Artificial neural networks for analyzing inter-limb coordination: the golf chip shot

Motor control research relies on theories, such as coordination dynamics, adapted from physical sciences to explain the emergence of coordinated movement in biological systems. Historically, many studies of coordination have involved inter-limb coordination of relatively few degrees of freedom. This study looked at the high-dimensional inter-limb coordination used to perform the golf chip shot toward six different target distances. This study also introduces a visualization of high-dimensional coordination relevant within the coordination dynamics theoretical framework. A specific type of Artificial Neural Network (ANN), the Self-Organizing Map (SOM), was used for the analysis. In this study, the trajectory of consecutive best-matching nodes on the output map was used as a collective variable and subsequently fed into a second SOM which was used to create visualization of coordination stability. The SOM trajectories showed changes in coordination between movement patterns used for short chip shots and movement patterns used for long chip shots. The attractor diagrams showed non-linear phase transitions for three out of four players. The methods used in this study may offer a solution for researchers from a coordination dynamics perspective who intend to use data obtained from discrete high-dimensional movements.     

If-Clauses and Probability Operators

Adams’ thesis is generally agreed to be linguistically compelling for simple conditionals with factual antecedent and consequent. We propose a derivation of Adams’ thesis from the Lewis-Kratzer analysis of if-clauses as domain restrictors, applied to probability operators. We argue that Lewis’s triviality result may be seen as a result of inexpressibility of the kind familiar in generalized quantifier theory. Some implications of the Lewis-Kratzer analysis are presented concerning the assignment of probabilities to compounds of conditionals.     

Kommentare zu ?Ambivalenz weiterschreiben��

The authors comment on the results of the Zürich symposium with varied weighting. Ambivalence is brought into relation with a hypothetical genesis of human thinking and understood as a reflection of the fundamental dialogical structure, which owes itself to an exchange of symbolic messages. A further consideration describes that the ??valley of the uncanny??, whose connection to death Lilly Gast has shown, could also have a fundamental connection with sexuality bared of all bonds, which releases the same fears as death. A difficulty would lie in the inflationary use of the term: every ambiguousness or diversity would sometimes generally be subsumed under ambivalence and therefore all selectivity would become lost. Also discussed is the ambivalence of the term, or the question, whether the term has not lost significance. Finally its relevance in pediatric and adolescent-specific perspectives will be examined.     

When just-world beliefs promote and when they inhibit forgiveness

The present study provides further evidence that justice and forgiveness are not necessarily competitive responses. Among 157 undergraduates instructed to recall either serious or benign transgressions, just-world beliefs for the self (BJW-self) was associated with forgiveness as inhibition of negative responding but not forgiveness as positive responding. Each of these relations was significantly moderated by transgression severity: the more benign the transgression, the stronger the relationship. Just-world beliefs for others (BJW-others) was negatively associated with inhibition of negative responding and unrelated to positive responding. These relations held over and above well-established predictors of transgression-specific forgiveness (relationship closeness and post-transgression offender effort), and an individual difference variable, justice sensitivity. In practical terms, BJW-self may enable people to better deal with minor stressors. An important theoretical implication is that modelling the relationship between just-world beliefs and forgiveness requires a bidimensional conception of both constructs.     

Prospective memory, emotional valence and ageing

Emotional factors have been found to be an important influence on memory. The current study investigated the influence of emotional salience and age on a laboratory measure of prospective memory (PM); Virtual Week. Thirty young and 30 old adults completed Virtual Week, in which the emotional salience of the tasks at encoding was manipulated to be positive, negative or neutral in content. For event-based, but not time-based tasks, positivity enhancement in both age groups was seen, with a greater number of positive PM tasks being performed relative to neutral tasks. There was no negativity enhancement effect. Older adults showed generally poorer levels of PM, but they also demonstrated greater beneficial effects of positive valence compared to young. These effects of emotion on PM accuracy do not appear to reflect the retrospective component of the task as a different pattern of emotion effects was seen on the recall of PM content. Results indicate that older adults' difficulties in prospective remembering can be reduced where the tasks to be remembered are positive.     

