Aiming at a far target under different viewing conditions: visual control in basketball jump shooting

Most research on visual search in aiming at far targets assumes preprogrammed motor control implying that relevant visual information is detected prior to the final shooting or throwing movements. Eye movement data indirectly support this claim for stationary tasks. Using the basketball jump shot as experimental task we investigated whether in dynamic tasks in which the target can be seen until ball release, continuous, instead of preprogrammed, motor control is possible. We tested this with the temporal occlusion paradigm: 10 expert shooters took shots under four viewing conditions, namely, no vision, full vision, early vision (vision occluded during the final +/-350 ms before ball release), and late vision (vision occluded until these final +/-350 ms). Late-vision shooting appeared to be as good as shooting with full vision while early-vision performance was severely impaired. The results imply that the final shooting movements were controlled by continuous detection and use of visual information until ball release. The data further suggest that visual and movement control of aiming at a far target develop in close correspondence with the style of execution.     

The formation of novel social category conjunctions in working memory: A possible role for the episodic buffer?

Recent research (e.g., Hutter, Crisp, Humphreys, Waters, &; Moffit; Siebler) has confirmed that combining novel social categories involves two stages (e.g., Hampton; Hastie, Schroeder, &; Weber). Furthermore, it is also evident that following stage 1 (constituent additivity), the second stage in these models involves cognitively effortful complex reasoning. However, while current theory and research has addressed how category conjunctions are initially represented to some degree, it is not clear precisely where we first combine or bind existing social constituent categories. For example, how and where do we compose and temporarily store a coherent representation of an individual who shares membership of “female” and “blacksmith” categories? In this article, we consider how the revised multi-component model of working memory (Baddeley) can assist in resolving the representational limitations in the extant two-stage theoretical models. This is a new approach to understanding how novel conjunctions form new bound “composite” representations.     

Math weaknesses in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia compared to healthy children.

Difficulties in math are the most frequently reported area of academic deficit in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the most frequent academic complaint among parents of ALL survivors. However, previous studies that included measures of math skills have been limited by the use of only a single measure of math skills, most often a measure of written calculations, without any assessment of math reasoning or math application skills. Further, the nature of these math difficulties has not been adequately investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of ALL survivors using multiple measures of math skills. Performance was compared to a group of healthy controls matched for age and sex as well as to normative levels. Other measures of neuropsychological function were also administered, and the relationships between these measures and the math measures were explored. Converging evidence for math difficulties in ALL survivors compared to healthy controls and normative levels was found. While ALL survivors generally performed within the average range on measures of math skills, math performance was mostly related to memory function and dominant-hand psychomotor speed. By contrast, math performance of healthy children was mostly related to basic reading skills and visual-motor integration. These findings shed light on the nature of math difficulties in ALL survivors and have implications for intervention.     

The effects of activating a “baby brain” stereotype on pregnant women’s cognitive functioning

Throughout pregnancy and into the immediate postpartum period, women are generally perceived to be incompetent, stressed, and forgetful. However, the neuropsychological “baby brain” literature remains unclear and contradictory. Across two studies, we provide the first experimental tests of whether perceived cognitive impairment in pregnancy can be explained by stereotype threat theory, which proposes that awareness of negative stereotypes about one’s ingroup can harm performance. In Study 1 (N = 364), we tested stereotype threat effects in a 2 (stereotype threat versus no threat) × 3 (pregnant women versus new mothers versus never-pregnant female control) design. We observed a main effect of group on memory performance (pregnant women and new mothers performed worse than controls), but no other main or interactive effects. Study 2 (N = 409) aimed to extend these research questions with mathematics ability, memory, and attention as the dependent variables. Again, we found that a stereotype threat manipulation did not impair pregnant women and new mothers’ cognitive performance, nor was there any interactive effects. Groups also did not differ in their performance. We discuss these results in the context of stereotype threat mechanisms, calling into question whether a stereotype threat paradigm can be applied effectively to pregnancy-related stereotypes. This work has implications for the advancement of stereotype threat as a theory and contributes to the reappraisal of the utility of stereotype threat as a way of understanding how stereotypes affect performance.     

Math Weaknesses in Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Compared to Healthy Children

Difficulties in math are the most frequently reported area of academic deficit in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the most frequent academic complaint among parents of ALL survivors. However, previous studies that included measures of math skills have been limited by the use of only a single measure of math skills, most often a measure of written calculations, without any assessment of math reasoning or math application skills. Further, the nature of these math difficulties has not been adequately investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of ALL survivors using multiple measures of math skills. Performance was compared to a group of healthy controls matched for age and sex as well as to normative levels. Other measures of neuropsychological function were also administered, and the relationships between these measures and the math measures were explored. Converging evidence for math difficulties in ALL survivors compared to healthy controls and normative levels was found. While ALL survivors generally performed within the average range on measures of math skills, math performance was mostly related to memory function and dominant-hand psychomotor speed. By contrast, math performance of healthy children was mostly related to basic reading skills and visual-motor integration. These findings shed light on the nature of math difficulties in ALL survivors and have implications for intervention.     

Functions and timescale of self-cutting in participants suffering from borderline personality disorder

The purpose of this study was to examine the meanings and timescale of self-cuttings in a cohort of 22 outpatients suffering from borderline personality disorder. Sixty-one events were recorded using the newly developed self-cutting-checklist (SCUC) designed to investigate the severity of self-cuttings, and intent to die, suicidal ideation, inner tension, sense of relief and anesthesia, and consequences associated with this behavior. We found that typical self-cuttings were associated with a decrease in inner tension and suicidal ideation. Moreover self-cuttings associated with a desire to die differentiated from those associated with no desire to die by significantly less reduction in inner tension. Finally, self-cuttings occurred significantly more often during evenings and nights than during daytime. In conclusion, self-cuttings can be reasonably addressed by self-report. Attention to specific issues such as intent to die and the time of the self-cuttings may improve the outcome of these particularly high-risk subjects.     

In search of transfer following cued recall practice: The case of process‐based biology concepts

Previous work has demonstrated that cued recall of a term from a fact yields learning that does not transfer, relative to a restudy control, to recall of another term from the same fact. Here we report six experiments in which a series of manipulations during the initial study and training phases of learning, hypothesized to increase transfer for process‐based biology concepts, were investigated. In Experiments 1 and 2, fill‐in‐the‐blank questions combined with immediate or delayed and repeated correct answer feedback improved learning but not transfer. In Experiments 3 and 4, practice questions that involved recalling process steps, understanding ordinal relationships, or making inferences did not improve transfer. Positive transfer was produced, however, in Experiments 5 and 6 via retrieval–verification–scoring, a new method in which difficult fill‐in‐the‐blank questions were combined with extensive feedback processing. We discuss implications for transfer in both theoretical and applied contexts.