Are free testosterone and cortisol concentrations associated with training motivation in elite male athletes?

ObjectivesTo examine correlative associations between salivary free testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) concentrations and training motivation in elite male athletes.DesignSingle group, longitudinal design with repeated measures.MethodsParticipants (n = 15) completed a 5-week progressive resistance training programme. Across 2 weekly workouts, pre and post measures of salivary free T and C concentrations were taken along with voluntary chosen workload, as a proxy for training motivation. Strength and body mass were assessed pre and post training.ResultsIndividual changes in pre-workout free T concentrations correlated strongly to voluntary workloads (pooled r = 0.81, p < 0.001). Pre-workout free C concentrations was weakly correlated to voluntary workload (pooled r = 0.35). Pre-workout hormones (r = 0.57–0.89) and the strength gains were also related.ConclusionsThe salivary free T concentrations of male athletes presented before training were strongly associated with subsequent voluntary workloads, indicating a potential link to training motivation.     

The Effects of Competition on Improvisers’ Motivation,Stress, and Creative Performance

We explored how competition affects the quality of musical improvisation, as well as the intrinsic motivation and stress reported by improvisers. Amateur musicians improvised on a keyboard in one of two conditions: induced competition and no competition. Employing the consensual assessment technique, improvisations were assessed for creativity and technical goodness by 10 expert judges. Findings indicate that improvisations were judged as more creative under competitive than non-competitive conditions. Moreover, improvisers in the competition condition were more intrinsically motivated, as well as more stressed, than improvisers in the no competition condition. The creativity and technical goodness dimensions of improvisations were positively related to each other. The findings are discussed in light of the intense debate over the effects of extrinsic motivators on intrinsic motivation and creativity and offer mechanisms through which competition may affect creative performance as well as discuss the role of stress in affecting motivation and creativity.     

Newtonian Idealism: Matter,Perception, and the Divine Will

This paper investigates Isaac Newton's rather unique account of God's relation to matter. According to this account, corpuscles depend on a substantially omnipresent God endowing quantities of objective space with the qualities of shape, solidity, the unfaltering tendency to move in accord with certain laws, and—significantly—the power to interact with created minds. I argue that there are important similarities and differences between Newton's account of matter and Berkeley's idealism. And while the role played by the divine will might at first appear to be a species of occasionalism, I conclude that there are, for Newton, genuine causal relations between minds and bodies. Ultimately, to fully appreciate this account of the creation and persistence of matter, we must consider not only Newton's metaphysical writings, but also his sensorium theory of mind‐body interaction, his heterodox theological commitments, and the influences of Descartes, More, and Locke.     

Decision-Making by Children and Young People in the Home: The Nurture of Trust,Participation and Independence

This article presents the findings of a qualitative research study of children and young people (aged 7–17 years) in Ireland. It seeks to investigate whether, for the children and young people involved, the home is a space where supportive, trusting family relationships can be nurtured; where independence grows with age; and where parents listen, discuss and explain decisions made. It furthermore outlines the views and experiences of parents with regard to children and young people’s participation in the home and will focus on relational and spatial aspects of child participation within the home. The study recognizes children and young people as social actors and is also informed by a relational and spatial approach to children’s participation which recognizes the respective roles and positions of children in facilitating child participation. The results indicate that age and issues of trust and tokenism were significant barriers in young people’s participation and decision making at home. Key enablers of children and young people’s participation included spaces where discussion can happen at home, good family relationships, being listened to by parents, trust and growing levels of independence with age, seeing decisions as fair and having the rationale for decisions explained to them by parents. Among suggestions for improvements the most important were designated family spaces for discussion, encouragement of active listening by parents, and promotion of explanation by adults of their decisions.     

The Effects of Musical and Voice “Fit” on Responses to Advertisements1

Research on musical “fit” suggests that listeners might recall more of a radio advertisement if it features musical/voice content that corresponds with features of the advertised brand. This is because the music/voice should prime certain aspects of listeners' knowledge. Two studies were carried out to test this, each involving 5 specially prepared radio ads. The first indicated that musical fit enhanced recall of the products advertised, the brands advertised, and specific claims made during the course of the ad copy; and also participants' ratings of liking for the ad and likelihood of purchasing the advertised product. A second similar study considered voice fit and found that this could also promote recall of specific product claims and lead to higher ratings of liking for the ad and likelihood of purchasing the advertised product. These results confirm that both musical and voice fit can prime certain aspects of listeners' knowledge and also increase liking for ads, such that it might improve knowledge-based and affective responses to advertising. The theoretical implications of this are discussed in terms of the concept of involvement and what precisely is meant by musical/voice fit.     

Refractory semantics in global aphasia: On semantic organisation and the Access–Storage distinction in neuropsychology

Abstract

A single case study is reported of a global aphasic patient, JM, with impaired access to semantic information which was particularly severe for the class of proper names. JM's ability to perform matching tasks with printed words and pictures to auditory words deteriorated when items were repeated, especially when the response–stimulus interval was short. Performance was also inconsistent across items. The effect of repeated testing on items generalised to other, previously untested members of the same category. Despite this, JM was able to access general semantic information about stimuli from the affected categories (e.g. to categorise boys' and girls' names), and showed good ability to access an input lexicon concerning these stimuli. There was also a close relationship between the categories affected when he was tested with pictures and printed words. We propose that JM's deficit can be attributed to his semantic system entering an abnormal refractory state once semantic access for a particular item has been achieved, and with this stage being isolated from the procedures providing access to stored lexical knowledge. Furthermore, the representations affected seem common to pictures and printed words. We discuss the implications of the results for understanding the nature of semantic representations in general and for proper names in particular, and for the distinction between access and storage deficits in neuropsychology.     

An item/order trade-off explanation of word length and generation effects

The item-order hypothesis suggests that under certain conditions increased item processing can lead to deficits in order processing, and that this produces a dissociation in performance between item and order tasks. The generation effect is one such example. The word length effect is seen as another instance where this trade-off might be observed. The following experiments compare word length and generation effects under serial recall and single item recognition conditions. Short words are better recalled than long words on the serial recall task but long words were better recognised than short words. The results are consistent with the item-order approach and support a novel explanation for the word length effect.     

Expectancies generated by recent exposure to melodic sequences

In four experiments, we examined the effects of exposure to unfamiliar tone sequences on melodic expectancy and memory. In Experiment 1, 30 unfamiliar tone sequences (target sequences) were presented to listeners three times each in random order (exposure phase), and listeners recorded the number of notes in each sequence. Listeners were then presented target and novel sequences and rated how well the final note continued the pattern of notes that preceded it. Novel sequences were identical to target sequences, except for the final note. Ratings were significantly higher for target sequences than for novel sequences, illustrating the influence of exposure on melodic expectancy. Experiment 2 confirmed that without exposure to target sequences, ratings were equivalent for target and novel sequences. In Experiment 3, new listeners were assessed for explicit memory for target sequences following the exposure phase. Recognition of target sequences was above chance, but unrelated to expectancy judgments in Experiment 1. Experiment 4 replicated the exposure effect, using a modified experiment design, and confirmed that the effect is not dependent on explicit memory for sequences. We discuss the idea that melodic expectancies are influenced by implicit memory for recently heard melodic patterns.