Novice motor performance: Better not to verbalize

Offline verbalization about a new motor experience is often assumed to positively influence subsequent performance. Here, we evaluated this presumed positive influence and whether it originates from declarative or from procedural knowledge using the explicit/implicit motor-learning paradigm. To this end, 80 nongolfers learned to perform a golf-putting task with high error rates (i.e., explicit motor learning), and thus relied on declarative knowledge, or low error rates (i.e., implicit motor learning), and thus relied on procedural knowledge. Afterward, they either put their memories of the previous motor experience into words or completed an irrelevant verbal task. Finally, they performed the putting task again. Verbalization did not improve novice motor performance: Putting was impaired, overall, and especially so for high-error learners. We conclude that declarative knowledge is altered by verbalization, whereas procedural knowledge is not.     

The Charcot Effect: The Invention of Mental Illnesses

This article proposes the Charcot effect, in which clinicians describe what they themselves prescribe. It is argued that the Charcot effect can be a critical instrument for exposing how mental illnesses are invented in the process of developing diagnostic systems and conducting psychopharmacological research. We argue that the Charcot effect helps explain the expansion of depression to epidemic proportions, the promotion of social phobia as a pharmaceutical marketing strategy, the profile of panic disorder according to the available medication, and the worse prognosis of schizophrenia in developed countries than in developing countries. Having undertaken this review, we situate the Charcot effect in relation to constructivist psychology.     

Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Dialogical Experiences

The purpose of this study is to offer a model in which auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) can be conceptualized as dialogical experiences. This model is of interest in that it integrates several different perspectives (phenomenological, cognitive, social, and evolutionary) and the findings of empirical research on the subject. Hallucinations are understood as the product of a state of consciousness in which the self is dissociated into different positions or perspectives. After reviewing the most relevant results of psychological research, dialogical self theory is proposed as the theoretical framework for understanding hallucinatory experiences. It is argued that the voices possess a series of characteristics, pragmatic properties, relationships with the voices similar to their social surroundings, and more dissociative experiences in people who experience voices than in those who do not, with which they may be considered a dialogical experience. Finally, a model attempting to integrate psychological research on AVHs within the framework of dialogical self theory is presented.     

Role of expertise and action in motion extrapolation from real road scenes

The tendency of participants to “remember” the stopping point of an event as being farther along in the direction of motion has been a topic of study for about 30 years. The purpose of the present experiment was to test the influence of two factors on motion extrapolation: (1) The involvement of participants in the action, and (2) their expertise in the domain of automobile driving. Participants viewed real driving scenes from the driver's point of view. They were divided into four groups depending upon their involvement in the action (more or less active) and their driving experience (inexperienced or experienced). In order to get half of the participants involved in the driving situation, they had to use a steering wheel to follow the contour of the road. The results showed that both of these factors increased motion extrapolation. The discussion deals with how the interrelationships between real road scenes, expertise, and action-related knowledge affect motion extrapolation.     

Multisensory self‐motion encoding in parietal cortex

Navigation through the environment requires the brain to process a number of incoming sensory signals, such as visual optical flow on the retina and motion information originating from the vestibular organs. In addition, tactile as well as auditory signals can help to disambiguate the continuous stream of incoming information and determining the signals resulting from one's own set of motion. In this review I will focus on the cortical processing of motion information in one subregion of the posterior parietal cortex, i.e., the ventral intraparietal area (VIP). I will review (1) electrophysiological data from single cell recordings in the awake macaque showing how self‐motion signals across different sensory modalities are represented within this area and (2) data from fMRI recordings in normal human subjects providing evidence for the existence of a functionally equivalent area of macaque area VIP in the human cortex.     

Local/foreign status,cultural background,and organizational citizenship behaviour: A study among foreign and local workers in The Netherlands

A study in Singapore (Ang et al., 2003 Ang, S., van Dyne, L. and Begley, T. M. 2003. The employment relationship of foreign workers versus local employees: A field study of organizational justice, job satisfaction, performance, and OCB. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24: 561–583. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found that foreign employees displayed a lower tendency to engage in Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) than their local counterparts. The explanation was that foreign employees often experience their employment relation as more disadvantageous. The present study attempted to investigate possible differences in OCB between foreign and local workers in The Netherlands. In addition, it aimed to ascertain what role the cultural dimension of “individualism–collectivism” plays in this connection. Contrasting the expectations, the foreign employees reported a higher propensity to pursue OCB than local workers. The difference in behaviour could not be explained by cultural differences. It was argued that economic and personal motives of foreign workers might have affected the self-reports of their organizational behaviour.     

Crossnational deviance in the workplace: Diverging impact of organizational commitment in Canada and Belgium

Using a self-report questionnaire from the aggressor's point of view, this study contrasted employees' frustration, perception of procedural justice, organizational commitment, and their relationships to interpersonal deviance in Canada and Belgium. Significant main effects were found in both countries for frustration and procedural justice on psychological and physical violence. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses revealed significant interactions of country by normative and continuance commitment in interpersonal deviance, indicating the unique patterns relationships in Canada and Belgium. Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions was used to discuss the results.     

Power and conflict in cooperative and competitive contexts

Power and conflict are classic research topics in organizational theory and important practical management issues. The goal of this article was to analyse the influence of supervisor power bases and goal interdependence situations over intragroup conflict. The study involved the participation of 401 workers from a range of social service organizations. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that (a) supervisor personal power bases were negatively associated with task and relationship conflict; (b) supervisor position power bases were positively associated with relationship conflict; (c) cooperative environments were negatively associated with task and relationship conflict; and (d) that goal interdependence moderates the negative consequences of the use of position power. The implications for research and managerial practices are discussed.     

The Portuguese version of Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination–Revised (ACE-R) in the diagnosis of subcortical vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of the Portuguese version of Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination–Revised (ACE-R) in detecting and differentiating early stage subcortical vascular dementia (SVD) from early stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Ninety-two subjects (18 SVD patients, 36 AD patients, and 38 healthy controls) were assessed using the ACE-R. Between-group’s differences were evaluated using the Quade’s rank analysis of covariance. The diagnostic accuracy and discriminatory ability of the ACE-R were examined via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The ACE-R was able to successfully discriminate between patients and healthy subjects. The mean ACE-R total scores differed between SVD and AD patients; there were also significant differences in attention and orientation and in memory measures between the groups. An optimal cut-off of 72/73 was found for the detection of AD (sensitivity: 97%; specificity: 92%) and SVD (sensitivity: 100%; specificity: 92%).     

Psychological Well-Being and the Metabolic Syndrome in African and Caucasian Women in South Africa

This study explored the association between comprehensive psychological well-being and the metabolic syndrome (MS), as well as whether women without MS markers differ significantly from women with MS (three or more markers) on specific facets of psychological well-being. African (N=102) and Caucasian (N=115) women completed self-report questionnaires on psychological well-being, and biological markers for MS were determined. Results indicated a significant association between comprehensive psychological well-being and the MS in Caucasian women, but not in the case of African women. Caucasian women without MS had higher levels of perceived support from friends and family, environmental mastery, purpose in life, sense of coherence, affect balance and positive relationships than those with MS. African women without MS had higher levels of positive relationships and an optimistic explanatory style, but lower levels of perceived support from family. Further research is indicated.