Online Versus Offline Processing of Visual Feedback in the Production of Component Submovements

The present authors tested the assumptions in R. S. Woodworth's (1899) 2-component model regarding the specific roles of vision in the production of both the initial impulse and the error-correction phases of movement. Participants (N = 40) practiced a rapid aiming task (1,500 trials), with either no visual feedback, vision of only the 1st 50% of the movement, vision of only the 1st 75% of the movement, or vision of the entire movement. Consistent with previous research, the availability of vision over the 1st half of the movement had no effect on aiming accuracy during acquisition. In contrast, when visual feedback was available over the 1st 75% of the movement and the entire movement, initial impulse endpoints were less variable and the efficiency of the error-correction phase was improved. Analysis of spatial variability at various stages in the movement revealed that participants processed visual feedback offline to improve programming of the initial impulse and processed it online in regulating the deceleration of the initial impulse.     

Media reviews

Abstract

Dr. Maurizio Andolfi is Director of the Family Institute in Rome, Italy. He was trained in family therapy in the United States and now frequently returns to give seminars and demonstrations of his particularly gifted systems approach in the treatment of families, and in supervision of family therapists. Dr. Joel Bergman, a member of the senior faculty at the Ackerman Family Institute, reviews two of Andolfi's videotapes dealing with the supervisory process, and illustrated by actual clinical material.

The mirroring and reduplication of patterns often occurs when systems interface. Family dynamics repeat themselves across generations, and therapists and therapeutic teams easily become enmeshed in the powerful intricacies of family systems. The work of Andolfi highlights the importance of using the therapist's self-experience to illuminate and effect change in the family interactions, and the awareness of the contextual complexities of the supervisory process provides further possibilities for more enlightened intervention.—I. A.     

Continuing education and training

Abstract

For over three quarters of a century Milton H. Erickson made an astonishing impact on all who met him and on all who were his patients. Unlike with many innovators, his recognition by colleagues did not wait for his death in 1980. For decades before people crowded to meet him, to be treated by him, and to learn from him. He was superbly fitted to be a clinician and a healer, thus it was his human and therapeutic qualities that were honored at a recent symposium at the Canterbury Group Family Institute in Great Neck, New York. The proceedings of that occasion are reported here by Laurie Klein Evans, Executive Director of the Institute.

I have already mentioned Erickson's unique position as a master healer. Also, during his lifetime and since his death, his work has inspired a prolific outpouring of theoretical contributions from colleagues and students. Haley has acknowledged his great debt to Erickson; the work of Bandler and Grinder, and of Selvini-Palazzoli, and the recent book by Keeney, Aesthetics of Change, all draw heavily on his practical applications and his natural wisdom in their fashioning of theoretical understandings, which range from paradox to field and system theory and cybernetics. It is small wonder, then, that as these theoretical advances continue, anecdotal and story-telling tributes also appear to bring further substantiation from the source of these exciting hypotheses.

—I.A.     

Media reviews

Abstract

To Have and to Hold: A Film about Men Who Batter Women, by Mark Lipman. New Day Films, Franklin Lakes, NJ, 1982. 16mm color film: $350.00 purchase price, $35.00 rental. 3/4″ videocassette: $300.00, purchase only.     

Exploring reciprocity through the lens of the psychological contract: Employee and employer perspectives

This article explores reciprocity within the exchange relationship between the employee and employer using the psychological contract framework. Specifically, we examine the bi-directionality of the norm of reciprocity. We hypothesize that there will be a positive relationship between perceived employer obligations, fulfilment of obligations, and employee obligations and fulfilment. In addition, we hypothesize that employee fulfilment of obligations will be positively associated with perceived employer obligations. Using a longitudinal survey of 1400 public sector employees and 84 managers, our findings suggest that there is broad agreement between the two parties regarding the norm of reciprocity that governs the relationship. We found that perceived employer obligations at time 1 is positively associated with employees' fulfilment of obligations at time 2 and perceived employer fulfilment of obligations at time 1 is positively related to employee obligations and fulfilment of obligations at time 2. Furthermore, we found that employee fulfilment of obligations at time 1 is positively associated with perceived employer obligations at time 2. Overall, these findings provide initial empirical support for the norm of reciprocity in exchange relationships from both the perspective of employees as well as managers, as employer representatives.     

