When is the ball going to hit the ground? Duration estimates, eye movements, and mental imagery of object motion

Performance in 2 versions of a computer-animated task was compared. Participants either indicated the time of arrival of a target that rolled off a horizontal surface and fell--hidden from view--onto a landing point (production task) or judged flight time on a rating scale (judgment task). As predicted, performance was significantly better in the production task (Experiment 1), in which imagery of object motion probably replaced reasoning processes. Participants who exhibited eye movements suggesting mental tracking performed particularly well in the production task (Experiment 2). There was, however, no decrement in performance when participants were asked to fixate the point where the target disappeared. For motion duration estimations, eye movements seem to be only a by-product of mental tracking.     

Psychosozialer Versorgungsbedarf bei Arbeitnehmern

Zusammenfassung  Untersuchungen zu Häufigkeit, Verlauf und Ursachen psychischer Erkrankungen bei Arbeitnehmern sind rar. Die Gründe hierfür liegen sowohl auf Seiten der Arbeitsmedizin, die psychosoziale Aspekte wenig berücksichtigt, als auch bei der Psychotherapie, die zu wenig auf die Arbeitssituation eingeht. Die wenigen aussagekräftigen Untersuchungen legen bei Arbeitnehmern eine ähnlich hohe Prävalenz und Behandlungsbedürftigkeit nahe wie in der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Von den Folgen einer störungsinadäquaten Therapie psychischer Erkrankungen sind Arbeitnehmer in besonderem Maße betroffen, da die Erkrankungen nicht nur zu erheblichem persönlichem Leid führen, sondern durch Chronifizierung zu enormen Kosten in der medizinischen Versorgung beitragen. Außerdem sind sie durch krankheitsbedingte Fehlzeiten und (Früh-)Berentungen auch die Ursache weit reichender Produktionsausfälle in der Wirtschaft. Obwohl eine Reihe von Maßnahmen der betrieblichen Gesundheitsförderung zur Besserung der psychischen Befindlichkeit von Arbeitnehmern verfügbar sind, werden sie gegenwärtig noch zu selten eingesetzt und noch weniger evaluiert.

Infants learn phonotactic regularities from brief auditory experience

Two experiments investigated whether novel phonotactic regularities, not present in English, could be acquired by 16.5-month-old infants from brief auditory experience. Subjects listened to consonant-vowel-consonant syllables in which particular consonants were artificially restricted to either initial or final position (e.g. /baep/ not /paeb/). In a later head-turn preference test, infants listened longer to new syllables that violated the experimental phonotactic constraints than to new syllables that honored them. Thus, infants rapidly learned phonotactic regularities from brief auditory experience and extended them to unstudied syllables, documenting the sensitivity of the infant's language processing system to abstractions over linguistic experience.     

Measuring transactive memory systems in the field: scale development and validation

This study describes the development and validity testing of a field measure of transactive memory systems. Transactive memory systems are especially important for teams designed to leverage members' expertise, but field research has lagged because there are no adequate measures of the construct. The author developed and tested a 15-item scale in a laboratory sample of 124 teams, a field sample of 64 Master of Business Administration consulting teams, and a field sample of 27 teams from technology companies. Results from the present study demonstrate that the scale is internally consistent, related to alternative measures and hypothesized causes and effects, and unrelated to theoretically distinct constructs, providing evidence of convergent, criterion-related, and discriminant validity. Suggestions for improving the scale, future validity testing, and possible boundary conditions are discussed.     

The contribution of EEG coherence to the investigation of language

The contribution of EEG coherence analysis to the investigation of cognition and, in particular, language processing is demonstrated with examples of recent EEG studies. The concept of EEG coherence analysis is explained, and its importance emphasized in the light of recent neurobiological findings on frequency-dependent synchrony as a code of information processing between nerve cell assemblies. Furthermore, EEG coherence studies on naturally spoken and written word and sentence processing are reviewed and experimental results are presented giving new insights into the occurrence of "transient functional language centers" within the brain.     

Ecological Factors Impacting Provider Attitudes Towards Human Service Delivery Reform

Although reform efforts are substantially altering the structural operations and guiding ideological framework of the human service delivery system, little empirical work has been done to systematically examine these transformations. This study examines providers' attitudes regarding two reform elements that are being widely implemented: an increased emphasis on inter-agency collaboration and a shift from a medical model service delivery philosophy, that focuses on client deficits, to one that emphasizes consumer strengths. Through survey data collected from 186 providers from 32 human service agencies in one county, the relationship between providers' perceptions of contextual support for human service delivery reform and providers' attitudes towards these initiatives is explored. The findings from this study support the importance of attending to the ecology in which we initiate system reform efforts. For both reform elements, working within contexts that are perceived as providing ideological and functional support for change was associated with positive provider attitudes towards those changes. Staffs' perceptions of the external environment played the most critical role in shaping staff attitudes. Interestingly, unique aspects of providers' work environments were related to positive attitudes towards the two different reforms. The implications of these findings for the success of human service delivery reform are discussed.     

Empathy, Expectations, and Situational Preferences: Personality Influences on the Decision to Participate in Volunteer Helping Behaviors

Although considerable evidence indicates that dispositional empathy is associated with the degree of help that observers will offer needy targets, little is known about the effect of empathy on one's initial willingness to enter situations in which such needy targets might be found. Three studies were conducted to evaluate two related propositions: (1) that dispositional empathy influences such situational preferences, and (2) that this influence is mediated by the expectancies one holds regarding the emotions likely to occur in those situations. Using hypothetical judgments, Study 1 found support for both propositions. Study 2, in which participants believed that their responses actually committed them to encountering needy targets, provided further support for the model, as did Study 3, which examined the experiences of actual community volunteers. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Different Training Procedures Recruit Either One or Two Critical Periods for Contextual Memory Consolidation, Each of Which Requires Protein Synthesis and PKA

We have used a combined genetic and pharmacological approach to define the time course of the requirement for protein kinase A (PKA) and protein synthesis in long-term memory for contextual fear conditioning in mice. The time course of amnesia in transgenic mice that express R(AB) and have genetically reduced PKA activity in the hippocampus parallels that observed both in mice treated with inhibitors of PKA and mice treated with inhibitors of protein synthesis. This PKA- and protein synthesis-dependent memory develops between 1 hr and 3 hr after training. By injecting the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin or the PKA inhibitor Rp-cAMPs at various times after training, we find that depending on the nature of training, contextual memory has either one or two brief consolidation periods requiring synthesis of new proteins, and each of these also requires PKA. Weak training shows two time periods of sensitivity to inhibitors of protein synthesis and PKA, whereas stronger training exhibits only one. These studies underscore the parallel dependence of long-term contextual memory on protein synthesis and PKA and suggest that different training protocols may recruit a common signaling pathway in distinct ways.     

Reducing risk of head injury in youth soccer: An extension of behavioral skills training for heading

Recently, concerns regarding sport-related concussions have increased within the research literature, the media, and popular culture. One potential source of soccer-related concussions involves the purposeful striking of the ball with one's head (i.e., heading). There is currently limited research on an effective teaching method to improve safe heading technique. In the current study, Behavior Skills Training (BST) was evaluated as a method to teach correct heading techniques to youth soccer players. BST increased the percentage of correct steps for each player based on a task analysis of heading. Based on social validity questionnaires administered to players and the coach, BST was rated as an acceptable form of training. After the final training session, experienced coaches rated each player as having improved from baseline to training.