Characterization of lower-limbs inter-segment coordination during the take-off extension in ski jumping

Take-off, the most important phase in ski jumping, has been primarily studied in terms of spatio-temporal parameters; little is known about its motor control aspects. This study aims to assess the inter-segment coordination of the shank-thigh and thigh-sacrum pairs using the continuous relative phase (CRP). In total 87 jumps were recorded from 33 athletes with an inertial sensor-based system. The CRP curves indicated that the thighs lead the shanks during the first part of take-off extension and that the shanks rotated faster at the take-off extension end. The thighs and sacrum first rotated synchronously, with the sacrum then taking lead, with finally the thighs rotating faster. Five characteristic features were extracted from the CRP and their relationship with jump length was tested. Three features of the shank-thigh pair and one of the thigh-sacrum pair reported a significant association with jump length. It was observed that athletes who achieved longer jumps had their thighs leading their shanks during a longer time, with these athletes also having a more symmetric movement between thighs and sacrum. This study shows that inter-segment coordination during the take-off extension is related to performance and further studies are necessary to contrast its importance with other ski jumping aspects.     

Episodic memory and episodic foresight in 3- and 5-year-old children

In the present study, we examined the development of episodic memory and episodic foresight. Three- and 5-year-olds were interviewed individually using a personalised timeline that included photographs of them at different points in their life. After constructing the timeline with the experimenter, each child was asked to discuss a number of different events: an event that happened yesterday, an event that happened earlier today, an event that would happen later today, and an event that would happen tomorrow. As judged by their parents, children's accounts were highly accurate. After controlling for age and language scores, there was a strong relation between amount of information reported about past and future events. Overall, 5-year-olds reported more total information than 3-year-olds; however, reports by 3-year-olds included a similar proportion of first-person reference as did reports by 5-year-olds. No age difference appeared in proportion of future-oriented talk. We conclude that the present task provides a promising method of exploring the emergence of mental time travel during early childhood.     

Fruitful plans: adding targeted mental imagery to implementation intentions increases fruit consumption

Forming implementation intentions ('If I encounter situation X, then I will perform behaviour Y!') increases the probability of carrying out goals. This study tested the hypothesis that mental imagery targeting key elements of implementation intentions further increases goal achievement. The residents of a student residence were assigned the goal of consuming extra portions of fruit every day for 7 days and randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control (active rehearsal), implementation intentions, goal intention mental imagery or mental imagery targeted to the implementation intentions. Among low fruit consumers, but not high fruit consumers, fruit consumption at follow-up was higher in the targeted mental imagery group than in the other group, with the lowest fruit consumption in the control group. The findings suggest that it may be beneficial to use targeted mental imagery when forming implementation intentions.     

Validation de la version française de l'échelle de réflexivité en groupe de Carter et West, 1998

Several studies found reflexivity —the extent to which team discuss objectives, strategies and processes and adapt them to changes— to be related to team efficacy. Two studies were conducted with 80 teams (320 participants) to validate French version of reflexivity scale. In study 1 exploratory factor analysis revealed 3 factors which partly confirms the 2 factor structure (task reflexivity and social reflexivity) expected from the original study (Carter and West, 1998). Two items of the original task reflexivity scale load on a third factor we named strategic reflexivity. The three factor structure was replicated in study 2 with confirmatory factor analysis. Criterion validity is proved by correlations between reflexivity and team performance. Task, social and strategic reflexivity correlate with different aspects of team effectiveness. The French version of reflexivity scale is reliable and appropriate for evaluating team reflexivity.     

Show‐ups: the critical issue of clothing bias

A field study (N = 379) investigated the effects of clothing bias on show‐up identifications using variations in type of clothing (distinct and common), the similarity of clothing between the event and the identification procedure, target‐present and two target‐absent show‐ups (high similarity and low similarity innocent suspects), and time delay. Results showed a significant clothing bias by clothing type interaction on identification accuracy; however, no overall effects of delay or common clothing on identification accuracy were found. With distinct clothing, significant effects of clothing bias and suspect similarity emerged. Implications for police use of show‐ups are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Judging Up the Corporate Ladder: Understanding the Social Conduct of Workers

The purpose of this research was to examine the social conduct of workers toward managers following a negative work event involving their managers. Three studies were conducted to examine the relationships among attributions, judgments of responsibility, anger and sympathy, and antisocial and prosocial behaviors. In Study 1, we manipulated ability and effort attributions with scenarios in order to examine the cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes of hypothetical workplace events. In Studies 2 and 3, we replicated these results using a retrospective, critical-incidents methodology and further explored the mediational relationships between cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses. Findings from the 3 studies supported hypotheses derived from Weiner's (1995) theory of social conduct.     

Influence of response prepotency strength, general working memory resources, and specific working memory load on the ability to inhibit predominant responses: a comparison of young and elderly participants

One conception of inhibitory functioning suggests that the ability to successfully inhibit a predominant response depends mainly on the strength of that response, the general functioning of working memory processes, and the working memory demand of the task (Roberts, Hager, & Heron, 1994). The proposal that inhibition and functional working memory capacity interact was assessed in the present study using two motor inhibition tasks (Go/No-Go and response incompatibility) in young and older participants. The strength of prepotency was assessed with a short or long training phase for the response to be inhibited. The influence of working memory resources was evaluated by administering the tasks in full vs. divided attention conditions. The effect of working memory load was manipulated by increasing the number of target and distracter items in each task. Results showed no effect of prepotency strength, whereas dividing attentional resources and increasing working memory load were associated with greater inhibitory effects in both groups and for both tasks. This deleterious effect was higher for older participants, except in the working memory load condition of the Go/No-Go task. These results suggest an interactive link between working memory and response inhibition by showing that taxing working memory resources increases the difficulty of inhibiting prepotent responses in younger and older subjects. The additional detrimental effect of these factors on healthy elderly subjects was related to their decreased cognitive resources and to their shorter span size.     

Error reframing: studying the promotion of an error management culture

In the organizational behaviour and organizational psychology literature, individual errors are considered either as sources of blame (error-prevention culture) or as sources of learning and something to be encouraged in order to promote innovation (error-management culture). While we can assume that a third perspective exists somewhere in between, error management is usually considered as the best solution. Yet scholars have tended to neglect the planned and directed transition from a pure error-prevention to an error-management culture. We thus examine to what extent and under what conditions an organization can culturally transform the representation of individual errors through its business leaders. To answer this question, we conducted a qualitative study on the case of a French insurance company. We portray a realistic image of the promotion of an error management culture, pointing out certain limitations and constraints, while nonetheless identifying some conditions for successful error reframing.     

Multiple independent identification decisions: a method of calibrating eyewitness identifications

Two experiments (N = 147 and N = 90) explored the use of multiple independent lineups to identify a target seen live. In Experiment 1, simultaneous face, body, and sequential voice lineups were used. In Experiment 2, sequential face, body, voice, and clothing lineups were used. Both studies demonstrated that multiple identifications (by the same witness) from independent lineups of different features are highly diagnostic of suspect guilt (G. L. Wells & R. C. L. Lindsay, 1980). The number of suspect and foil selections from multiple independent lineups provides a powerful method of calibrating the accuracy of eyewitness identification. Implications for use of current methods are discussed.