Trying to trust: Brain activity during interpersonal social attitude change

Interpersonal trust and distrust are important components of human social interaction. Although several studies have shown that brain function is associated with either trusting or distrusting others, very little is known regarding brain function during the control of social attitudes, including trust and distrust. This study was designed to investigate the neural mechanisms involved when people attempt to control their attitudes of trust or distrust toward another person. We used a novel control-of-attitudes fMRI task, which involved explicit instructions to control attitudes of interpersonal trust and distrust. Control of trust or distrust was operationally defined as changes in trustworthiness evaluations of neutral faces before and after the control-of-attitudes fMRI task. Overall, participants (n = 60) evaluated faces paired with the distrust instruction as being less trustworthy than faces paired with the trust instruction following the control-of-distrust task. Within the brain, both the control-of-trust and control-of-distrust conditions were associated with increased temporoparietal junction, precuneus (PrC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and medial prefrontal cortex activity. Individual differences in the control of trust were associated with PrC activity, and individual differences in the control of distrust were associated with IFG activity. Together, these findings identify a brain network involved in the explicit control of distrust and trust and indicate that the PrC and IFG may serve to consolidate interpersonal social attitudes.     

On the fragility of medical virtue in a neoliberal context: the case of commercial conflicts of interest in reproductive medicine

Social, political, and economic environments play an active role in nurturing professional virtue. Yet, these environments can also lead to the erosion of virtue. As such, professional virtue is fragile and vulnerable to environmental shifts. While physicians are often considered to be among the most virtuous of professional groups, concern has also always existed about the impact of commercial arrangements on physicians’ willingness and capacity to enact their professional virtues. This article examines the ways in which commercial arrangements have been negotiated to secure medical virtue from real or perceived threats of erosion. In particular, we focus on the concern surrounding conflicts of interest arising from commercial arrangements that have developed as a result of neoliberal economic and social policies. The deregulation of medical markets and privatization of services have produced new commercial relationships that are often misunderstood by patients, publics, and physicians themselves. ‘Conflicts of interest’ policies have been introduced in an attempt to safeguard ethical conduct and medical practice. However, a number of virtue ethicists have critiqued these policies as inadequate for securing virtue. We examine the ways in which commercial arrangements have been seen to impact upon medical virtue, both historically and in the context of modern medicine (using the example of fertility services in Australia). We then describe and critique current efforts to restore clinical virtue through both conflict of interest policies and through virtue ethics. Finally, we suggest some possible ways of addressing the corrosive effects of neoliberalism on medical virtue.     

Theoretical and methodological issues with testing the SCCT and RIASEC models: Comment on Lent, Sheu, and Brown (2010) and Lubinski (2010)

The current article replies to comments made by Lent, Sheu, and Brown (2010) and Lubinski (2010) regarding the study "Interpreting the Interest-Efficacy Association From a RIASEC Perspective" (Armstrong & Vogel, 2009). The comments made by Lent et al. and Lubinski highlight a number of important theoretical and methodological issues, including the process of defining and differentiating between constructs, the assumptions underlying Holland's (1959, 1997) RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional types) model and interrelations among constructs specified in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), the importance of incremental validity for evaluating constructs, and methodological considerations when quantifying interest-efficacy correlations and for comparing models using multivariate statistical methods. On the basis of these comments and previous research on the SCCT and Holland models, we highlight the importance of considering multiple theoretical perspectives in vocational research and practice. Alternative structural models are outlined for examining the role of interests, self-efficacy, learning experiences, outcome expectations, personality, and cognitive abilities in the career choice and development process.     

Reprogramming of interceptive actions: time course of temporal corrections for unexpected target velocity change

The authors investigated the time course of reprogramming of the temporal dimension of motor acts in a task requiring interception of a moving target. The target moved at a constant velocity on a monitor screen; in part of the trials, target velocity was unexpectedly increased or decreased. Those modifications were produced at different moments during target displacement, leaving periods of time from 100 to 800 ms for movement timing correction. The authors assessed the effects of probability of target velocity change (25% vs. 50%), uncertainty about direction of velocity change (unidirectional vs. bidirectional), and direction of velocity change (increase vs. decrease). Analysis of 24 participants' arm acceleration showed that fast adjustments took place between 100 and 200 ms after target velocity change similarly for all uncertainty conditions. Analysis of temporal error indicated that the combination of high probability of target velocity change and certainty on direction of target velocity change led to the most successful movement timing reprogramming. For the other experimental conditions, temporal accuracy was still poor when a period of 800 ms was available for correction. Movement reprogramming was a continuous process that was more efficient for target velocity increase than for target velocity decrease.