Interference Effects in Learning Similar Sequences of Discrete Movements

Three experiments were conducted to examine proactive and retroactive interference effects in learning 2 similar sequences of discrete movements. In each experiment, the participants in the experimental group practiced 2 movement sequences on consecutive days (1 on each day, order counterbalanced across participants) followed by retention tests on the third day. In all, 2 out of 8 target locations differed between the 2 sequences. Experiment 1 established the nature of the interference effects in the present setup. Clear evidence was found for button-specific proactive and retroactive interference effects. Experiments 2 and 3 further probed the mechanisms underlying those effects, by varying the numbers of repetitions (50 or 250) of the 1st and 2nd sequence (Experiment 2) and the hand, dominant or nondominant, with which the sequences were practiced (Experiment 3). Experiment 2 showed that after a mere 50 repetitions, the representation of the movement structure was strong enough to evoke the effects observed in Experiment 1. Experiment 3 revealed that learning with the dominant hand did not result in more pronounced interference effects compared with learning with the nondominant hand. In combination, these results suggest that changes in the representation of the movement structure are primarily responsible for the observed interference effects.     

Effect of a retention interval between pre-exposure and conditioning on latent inhibition in humans using a blink conditioning procedure

Latent inhibition, retarded learning after pre-exposure to the to-be-conditioned stimulus, was examined using a blink conditioned procedure in humans. Experiment 1 showed that the procedure is suited to inducing the latent inhibition effect. In Experiment 2, the introduction of a 3-minute interval between pre-exposure and conditioning phases attenuated latent inhibition. These results contribute to identify the mechanisms involved in pre-exposure and subsequent conditioning of a stimulus, which is particularly important if we bear in mind that latent inhibition has been used repeatedly as an instrument to analyze the course of attentional processes in normal and pathological populations.     

Weight-Related Sport Motives and Girls’ Body Image, Weight Control Behaviors, and Self-Esteem

Research has shown that exercise for weight control is associated with disordered eating indices in older adolescent or adult exercisers in fitness centers. This study examined whether these relationships could be replicated in a more general sample of 140 Dutch adolescent girls between 13 and 18 years old. Questions about sport participation, items from the Multidimensional Body Image Questionnaire and BULIT-R, the Contour Drawing Rating Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were completed. The girls were categorized as sport-participants with or without weight-related motives or as non-sport-participants. Weight-related sport participation was significantly associated with body dissatisfaction, more weight control and lower self-esteem. In conclusion, it is important to consider motives for sport participation when studying relationships between sport and well being.     

Affective stimulus properties influence size perception and the Ebbinghaus illusion

In the New Look literature of the 1950s, it has been suggested that size judgments are dependent on the affective content of stimuli. This suggestion, however, has been 'discredited' due to contradictory findings and methodological problems. In the present study, we revisited this forgotten issue in two experiments. The first experiment investigated the influence of affective content on size perception by examining judgments of the size of target circles with and without affectively loaded (i.e., positive, neutral, and negative) pictures. Circles with a picture were estimated to be smaller than circles without a picture, and circles with a negative picture were estimated to be larger than circles with a positive or a neutral picture confirming the suggestion from the 1950s that size perception is influenced by affective content, an effect notably confined to negatively loaded stimuli. In a second experiment, we examined whether affective content influenced the Ebbinghaus illusion. Participants judged the size of a target circle whereby target and flanker circles differed in affective loading. The results replicated the first experiment. Additionally, the Ebbinghaus illusion was shown to be weakest for a negatively loaded target with positively loaded and blank flankers. A plausible explanation for both sets of experimental findings is that negatively loaded stimuli are more attention demanding than positively loaded or neutral stimuli.     

High and low trait anger, and the recognition of anger problems

This study compared three groups of people: (a) high trait anger individuals who recognized personal anger problems (HR); (b) high trait anger individuals who did not recognize personal anger problems (HNR); and (c) low trait anger individuals not reporting personal anger problems (LNR). Compared to LNR participants, HR and HNR groups reported more anger-out (i.e., outward negative expression of anger such as arguing with others), anger-in (i.e., anger suppression and harboring grudges), greater desire to use and actual use of physically aggressive anger expression (e.g., pushing or shoving someone), and less anger control-in (i.e., emotionally focused strategies to lower anger such as relaxation) and anger control-out (i.e., behaviorally focused strategies such as being patient with others). HR individuals reported more trait anger (i.e., higher propensity to experience anger) and less anger control-out than the HNR group. Gender did not relate to the recognition of anger problems. Findings were discussed with regard to theory and clinical implications.     

