Orienting Under Load: Intrinsic Dynamics and Postural Affordances for Visual Perception

Orientation toward one's surroundings is necessary for prospective control of action, and constraints on orienting activity have consequences for animal survival. Physically coupled load is a constraint for humans wearing protective equipment (firefighters, soldiers, etc.). The consequences of load on postural affordances while transitioning to upright stance was used to quantify the impact of different soldier configurations. Eight participants established upright posture in 4 relevant load configurations (5.0 to 79.2 lb). Load affected the accessibility of optical information at a distance as evidenced by increasing downward head angles and reductions in postural coordination. Reductions in the variability of time to establish upright stance with load suggests a loss of functional adaptability. Load asymmetries played a significant role as the most asymmetric configuration (not the heaviest) had the most detrimental effect on postural affordances. Center of Pressure (CoP) dynamics reflected the consequences of asymmetric loading on postural regulation as greater power and fluctuations across frequencies were observed. Physically coupled load induces significant constraints on orienting activity, and load asymmetry contributes significantly to the detrimental effects of protective equipment on action-perception coupling during whole-body movements.     

Sociorelational Psychoanalysis and Agency: Reply to Commentary

The author notes that, overall, he and White seem to agree on many important issues that she writes about in her commentary, such as the necessity of recognizing both our shared humanity and the agency of separate, subjective selves. He argues, however, that White mischaracterizes what it means to think of the self as socially constructed, and he clarifies his views of how the concept of a socially constructed self may be related to individual differences in the same culture, and to personal agency. He responds to White's imputation that his paper implicitly prescribes a type of intervention or mandates some particular view of the Truth as a new theology, substituting a concrete environmental or social determinism for the abstract (intrapsychic) determinism that he criticizes. Finally, he responds to some interesting and insightful questions White raises about the case vignette of Mr. J that was presented in his essay.     

Remarks on an Avoidable Error in a Posteriori Testing

This article discusses a widespread error that occurs with a posteriori testing in factorial analyses of variance. Frequently, an incorrect sample size is used under the radical in the formula for computing a critical difference such as the Fisher least significance difference. This usually leads to an inappropriately large critical difference; thus, few if any significant differences are uncovered between the means. An interesting example of this error, from a journal article by Van Berschot (1979), is examined. Researchers are urged always to use under the radical the number of observations on which each mean being compared is based.     

A Visual Representation and the Control of Manual Aiming Movements

Three experiments were conducted to determine if a representation of the movement environment is functional in the organization and control of limb movements, when direct visual contact with the environment is prevented. In Experiment 1, a visual rearrangement procedure was employed to show that a representation of the environment that provides inaccurate information about the spatial location of a target can disrupt manual target aiming. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that spatial information about the position of a target can be destroyed by a visual pattern mask, supporting our claim that the representation is visual. A target-cuing procedure was used in Experiment 3 to show that representation of target position can be useful for premovement organization in a targetaiming task. Together our findings suggest that a short-lived visual representation of the movement environment may serve a useful role in the organization and control of limb movements.     

Self-Actualization of “Paranormals”

A sample of 56 Ss nominated by others as paranormals and self-stated as experiencing paranormal (occult) phenomena, were administered measures purportedly reflected dimensions of the self-actualization concept. Ss reported both their interest in, and experience of, 15 areas of paranormal phenomena. Ss were given the Marlowe-Crown Social Desirability Scale (measuring ego-defensiveness), Shostrom's Self-Actualization Test (POI), and an Aphorism test (designed to measure degree of “expanded awareness”). Ss scores were compared with various normative and experimental group scores for the three tests. Although statistically significant differences were rare, there was usually a trend for paranormals to score in the direction of self-actualization on most measures.     

Learning to Design Systems

This article describes a brief overview of systems design concepts, and provides an example of the use of one very simple framework for utilizing systems design. Its purpose is to demonstrate the value of even the simplest of systems design models in clarifying the issues behind what are often perceived to be organizational conflicts. The example provided is that of a medical function within an industrial organization, but the implications apply to almost any support function or department found within a large organization.     

Reliability of Ratings of Children’s Expressive Reading

This study examined ratings of fourth graders’ oral reading expression. Randomly assigned participants (n = 36) practiced repeated readings using narrative or informational passages for 7 weeks. After this period raters used the Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MFS) on two separate occasions to rate students’ expressive reading of four equivalent passages. Results of this generalizability study showed that a minimum of two and preferably three equivalent passages, two raters, and one rating occasion are recommended to obtain reliable ratings. This research substantiates the reliability of the MFS and demonstrates the importance of raters collaborating and finding texts at students’ independent reading levels.     

Moments of Spontaneity and Surprise: The Nonlinear Road to Something More

Moments of spontaneity and surprise create opportunities for change to occur through perturbations in the analyst-analysand system. These moments of authentic person-to-person contact violate anticipated patterns of intersubjective engagement. Mutative potential arises from the coconstruction of new relational configurations and the resultant modifications in the procedural memory system of both members of the analytic dyad. Three moments of spontaneity and surprise from the analysis of a man with a rigid character structure are presented and discussed.     

Review article

Paths to Spirituality

David N. Elkins. Beyond Religion: A Personal Program for Building a Spiritual Life Outside the Walls of Traditional Religion. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1998, xi + 304 pp, $16.95, ISBN 0–8356–0764‐X