Contextual interference in movements of the same class: differential effects on program and parameter learning

Contextual interference effects in motor learning usually were not found when the tasks to be learned presumably required the same generalized motor program (GMP) and differed only with regard to the movement parameters (see Lee, Wulf, & Schmidt, 1992; Magill & Hall, 1990). Thus, tasks requiring different motor programs (e.g., different relative timings) seemed to be a prerequisite for random practice to be more effective than blocked practice. However, the previous studies (that did not find random/blocked differences) used global error measures that confounded errors in relative timing and errors in absolute timing. In the present study, subjects practiced three movement patterns that had the same relative timing (requiring the same GMP) but different overall durations (requiring different parameters). Errors in relative timing and in absolute timing were assessed separately. The results indicate that random practice is more effective for the learning of relative timing (GMP learning) and less effective for the learning of absolute timing (parameter learning) than blocked practice. Preliminary ideas as to the reasons for this effect are discussed.     

Being Polite and Keeping MUM: How Bad News is Communicated in Organizational Hierarchies1

There are many ways to communicate bad news. The MUM effect (Tesser & Rosen, 1975), which is keeping mum and not transmitting the bad news at all, is only one of many possible approaches. Using P. Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory, an experimental study was conducted to address not whether bad news is being transmitted, but how bad news is being transmitted. The results show that most communicators tend to use politeness strategies when communicating bad news. Moreover, using politeness strategies to couch the message did not attenuate the informative value of the message. Focused contrasts revealed two strong interactions between gender and communication direction on strategy use. First, power differences more strongly predicted strategy use for men, whereas distance differences more strongly predicted strategy use for women. Second, men used most politeness strategies when the combined effect of power and distance was the highest (as the politeness theory would predict), but the trend was reversed for women. This finding suggests that politeness theory may not be an accurate model for describing female communicators.     

Prevention education and substance abuse treatment

Relapse prevention is influenced by a number of variables including stress and negative mood states, motivation and commitment to abstinence, social support, physiological factors, withdrawal symptoms, and a repertoire of cognitive and behavioral strategies utilized in responding to the relapse process. Diverse theoretical approaches have emphasized conditioning models as well as information processing, cognitive and affective components of treatment, cognitive and behavioral coping responses, and a variety of other procedures. Outcome studies related to treatment have failed to consistently support the effectiveness of several of these components. To overcomes this, the authors advocate a single subject design in the study of these approaches. This article emphasizes the role of relapse prevention, and training and education in facilitating long-term abstinence, particularly with those intervention methods that are based on social learning theory and cognitive-behavioral models.     

NEURONAL CODING OF SERIAL ORDER:

Abstract— How does the brain create rule-governed sequences of behavior? An answer to this question may come from a surprising source: the neostriatum (caudate nucleus and putamen), Traditionally, the neostriatum has been considered pun of the brain's motor system, but its contribution to the preparation or execution of movement is recognized generally to concern high-level motor functions. Recent work implicates the neostriatum in disorders of sequential action and thought, as in the repetition of thoughts or habits in human obsessive-compulsive disorder and movements or speech in Tourette's syndrome. Yet there is no direct evidence to support the idea that the neostriatum controls sequences of behavior. Using ethological and neurophysiological techniques to study neural activity in the rat neoslriatum during syntactic grooming sequences, we found that neuronal activity in the anterolateral neostriatum depended on the execution of syntactic sequences of grooming actions. The individual grooming movements themselves did not activate the neoslriatum; activation was determined by the syntactic sequence in which grooming movements were performed. These data provide the first direct evidence that the neoslriatum coordinates the control of rule-governed behavioral sequences.     

Sex-role similarities between adults and their parents

Sex-role is a product of interpersonal and intrapersonal cognitive functioning. As a result, parents play an important role in the development of their children's sex-role orientation. The aim of this research was to describe the relationship between the sex-role of adults and those of their parents as measured on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974). Inventories were completed by 24 men, 41 women, and their parents. Results show the strongest relationship for gender-consonant sex-roles for mother-daughter and father-son dyads. Findings are discussed in terms of sex-role and modeling theories.     

The use of a consultation team to network families with other helping systems

Families, therapists, and other service providers often find themselves uncooperative and at cross purposes when working toward solutions to family problems. Sometimes each professional is involved in one small piece of the problem and may never have encountered other providers and all family members. This paper describes a family-agencies-team consultation model intended to address the above issues. The model uses a consultation team to facilitate better understanding of family needs, helping agency roles, and service provider constraints. The approach has been successful in creating dialogue, generating a wide range of goals, engendering cooperation, empowering families, and affirming agency participation.In addition to the authors, the consultation team included staff members at the Pitt County Mental Health Center working with client families and other agencies in Pitt County, North Carolina.     

Culture and gender in marital therapy with ethiopian immigrants: A conversation in metaphors

Israel is a country which has absorbed more than half of its population during its first 44 years of existence. Recently, the trend has been to move away from the melting-pot ideology and favor the philosophy of unity in diversity. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the issue of marital therapy in the context of immigration, family loss, and different cultural traditions in the Ethiopian community living in Israel. A story of marital therapy is recounted in which the continuity and expansion of customs is used. This provided a sense of familiarity in therapy to demonstrate culture and gender-sensitive therapy and illustrate possible guidelines for therapeutic collaboration.I would like to thank Yael Kitov, the therapist, for her wonderful job-Amith Ben-David.     

The degree of similarity of differentiation of self between partners in married and dating couples: Preliminary evidence

Bowen's differentiation of self construct is examined through a test in two studies of the hypothesis that people select partners at similar levels of differentiation of self. One study used a sample of married couples and the other a sample of dating and engaged couples. The studies used different instruments for determining differentiation of self. Three data analysis procedures—correlations, t-tests, and the degree of similarity procedure—provided conflicting evidence for the similarity hypothesis. Results are discussed as they pertain to statistical analysis issues using related individuals and to Bowen family systems theory and the use of this theory in clinical practice.