Manipulation of visual information does not change the accuracy of distance estimation during a blindfolded walking task

While humans rely on vision during navigation, they are also competent at navigating non-visually. However, non-visual navigation over large distances is not very accurate and can accumulate error. Currently, it is unclear whether this accumulation of error is due to the visual estimate of the distance or to the locomotor production of the distance. In a series of experiments, using a blindfolded walking test, we examine whether enhancing the visual estimate of the distance to a previously seen target, through environmental enrichment, visual imagery, or repeated exposure would improve the accuracy of blindfold navigation across different distances. We also attempt to decrease the visual estimate in order to see if the opposite effect would occur. Our results would indicate that manipulation of the static visual distance estimate did not change the navigation accuracy to any great extent. The only condition that improved accuracy was repeated exposure to the environment through practice. These results suggest that error observed during blindfold navigation may be due to the locomotor production of the distance, rather than the visual process.     

Preparation for marriage: Beyond the classroom

Abstract

The frustrated sexual needs of the “aging” population have been largely neglected in the professional literature. This bespecially true of the female population, leading the individual post-menopausal woman to believe that she is abnormal in desiring and experiencing sex. The problem must be faced. That sex can be used for relational a d recreational purposes is a historically new concept, which must extend to the older woman as well. The post-menopausal client must be helped to see sexuality at her age as healthy both physically and psychologically.     

Talk about a past relationship partner: Metacommunicative implications

Abstract

Within many intimate dyadic relationships, individuals talk to their partners about a past relationship with a former spouse or lover. The impact that “talk about a past partner” (Tapp) has on one's current relationship is reviewed. Four metacommunicative functions of Tapp are suggested: disclosing past relationship history, conveying relationship rules or expectations, creating closeness or distance, and confirming self-perceptions. It is argued that the role of Tapp, within any given relationship, not only affects partners' feelings of security, control, closeness, etc., but also may reveal their characteristic patterns of communicating, metacomrnunicat-ing, interpreting and misinterpreting.     

Affective states leak into movement execution: Automatic avoidance of threatening stimuli in fear of spider is visible in reach trajectories

Several studies have shown that the attentional blink (AB; Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992) is diminished for highly arousing T2 stimuli (e.g., Anderson, 2005). Whereas this effect is most often interpreted as evidence for a more efficient processing of arousing information, it could be due also to a bias to report more arousing stimuli than neutral stimuli. We introduce a paradigm that allows one to control for such a response bias. Using this paradigm, we obtained evidence that the diminished AB for taboo words cannot be explained by a response bias. This supports the idea that the emotional modulation of the AB is caused by attentional processes.     

“We Learn How to Predict and be a Scientist”: Early Science Experiences and Kindergarten Children's Social Meanings About Science

We examine kindergarten children's emerging social meanings about science as a function of their participation in integrated science inquiry and literacy activities associated with the Scientific Literacy Project (SLP). We describe changes in 123 SLP kindergarten children's narrative accounts of learning science in school during three different time periods: (a) in September, before the onset of SLP activities; (b) in December, after children had participated in 17 lessons associated with 4 SLP units; and (c) in March, after children had participated in an additional 13 lessons associated with the SLP Marine Life unit. At the end of the year, we: (a) compare SLP children's narratives about science to those of a group of children (n = 70) who only experienced the regular kindergarten program; and (b) examine differences between SLP and comparison children's reports on a measure of learning activities in kindergarten that include science as well as privileged content areas such as reading, writing, and learning about numbers and shapes. Results support the conclusion that sustained and meaningful participation in conceptually coherent science programs is crucial for children to develop meanings about science as a distinct academic domain that comprises its own disciplinary content, language, and processes.     

Know versus Familiar: Differentiating states of awareness in others’ subjective reports of recognition

In the Remember–Know paradigm whether a Know response is defined as a high-confidence state of certainty or a low-confidence state based on familiarity varies across researchers and can influence participants’ responses. The current experiment was designed to explore differences between the states of Know and Familiar. Participants studied others’ justification statements to “Know” recognition decisions and separated them into two types. Crucially, participants were not provided definitions of Know and Familiar on which to sort the items—their judgements were based solely on the phenomenology described in the justifications. Participants’ sorting decisions were shown to reliably map onto expert classification of Know and Familiar. Post-task questionnaire responses demonstrated that both the level of memory detail and confidence expressed in the justifications were central to how participants categorised the items. In sum, given no instructions to do so, participants classify Familiar and Know according to two dimensions: confidence and amount of information retrieved.     

Identification of scientists making long‐term,high‐impact contributions,with notes on their methods of working

A two decade (1958–1978) study was made of 40 male scientists, including four Nobel Prize winners. Multiple psychological tests were administered, along with interviews and analysis of publication rates and citations. The data yielded two factors that had very high predictive ability for identifying long‐term, high‐impact investigators: a series of five or more high‐impact papers published by the age of 45 accompanied by simultaneous involvement in research in several areas. Scientists meeting these criteria all went on to produce high‐impact papers into their late‐50s and 60s, whereas the other scientists in the study did not. Other factors, such as number of publications, membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and the award of a Nobel Prize were not significantly predictive of continued impact. Thus, previous impact should not be used as a basis for further funding independent of other measures. Methods of working peculiar to long‐term, high‐impact individuals, such as frequent changes in the focus of their research, working on several problems simultaneously, and abhorrence of administrative duties, are also examined in light of Gruber's concept of networks of enterprise. The common preconceptions that a scientist's best work is done by the age of 40 and that productivity and creativity decline necessarily thereafter are shown to be common but unnecessary concomitants of aging. Possible reasons for exceptional cases are discussed.     

“It's My Dream to Work With Olympic Athletes”: Neophyte Sport Psychologists’ Expectations and Initial Experiences Regarding Service Delivery

We examined postgraduate students’ experiences of applied sport psychology (ASP) practice and training. We interviewed 5 female and 2 male (21–45 years of age) MSc students 4 times over 6 months before, during, and after their ASP module. Participants kept diaries for 8 weeks when working with clients. Findings extend previous literature on the pivotal transition from student to inexperienced practitioner. For example, ways that live demonstrations of experts, client experiences, and collegial interactions influenced students’ development were identified. These findings may assist ASP educators and supervisors prepare students for their careers.     

The computational modeling of analogy-making

Our ability to see a particular object or situation in one context as being 'the same as' another object or situation in another context is the essence of analogy-making. It encompasses our ability to explain new concepts in terms of already-familiar ones, to emphasize particular aspects of situations, to generalize, to characterize, to explain or describe new phenomena, to serve as a basis for how to act in unfamiliar surroundings, and to understand many types of humor. Within this framework, the importance of analogy-making in modeling cognition becomes clear.