Short-term memory effects of an auditory biofeedback on isometric force control: is there a differential effect as a function of transition trials?

The aim of the present study was to investigate memory effects, force accuracy, and variability during constant isometric force at different force levels, using auditory biofeedback. Two types of transition trials were used: a biofeedback-no biofeedback transition trial and a no biofeedback-biofeedback transition trial. The auditory biofeedback produced a low- or high-pitched sound when participants produced an isometric force lower or higher than required, respectively. To achieve this goal, 16 participants were asked to produce and maintain two different isometric forces (30 ± 5% and 90 N ± 5%) during 25 s. Constant error and standard deviation of the isometric force were calculated. While accuracy and variability of the isometric force varied according to the transition trial, a drift of the force appeared in the no biofeedback condition. This result suggested that the degradation of information about force output in the no biofeedback condition was provided by a leaky memory buffer which was mainly dependent on the sense of effort. Because this drift remained constant whatever the transition used, this memory buffer seemed to be independent of short-term memory processes.     

The interactive effects of perceived external prestige and need for organizational identification on turnover intentions

Recent research has highlighted the importance of understanding the influence of an organization’s external image on its members. Although progress has been made in understanding how perceived external prestige relates to workplace outcomes, researchers have not examined the joint effect of perceived external prestige and individual differences on such outcomes. In this article, we tested the impact of perceived external prestige on turnover intentions, but we also assumed that this influence is moderated by individuals’ need for organizational identification. Using three samples and a longitudinal research design, we found consistent support for this assumption. These results provide empirical support for the theoretical integration of social identity and need-based motivation theories.     

Team Sports Players' Observed Aggresion as a Function of Gender, Competitive Level, and Sport Type

This study aims at examining observed aggression in team sports as a function of gender, competitive level, and sport type. It was hypothesized that (a) male players display more aggressive behaviors than female players, (b) aggressive behaviors increase when competitive level rises, and (c) gender difference in observed aggression is depending on sport type. One hundred and eighty games, equally shared among males and females, soccer and handball, and departmental, regional, and national competitive levels were recorded on videotapes and observed using a grid to differ instrumental from hostile aggressive behaviors. The results revealed that male players always display more aggressive behaviors than female players, whatever the sport, the competitive level or the nature of the observed aggression; instrumental aggressive behaviors increase and hostile aggressive behaviors decrease when competitive level rises; and the gender difference appears larger in handball than in soccer.     

The survey of personal beliefs: comparison of south african, mexican and american samples

In order to investigate the cross-cultural reliability and independence of subscales of the Survey of Personal Beliefs (SPB) data from 751 undergraduate Psychology students (189 White South African students, 114 Black South African students, 262 Mexican students and 186 American students) were compared. Coefficient alphas for the subscales in all samples were low, ranging from .33 to .76. However, alphas for the total scale across all subgroups were high. A comparison of the rank ordering of alpha coefficients for subscales in the different samples partially supported the cross-cultural reliability of the SPB for White South African and Mexican students, and for Black South African and American students. The similarities across samples regarding intercorrelations and shared variance between subscales also provided some evidence for the possible cross-cultural independence of subscales of the SPB. Comparison of total and mean subscale scores showed no significant differences between males and females within samples. However, a significant effect for culture, with significant between-subject effects for all the subscales as well as for the total score, was found. This may be indicative of real differences in irrational belief styles between the groups or may be a result of the insufficient cross-cultural reliability of the SPB.     

How the interplay of imagined contact and first-person narratives improves attitudes toward stigmatized immigrants: A conditional process model

This article assesses the mechanisms whereby first-person narratives featuring stigmatized immigrants improve outgroup attitudes and encourage intergroup contact among prejudiced individuals. We rely on a 2 (imagined contact vs. control) × 2 (similar vs. dissimilar message protagonist) experiment on a systematic sample of native British adults. Results show that encouraging imagined contact prior to reading a short testimonial featuring an immigrant protagonist who is similar to the recipients in terms of social identity enhances identification with the protagonist, thereby improving outgroup attitudes and encouraging intergroup contact, and especially strongly among those who are prejudiced toward immigrants (i.e., high on modern racism). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for the work on imagined contact, narrative persuasion, and identification, as well as for public communication campaigns, are discussed.     

