A comparison of intra- and inter-limb relative motion information in modelling a novel motor skill

The importance of intra- and inter-limb relative motion in modelling a whole body coordination skill was examined. Participants were assigned to one of four groups: Full-Body point light model of a cricket bowler, INTRA-LIMB relative motion of the bowling arm, INTER-LIMB relative motions of the right and left wrists or NO-Relative motion, showing only the motions of the right wrist. During 60 acquisition trials, participants viewed the model five times before each 10-trial block. Retention was examined the following day. Although all groups improved on intra-limb coordination of the bowling arm, the INTRA-LIMB and FULL-BODY groups were more accurate than the INTER-LIMB group in acquisition, although these groups did not differ in retention. For inter-limb coordination, the three groups who received relative motion information performed more like the model than the NO-Relative motion group (even though the INTRA-LIMB group did not see the other limb). The amount of information within a display plays a constraining role on acquisition, perhaps more so than the type of information, such that the acquisition of coordination is more an emergent feature of observational learning, rather than a direct approximation of the model.     

An especial skill: Support for a learned parameters hypothesis

We tested the ‘learned parameters’ hypothesis as an explanation of the ‘especial skill effect’. Outcome attainment and movement kinematics were recorded for 10 expert and 10 novice players performing basketball free-throw shots at five distances (11-19 ft) with a regular and heavy weight basketball. As predicted, experts performed better than expected relative to the regression equation at the 15 ft, free-throw line with the regular basketball, supporting the ‘especial skill effect’. This effect was not present for the experts when shooting with the heavy ball. Novices did not show an advantage at the free-throw line when performing with either ball. Although the outcome attainment scores support the ‘learned parameters’ hypotheses, kinematic analysis failed to identify differences in the movement pattern for the especial skill, suggesting that these skills (i.e., shooting at different distances) are not governed by separate motor programs.     

Rebirth,Community and Communal Karma in Shan Communities in Northwestern Thailand

In the Shan community of Thongmakhsan, northwestern Thailand, where I have done most of my ethnographic research, children are often identified as so-and-so who was reborn. These identifications are based on appearance, personal proclivities, and dreams around the time the child was born. I begin with the account of Ay Phit and his rebirth since it is this story which piqued my interest in rebirth. I then provide some background information on Shan in Maehongson Province. With this background, I begin the discussion of rebirth by examining local ideas about attachment and its consequences and then go on to discuss the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead, reborn or not, through the transfer of merit. I then describe possible rebirths to argue that rebirth as a human being is the most likely rebirth. In conclusion, I discuss communal karma to raise the question of the relationship between textual analyses and current local practices.     

Andrew Robinson. God and the World of Signs: Trinity,Evolution and the Metaphysical Semiotics of C.S. Peirce

ABSTRACT

Christian theologians have considered the significance of life elsewhere in the cosmos since the fifteenth century, but the brevity of these discussions calls for greater theological precision: the notion of multiple incarnations, for example, is often explored without reference to the detail of Christological formulations. Attention to the logical mode in which such work is set out is also fruitful, where the scholastic category of suitability or fittingness holds particular promise. As suitable, God’s actions are free and yet congruent, being consistent with the divine nature, with creaturely natures, and with the ends of God’s dealings with creatures.     

The Relation of Parent and Child Gender to Parental Tolerance of Child Disruptive Behaviors

Parental tolerance has been defined as the degree to which a parent tends to be annoyed by his or her child’s disruptive behavior. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relation of both parent and child gender to parental tolerance of child disruptive behaviors. Participants were 150 parents with 3–6 year-old at-risk children (47.5 % girls) who sought help with parenting of their child’s oppositional defiant behaviors. Tolerance was measured by the difference between parent ratings of intensity on 36 disruptive behaviors and whether each behavior was identified as a problem (resulting in a score of either high, expected, or low tolerance). A 2 (child gender) by 2 (parent gender) analysis of variance was conducted on the tolerance score. A significant interaction between child and parent gender emerged: Mothers were equally tolerant of boys’ and girls’ oppositional defiant behavior but fathers were more tolerant of boys’ than girls’ oppositional behavior. Exploratory analyses suggested that this interaction may be qualified by clinical status of the child. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Perceptual and motor congruency effects in time–space association

It is well established that temporal events are represented on a spatially oriented mental time line from left to right. Depending on the task characteristics, the spatial representation of time may be linked to different types of dimensions, including manual response codes and physical space codes. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether manual response and physical space codes are independent of each other or whether they interact when both types of information are involved in the task. The participants performed a temporal estimation task with two lateralized response buttons in four experiments. In the first experiment, the target stimuli were presented on the left side, at the center, or on the right side of the space, whereas the reference stimuli were always presented centrally. The reverse situation was presented in the second experiment. In the third experiment, both stimuli were presented in opposite spatial positions (e.g., left–right), whereas in the last experiment, both stimuli were presented in the same spatial position (e.g., left–left). In all experiments, perceptual and motor congruency effects were found, but no modulation of the congruency effects was found when both the perceptual and motor components were congruent. The results indicated that physical, spatial, and manual response codes are independent from each other for time–space associations, even when both codes are involved in the task. These results are discussed in terms of the “intermediate-coding” account.     

A short‐term perceptual priming account of spacing effects in explicit cued‐memory tasks for unfamiliar stimuli

Memory for repeated items improves when presentations are spaced during study. This effect is found in explicit memory tasks using different types of material, different experimental paradigms, and in different subject populations. Two experiments are described where the spacing effect was assessed on a yes/no recognition memory task using words and nonwords as targets. The main results showed that changing the font between repeated occurrences of targets at study did not affect the spacing effect for words, even under shallow encoding conditions, but effectively removed the spacing effect with nonwords. In both experiments, the font manipulation was made between subjects, ruling out explanations in terms of differential attention to particular font conditions. These results provide further support for short‐term perceptual priming accounts of the spacing effect: Semantically‐based repetition priming affects memory for words; perceptual priming mechanisms affect memory for nonwords.