Observation and analysis of large-scale human motion

Many team sports include complex human movement, which can be observed at different levels of detail. Some aspects of the athlete's motion can be studied in detail using commercially available high-speed, high-accuracy biomechanical measurement systems. However, due to their limitations, these devices are not appropriate for studying large-scale motion during a game (for example, the motion of a player running across the entire playing field). We describe an alternative approach to studying such large-scale motion, and present a video-based, computer-aided system, developed specifically for the purpose of acquiring large-scale motion data. The baseline of our approach consists of sacrificing much of the spatial accuracy and temporal resolution of widely used biomechanical measurement systems, to obtain data on human movement that span large areas and long intervals of time. Data can be obtained for each of the observed athletes with reasonable amount of operator work. The system was developed using the recordings of a handball match. Several field tests were performed to assess measurement error, including comparison to one of the widely available biomechanical measurement systems. With the help of the system presented, we could obtain position data for all 14 handball players on a 40 x 20 m large court with RMS error better than 0.6 m, covering 1 h of action. Several results, obtained during the handball match study are presented, in order to highlight the importance of large-scale motion acquisition.     

The cherry effect or the issue behind well-being

Cognitive Processing - Humans define well-being on predefined assumptions, based on inner and outer criteria as references. As illustrated, these criteria are subject to constant change, even in a...     

Cognitive control and socially desirable behavior: The role of interpersonal impact

The current research reconciles two contradicting sets of findings on the role of cognitive control in socially desirable behaviors. One set of findings suggests that people are tempted by self-serving impulses and have to rely on cognitive control overriding such impulses to act in socially desirable ways. Another set of findings suggests people are guided by other-regarding impulses and cognitive control is not necessary to motivate socially desirable behaviors. We theorize that the dominant impulse is to behave in a socially desirable manner when the interpersonal impact of an action is salient, and that the dominant impulse is to behave in a self-serving manner when the interpersonal impact of an action is not salient. Studies 1–3 found that impairing participants’ cognitive control led to less socially desirable behavior when interpersonal impact was not salient, but more socially desirable behavior when interpersonal impact was salient. Study 4 demonstrates that behaving in a socially desirable manner causes cognitive control impairment when interpersonal impact is not salient. But, when interpersonal impact is salient, behaving in a self-serving manner impairs cognitive control. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding and managing socially desirable behaviors.     

Commission errors but not critical lures decrease when you have to pay a price for them

Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, we explored the effect of monetary penalty on false memories. Participants were presented 6 15-word lists of semantic associates that all converged on a nonpresented critical lure. Next, half of the participants received a monetary reward (0.10 Euro; about $0.10) for each correctly recalled word, whereas they lost money (0.20 Euro; about $0.20) for each incorrect response. Compared with control participants who received a fixed financial compensation, participants in the experimental group reported fewer commissions (i.e., incorrect responses other than the critical lure). Number of hits and critical lures did not differ between the groups.     

Experiencing positive affect and negative affect during stress: relationships to cardiac reactivity and to facial expressions

We examined the relationship between experienced positive/negative affect and cardiac reactivity and facial muscle movements during laboratory tasks with different demands. Heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, pre-ejection period, and facial electromyography were measured during startle, mental arithmetic, reaction time task, and speech task. The results revealed that individuals experiencing high levels of positive affect exhibited more pronounced parasympathetic, heart rate, and orbicularis oculi reactivity than others. Individuals who experienced high levels of negative affects during the tasks showed higher corrugator supercilii responses. Men and women showed slightly different response patterns. To conclude, cardiac reactivity may be associated with positive involvement and enthusiasm in some situations and all reactivity should not automatically be considered as potentially pathological.     

Fantasy proneness, but not self-reported trauma is related to DRM performance of women reporting recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse

Extending a strategy previously used by , we administered a neutral and a trauma-related version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm to a sample of women reporting recovered (n=23) or repressed memories (n=16) of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), women reporting having always remembered their abuse (n=55), and women reporting no history of abuse (n=20). We found that individuals reporting recovered memories of CSA are more prone than other participants to falsely recalling and recognizing neutral words that were never presented. Moreover, our study is the first to show that this finding even held when trauma-related material was involved. Correlational analyses revealed that fantasy proneness, but not self-reported traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms were related to false recall and false recognition.