Revisiting the suitability of antisaccade performance as an endophenotype in schizophrenia

Poor performance on the antisaccade task has been proposed as a candidate endophenotype in schizophrenia. Caveats to this proposal, however, include inconsistent findings in first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia, and substantial heterogeneity in individuals with the disorder. In this study, we examined antisaccade performance in patients and relatives, and sought to establish whether antisaccade measures could differentiate between two patients clusters identified in the Western Australian Family Study of Schizophrenia with either pervasive cognitive deficits (CD) or cognitively spared (CS). Ninety-three patients (CD = 47, CS = 46), 99 relatives and 62 healthy controls carried out a standard antisaccade task. Results showed: (i) significantly greater error rate, and prolonged latencies to correct responses and self-correction saccades in patients compared with controls; (ii) high error rates in relatives of poorly performing patients; (iii) longer latencies of self-correction saccades in relatives compared to controls; and (iv) higher error rate and longer latencies of self-correction saccades in the CD subgroup compared with CS. Unaffected relatives as a group were unimpaired in error rate as compared to healthy controls. These findings suggest that the antisaccade error rate and latency of self-correction saccades are useful measures in specific applications of genetic research in schizophrenia, without fully meeting endophenotype co-familiality requirements.     

Teacher Acquisition of Functional Analysis Methods Using Pyramidal Training

Pyramidal training involves an experienced professional training a subset of individuals who, in turn, train additional individuals. Pyramidal training is effective for training a variety of behavior-analytic skills with direct-care staff, parents, and teachers. As teachers’ roles in behavioral assessment increase, pyramidal training may be useful to improve the procedural fidelity with which teachers conduct functional analyses. In the current study, previously trained teachers taught six other teachers (trainees) to conduct standard functional analysis conditions in a pyramidal training model. All trainees quickly acquired the skills necessary to conduct attention, escape, play, and tangible conditions during analog role-plays. Trainees also implemented functional analysis conditions with fidelity in their classrooms with students. Using a pyramidal training model may help to disseminate behavior-analytic procedures.     

Models,monitoring, and the mind: Comments on Wansink and Chandon's “Slim by Design”

Wansink and Chandon have examined the “mindlessness” that is often evident in everyday food intake. In this commentary, we focus on four issues raised by Wansink and Chandon's paper: (1) the distinction between food choice and food intake; (2) their model of food intake (and how it compares and contrasts with our own model of food intake); (3) the role of monitoring in the control of food intake; and (4) the meaning of “mindless” eating. In each case we find value in Wansink and Chandon's proposals but also an opportunity for further analysis and refinement.     

“I'd like to be that attractive,but at least I'm smart”: How exposure to ideal advertising models motivates improved decision‐making

The use of idealized advertising models has been heavily criticized in recent years. Existing research typically adopts a social comparison framework and shows that upward comparisons with models can lower self-esteem and affect, as well as produce maladaptive behavior. However, the alternative possibility that consumers can cope with threatening advertising models by excelling in other behavioral domains has not been examined. The present research draws on fluid compensation theory (Tesser, 2000) and shows that idealized models motivate improved performance in consumer domains that fall outside that of the original comparison. These more positive coping effects operate through self-discrepancies induced by idealized models, rather than self-esteem or negative affect. Specifically, self-discrepancies motivate consumers to improve decision-making by: 1) making more optimal choices from well-specified consideration sets, and 2) better self-regulating indulgent choices. More broadly, the current research integrates and extends theories of fluid compensation and self-discrepancy, as well as provides a more complete picture of the ways in which consumers cope with idealized advertising models.     

What Happens in Therapy? Adolescents’ Expectations and Perceptions of Psychotherapy

A measure of adolescent pre-treatment expectations/perceptions of psychotherapy was developed, evaluated, and used to examine adolescent expectancies of psychotherapy. The development of the Psychotherapy Expectations and Perceptions Inventory (PEPI) is described and initial psychometric properties reported. Utilizing a sample of adolescents (N = 546), expectancies of psychotherapy were assessed using the PEPI. Results indicate adequate internal consistency and a 3 factor structure. Specifically, factors identified were labeled (1) measuring negative expectancies, (2) process/outcome expectancies, and (3) expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Boys reported greater negative expectancies, but also greater expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Girls reported greater therapy process/outcome expectancies. Prior contact with mental illness was not related to any studied factors. Clinicians may benefit from assessing adolescent expectancies to facilitate rapport and engagement in the therapy to foster more therapeutic change. Future research that examines the relationships between specific demographic characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, etc.) and service utilization variables among adolescents is warranted.