A current approach to anticipation in sport / Un enfoque actual de la anticipación en el deporte

The classical cognitive concept of anticipation and timing (for example, reaction time) somewhat limits the study of sports actions under spatio-temporal pressure. The presence, duration and evolution of the information of the opponents, spatio-temporal pressure, the evolution of the athlete’s response movements or the degree of representativeness are some of the issues facilitating research into an anticipation that is better adjusted to the specific circumstances of interception tasks. This article proposes that temporalization of response actions is based on the balance between the spatio-temporal demands of the task, the athlete’s action capabilities and the evolution of the reliability of the available variables. In order to obtain good performance in these actions under pressure, individual perceptual differences and possible interactions with other information sources must also be considered.     

The role of variability in the property listing task

It is generally believed that concepts can be characterized by their properties (or features). When investigating concepts encoded in language, researchers often ask subjects to produce lists of properties that describe them (i.e., the Property Listing Task, PLT). These lists are accumulated to produce Conceptual Property Norms (CPNs). CPNs contain frequency distributions of properties for individual concepts. It is widely believed that these distributions represent the underlying semantic structure of those concepts. Here, instead of focusing on the underlying semantic structure, we aim at characterizing the PLT. An often disregarded aspect of the PLT is that individuals show intersubject variability (i.e., they produce only partially overlapping lists). In our study we use a mathematical analysis of this intersubject variability to guide our inquiry. To this end, we resort to a set of publicly available norms that contain information about the specific properties that were informed at the individual subject level. Our results suggest that when an individual is performing the PLT, he or she generates a list of properties that is a mixture of general and distinctive properties, such that there is a non-linear tendency to produce more general than distinctive properties. Furthermore, the low generality properties are precisely those that tend not to be repeated across lists, accounting in this manner for part of the intersubject variability. In consequence, any manipulation that may affect the mixture of general and distinctive properties in lists is bound to change intersubject variability. We discuss why these results are important for researchers using the PLT.     

The effects of imagery instructions on total congenital blind recall

Abstract

Research on the performance of total congenital blind subjects in imagery tasks is of particular interest because it helps to evaluate the consequences of their lack of visual experience. The present paper examines some points which remained unclear in the preceding research on the effects of imagery instructions on the recall of blind subjects. In Experiment 1 it is shown that, in a free recall task of unrelated nouns, the blind may take advantage of imagery instructions, independently of the particular requirement to form either common or bizarre images. In Experiment 2 the multiple image processing deficit of the blind found by De Beni and Cornoldi (1988) was again observed, but the effect was not found when the same quantity of material had to be processed verbally. Results are interpreted as showing that, although the blind may follow imagery instructions, their visual handicap creates specific difficulties in creating interactive images involving several items at the same time.     

Die Diskussion zwischen José Gaos und Luis Villoro über den Begriff der Lebenswelt—Kritische Auswertung einer entscheidenden Episode der Rezeptionsgeschichte von Husserls Phänomenologie in Spanien und Mexiko

Husserl Studies - Die vorliegende Arbeit thematisiert eine sowohl im deutschen als auch im spanischen und englischen Sprachraum weitgehend unbekannte philosophische Kontroverse zweier...     

Learning a new geometric concept: The role of working memory and of domain-specific abilities

It has been suggested that not only domain-specific factors but also working memory (WM) may play a crucial role in mathematical learning included Geometry, but the issue has not been deeply explored. In the present study, we examined the role of domain-specific factors and of verbal versus visuospatial WM on geometric learning of a new geometrical figure (trapezoid), never presented previously by the teachers participating to the study, after a lecture also involving manipulatives. Results on 105 children in their Year 4 indicated that not only some domain-specific components (geometric declarative knowledge and calculation) but also visuospatial working memory had a significant specific impact on the ability of solving geometric problems requiring to calculate the perimeter and the area of the new figure. On the contrary, verbal WM and geometrical mental imagery did not offer a specific contribution. These findings could have important educational implications, stressing the importance of taking into account the main different aspects supporting the acquisition of geometry.     

Increasing the probability of finding an interaction in work stress research: A two‐wave longitudinal test of the triple‐match principle

Research into work stress has attempted to identify job resources that can moderate the effects of job demands on strain. The recently developed triple‐match principle (TMP) proposes that job demands, resources, and strain can be conceptualized as being composed of cognitive, emotional, and physical dimensions. When a psychological imbalance is induced by job demands, individuals activate corresponding resources to reduce the effects of the demands. A closer match occurs when the resources are processed in the same psychological domain as the demands. The further away from a match, the less likely an interactive effect will become. Put simply, the likelihood of finding an interactive effect between job demands and job resources is greatest when demands, resources, and strain are based on qualitatively similar dimensions (i.e. cognitive, emotional, and physical). For example, emotional support from colleagues is likely to buffer the effects of emotional demands on emotional exhaustion. The TMP was tested in a sample of 179 Australian police officers in a two‐wave longitudinal study. The likelihood of finding an interactive effect was related to the degree of match between job demands, job resources, and strain with 33.3% of triple‐match interactions significant, 22.2% when there was a double‐match, and 0.0% when there was no match. These findings lend support to the TMP as a guiding framework, for research, to explore possible interactive effects in work stress research, and for practice, to inform interventions matching resources to occupational demands, to offset strain.     

Age,working memory,and the Tower of London task

The current study explores the role of three components of working memory in age differences in an executive task, the Tower of London (TOL). The TOL task is sensitive to frontal lobe damage, and is widely used to measure planning ability. Dual tasks were used to test the involvement of the phonological loop (articulatory suppression), visuospatial buffer (pattern tapping), and central executive (random generation) in age effects on the TOL. Older adults showed greater reliance than young on domain-specific verbal and spatial memory components in performing the TOL. In terms of executive function, qualitatively different interference patterns were seen in young and old participants. However, the validity of using random generation tasks to assess executive function in older populations can be questioned. For older participants, performing the TOL loads all components of working memory, whereas for the younger participants the TOL more specifically loads executive functioning.