Revisiting the African origins of attachment research—50 years on from Ainsworth: A descriptive review

Culture plays a significant role in the variations observed in the manifestation, expression, and meaning of attachment behaviors. Africa is home to multiple cultures, with distinct organizations of caregiving relationships underlying the development of attachment. This review aims to consolidate knowledge about African attachment by describing studies of infant attachment conducted in Africa since Mary Ainsworth's Ugandan findings in 1967. Electronic databases were searched with the terms “Africa” (“attachment” or “bond”) and “infant.” Nine studies that assessed infant attachment style with self-report or observation methods were included, but spanned only five countries. The Strange Situation Procedure was most frequently used. Most studies described dyads living in peri-urban or township areas. Multiple socioeconomic factors affecting living conditions were identified, including, unemployment, financial difficulties, limited education, poor housing, single parenthood, lack of partner support, substance abuse, and depression. Overall distributions of attachment classification proportions appear consistent with global attachment-classification patterns. Despite adverse conditions, secure attachment was relatively widespread, and some populations had low rates of avoidant attachment. Relatively high rates of disorganized attachment were found when the category was included. Africa remains an understudied continent regarding infant attachment. The continent's cultural diversity may hold important truths necessary for understanding the complex relationship between infant and attachment figure.     

A bibliometric analysis of the recovered memory controversy in the 21st century

In the 1990s, repressed and recovered memories were at the heart of intense debates within the clinical field as well as in academia. Recent data suggest that this controversy has not yet been resolved in the clinical field. However, it is unclear to what extent repressed and recovered memories are studied in peer‐reviewed outcomes in the 21st century. The current article examined the volume of publications and citations regarding repressed and/or recovered memories during the years 2001–2018. Analysis of the 145 articles retrieved shows that these issues are still being investigated within the academic sphere. Proponents and opponents of repressed memories regularly published articles, and these were cited as often as articles published during the 1990s. These issues were also multidisciplinary (i.e., social/clinical/experimental psychology, psychiatry, and law) and often dealt with dissociation, child abuse, and/or false memory. The results are encouraging for furthering the research field and for the understanding of traumatic memory mechanisms.     

The high-performance work system and commitment of the Portuguese Navy personnel

This study evaluates the relationship between the high-performance work system (HPWS) as perceived by the Portuguese Navy military and their affective (AC), normative (NC), and continuance commitment (CC). The sample is representative and composed of 1,003 individuals (officers, warrant/petty officers, and seamen—as a reference, these last two categories are called ratings in the British Royal Navy, and enlisted in the United States Navy) from different naval units. A structural models analysis was carried out, and the results showed, as expected, that the perception of an HPWS was positively related to the commitment of the military personnel, in both its affective and normative dimensions. Nevertheless, contrary to our expectations, we also observed that the perception of an HPWS was positively related to the continuance commitment as well. On the other hand, we examined the moderator role played by the professional category—the relationship between the perception of the HPWS and the AC was stronger in commissioned officers and seamen than in warrant and petty officers—and by the contractual relationship. In the latter, the relationship between the HPWS and the AC and the CC was stronger in the individuals having a fixed-term contract than in those with a permanent position. The theoretical and practical implications of these results will be discussed.     

Infants rapidly detect human faces in complex naturalistic visual scenes

Infants respond preferentially to faces and face‐like stimuli from birth, but past research has typically presented faces in isolation or amongst an artificial array of competing objects. In the current study infants aged 3‐ to 12‐months viewed a series of complex visual scenes; half of the scenes contained a person, the other half did not. Infants rapidly detected and oriented to faces in scenes even when they were not visually salient. Although a clear developmental improvement was observed in face detection and interest, all infants displayed sensitivity to the presence of a person in a scene, by displaying eye movements that differed quantifiably across a range of measures when viewing scenes that either did or did not contain a person. We argue that infant's face detection capabilities are ostensibly “better” with naturalistic stimuli and artificial array presentations used in previous studies have underestimated performance.     

The role of production abilities in the perception of consonant category in infants

The influence of motor knowledge on speech perception is well established, but the functional role of the motor system is still poorly understood. The present study explores the hypothesis that speech production abilities may help infants discover phonetic categories in the speech stream, in spite of coarticulation effects. To this aim, we examined the influence of babbling abilities on consonant categorization in 6‐ and 9‐month‐old infants. Using an intersensory matching procedure, we investigated the infants’ capacity to associate auditory information about a consonant in various vowel contexts with visual information about the same consonant, and to map auditory and visual information onto a common phoneme representation. Moreover, a parental questionnaire evaluated the infants’ consonantal repertoire. In a first experiment using /b/–/d/ consonants, we found that infants who displayed babbling abilities and produced the /b/ and/or the /d/ consonants in repetitive sequences were able to correctly perform intersensory matching, while non‐babblers were not. In a second experiment using the /v/–/z/ pair, which is as visually contrasted as the /b/–/d/ pair but which is usually not produced at the tested ages, no significant matching was observed, for any group of infants, babbling or not. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that the emergence of babbling could play a role in the extraction of vowel‐independent representations for consonant place of articulation. They have important implications for speech perception theories, as they highlight the role of sensorimotor interactions in the development of phoneme representations during the first year of life.