Short Spanish version of Team Climate Inventory (TCI-14): development and psychometric properties

The aim of the present paper was to develop a Spanish adaptation of the reduced, 14-item version of the Team Climate Inventory (TCI-14), a questionnaire developed to evaluate team climate. To this end the English version was adapted and applied to a sample of 360 employees from Castilla-León and Catalonia (44.4% men and 55.6% women). The results indicated that the TCI-14 has the same structure as the original version, and confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the existence of the factors Vision, Participative Safety, Task Orientation and Support for Innovation. The TCI-14 also presented good reliability coefficients considering the low number of items on each scale (alphas ranged between .75 and .82). The TCI-14 is a potentially useful instrument for evaluating the climate of work teams. It could be used by future research as a screening tool in conjunction with other instruments.     

Web-based experiment control software for research and teaching on human learning

In this article we describe some of the experimental software we have developed for the study of associative human learning and memory. All these programs have the appearance of very simple video games. Some of them use the participants' behavioral responses to certain stimuli during the game as a dependent variable for measuring their learning of the target cue-outcome associations. Some others explicitly ask participants to rate the degree of relationship they perceive between the cues and the outcomes. These programs are implemented in Web pages using JavaScript, which allows their use both in traditional laboratory experiments as well as in Internet-based experiments.     

Positive Effects of Imagery on Police Officers' Shooting Performance under Threat

We investigated the effects of imagery on police officers' shooting performance under threat. To this end, 66 officers executed a realistic shooting exercise against an opponent that initially did not shoot back with painful coloured‐soap cartridges (low‐threat condition) followed by a condition in which he did [high‐threat (HT) condition]. In between conditions, participants performed an imagery intervention: one group imagined ‘successful shot execution’ and one imagined ‘successful shot execution under threat, including the accompanying emotions’; a control group received no imagery intervention. Although for the control group shot accuracy was significantly lower in the HT condition than under low‐threat conditions, both imagery groups were able to maintain their shot accuracy in the HT condition, despite increased levels of anxiety. It is concluded that focusing on successful shot execution is pivotal, whereas adding emotional statements does not seem to have an additional positive effect. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal Weight Control Behaviors for Preschoolers Related to Children’s Gender

The purpose of this study was to identify significant factors associated with Korean mothers’ behaviors in controlling their preschool children’s weight and to examine gender differences among the significant associated factors. This study involved a convenience sample of 223 pairs of mothers and their preschool children (114 boys and 109 girls) in South Korea. Maternal desire for their children to lose weight, concern about children being overweight or obese, and interaction between gender and concern about children being overweight or obese were significant factors associated with maternal behaviors to control children’s weight. Regarding the interaction between gender and concern about children being overweight or obese, mothers who were concerned about their daughter being overweight or obese were more likely to control their child’s weight than those who were concerned about their son being overweight or obese. Additionally, mothers with concerns about their daughter being overweight or obese were more likely to conduct weight control behaviors for their child than mothers of girls without such concern. However, among mothers of boys, there was no difference in maternal behaviors to control their child’s weight between those with concern and without concern. Therefore, health care providers should understand gender specific maternal concerns regarding their child’s weight and provide tailored weight control interventions for mother and child pairs considering the child’s gender.     

Ethical Dilemmas in Genetic Testing: Examples from the Cuban Program for Predictive Diagnosis of Hereditary Ataxias

Predictive testing protocols are intended to help patients affected with hereditary conditions understand their condition and make informed reproductive choices. However, predictive protocols may expose clinicians and patients to ethical dilemmas that interfere with genetic counseling and the decision making process. This paper describes ethical dilemmas in a series of five cases involving predictive testing for hereditary ataxias in Cuba. The examples herein present evidence of the deeply controversial situations faced by both individuals at risk and professionals in charge of these predictive studies, suggesting a need for expanded guidelines to address such complexities.