction with them. The present study examined whether object perception can automatically prime actions leading to efficient information extraction. Participants in Experiment 1 learned to rotate a cube in a specific way with the end goal of efficiently revealing object-identifying information. In Experiments 2 and 3, the end goal of obtaining object-identifying information was removed, but the stimulus-response associations were preserved. Only object views associated with actions learned in the context of obtaining identifying information caused response interference and benefits in a subsequent test phase where the object was irrelevant. These results demonstrate the existence of informational affordances: perception-action sequences acquired with the goal of information extraction that are automatically primed during later exposure to the object. Perceptual priming of actions for efficient information extraction is an important component of expert performance and its use of action systems to optimally deal with the world.     

Movement pattern recognition in basketball free-throw shooting

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the movement patterns of free-throw shooters in basketball at different skill levels. There were two points of interest. First, to explore what information can be drawn from the movement pattern and second, to examine the methodological possibilities of pattern analysis. To this end, several qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The resulting data were converged in a triangulation. Using a special kind of ANN named Dynamically Controlled Networks (DyCoN), a 'complex feature' consisting of several isolated features (angle displacements and velocities of the articulations of the kinematic chain) was calculated. This 'complex feature' was displayed by a trajectory combining several neurons of the network, reflecting the devolution of the twelve angle measures over the time course of each shooting action. In further network analyses individual characteristics were detected, as well as movement phases. Throwing patterns were successfully classified and the stability and variability of the realized pattern were established. The movement patterns found were clearly individually shaped as well as formed by the skill level. The triangulation confirmed the individual movement organizations. Finally, a high stability of the network methods was documented.     

Attention training to reduce attention bias and social stressor reactivity: an attempt to replicate and extend previous findings

Cognitive theories suggest that social anxiety is maintained, in part, by an attentional bias toward threat. Recent research shows that a single-session of attention modification training (AMP) reduces attention bias and vulnerability to a social stressor (Amir, Weber, Beard, Bomyea, &; Taylor, 2008). In addition, exercise may augment the effects of attention training by its direct effects on attentional control and inhibition, thereby allowing participants receiving the AMP to more effectively disengage attention from the threatening cues and shift attention to the neutral cues. We attempted to replicate and extend previous findings by randomizing participants (N = 112) to a single-session of: a) Exercise + attention training (EX + AMP); b) Rest + attention training (REST + AMP); c) Exercise + attention control condition (EX + ACC); or d) Rest + attention control condition (REST + ACC) prior to completing a public speaking challenge. We used identical assessment and training procedures to those employed by Amir et al. (2008). Results showed there was no effect of attention training on attention bias or anxiety reactivity to the speech challenge and no interactive effects of attention training and exercise on attention bias or anxiety reactivity to the speech challenge. The failure to replicate previous findings is discussed.     

Dissociation of acquisition and expression of fear conditioned responses under working memory load

Previously, it has been suggested that high working memory load (WML) prevents associative learning and, thus, conditioned responses (CRs) during differential-delay fear conditioning. However, previous studies did not distinguish between the effects of WML on the acquisition versus the expression of the CRs. In the present study, we reinvestigated this issue by manipulating WML during either acquisition or postconditioning and showed that the absence of a differential CR under high WML does not indicate the absence of the acquisition of this CR. Thus, a significant CR was observed during a task-free postconditioning phase, and there was no CR during the preceding acquisition phase with high WML. Conversely, a normally acquired CR was impaired by high WML during the postconditioning phase. The results suggest that high WML affects the expression of the CR. If they are not experimentally separated, the effects of WML on the acquisition and expression of the CR may occur together, and the findings may be erroneously interpreted as indicating a lack of associative learning.     

Collaboration promotes proportional reasoning about resource distribution in young children

The authors investigated how children and adults evaluate the "niceness" of individuals who engage in resource distribution, with a focus on their sensitivity to the proportion of resources given. Across 3 experiments, subjects evaluated the niceness of a child who gave a quantity of pennies to another child. In Study 1 (N = 30), adults showed sensitivity to the proportion given, whereas 5- and 7-year-old children did not. In Study 2 (N = 74), both younger (3- to 5-year-old) and older (6- to 8-year-old) children were sensitive to proportion only when resources were earned by a giver in collaboration with the recipient rather than by the giver alone. Adults, however, were sensitive to proportion in both cases. In Study 3 (N = 44), the authors tested 5- and 6-year-olds and their parents to be sure that socioeconomic and ethnic differences between samples did not drive results and replicated key findings from Studies 1 and 2. Together, these findings indicate that children favor proportional resource distribution in situations that invoke intuitions about equity. The authors suggest that these intuitions may form the basis for adult notions of fairness and generosity.     

Effects of aging and IQ on item and associative memory

The effects of aging and IQ on performance were examined in 4 memory tasks: item recognition, associative recognition, cued recall, and free recall. For item and associative recognition, accuracy and the response time (RT) distributions for correct and error responses were explained by Ratcliff's (1978) diffusion model at the level of individual participants. The values of the components of processing identified by the model for the recognition tasks, as well as accuracy for cued and free recall, were compared across levels of IQ (ranging from 85 to 140) and age (college age, 60-74 years old, and 75-90 years old). IQ had large effects on drift rate in recognition and recall performance, except for the oldest participants with some measures near floor. Drift rates in the recognition tasks, accuracy in recall, and IQ all correlated strongly. However, there was a small decline in drift rates for item recognition and a large decline for associative recognition and cued recall accuracy (70%). In contrast, there were large effects of age on boundary separation and nondecision time (which correlated across tasks) but small effects of IQ. The implications of these results for single- and dual-process models of item recognition are discussed, and it is concluded that models that deal with both RTs and accuracy are subject to many more constraints than are models that deal with only one of these measures. Overall, the results of the study show a complicated but interpretable pattern of interactions that present important targets for modeling.