Perceptual load in sport and the heuristic value of the perceptual load paradigm in examining expertise-related perceptual-cognitive adaptations

In two experiments, we transferred perceptual load theory to the dynamic field of team sports and tested the predictions derived from the theory using a novel task and stimuli. We tested a group of college students (N = 33) and a group of expert team sport players (N = 32) on a general perceptual load task and a complex, soccer-specific perceptual load task in order to extend the understanding of the applicability of perceptual load theory and further investigate whether distractor interference may differ between the groups, as the sport-specific processing task may not exhaust the processing capacity of the expert participants. In both, the general and the specific task, the pattern of results supported perceptual load theory and demonstrates that the predictions of the theory also transfer to more complex, unstructured situations. Further, perceptual load was the only determinant of distractor processing, as we neither found expertise effects in the general perceptual load task nor the sport-specific task. We discuss the heuristic utility of using response-competition paradigms for studying both general and domain-specific perceptual-cognitive adaptations.     

Effect of a Defining Feature on Negative Priming Across the Life Span

Negative priming paradigms examine selective attention, and may be explained by inhibitory processes (e.g. Tipper, 1985). Our study examines inhibition in children (6-11 years), younger adults (18-22 years), and older adults (60-82 years). Younger adults show inhibition to the reported feature of a stimulus (location or identity) (Milliken, Tipper, & Weaver, 1994) and to the defining feature of a stimulus (identity or colour) (Simone, Carlisle, & McCormick, 1998). Neither children (Tipper, Bourque, Anderson, & Brehaut, 1989) nor older adults (Connelly & Hasher, 1993) have consistently shown significant inhibition to the reported feature of identity, suggesting developmentally impaired inhibitory processing. Our current study demonstrates that both inhibition of a defining feature of identity and a reported feature of location are stable across the life span.     

Movement-based compatibility in simple response tasks

Previous studies reported that movement observation affected movement execution. Using one and the same set of responses (i.e., lifting or tapping the finger), correspondence effects were observed for simple responses when the go-signals were similar to the responses (i.e., movies of finger movements) but not when they were dissimilar (i.e., moving squares). The difference was attributed to a higher degree of ideomotor compatibility with visible limb movements. We tried to provide further evidence for ideomotor theory by manipulating the degree to which different responses matched one and the same set of stimuli (drifting sine-wave gratings). To this end, we measured simple reaction time of dynamic (hand movements) or static (key presses) movements in response to the onset of object motion. Object motion and dynamic responses showed ideomotor compatibility without looking alike; however, both stimulus and response involved continuous displacements. Correspondence effects were observed for dynamic responses, but not for static responses.     

Prospective Memory and Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: Effects of Cognitive Demand

This study investigated the effects of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) on prospective memory. Fourteen children and 14 adolescents with TBI were compared with 25 and 23 noninjured children and adolescents, respectively. Based on a prefrontal model, the cognitive demand on the ongoing component of a prospective-memory task was manipulated. Overall, those with TBI had poorer prospective-memory performance than their noninjured peers. Performance was worse in a high cognitive-demand condition than a low, and younger children performed worse than adolescents. Decreases in performance from the low- to high-demand conditions were not significantly different between the two children's groups but were between the two adolescents' groups. Furthermore, the age and injury effects were reflected in the performances on executive function tests: the Self-ordered Pointing Task (SOPT), and the Stroop Color Word Interference Test. The Tower of London (TOL), which did not produce age or injury effects, was nevertheless found to be an important predictor of performance on the high-demand task in those with TBI. Although previous research has demonstrated impaired prospective memory performance in children with TBI, this study attempted to explain why this might occur, specifically that the prefrontal regions might be implicated.     

Post-traumatic stress symptoms in mothers of children with leukaemia undergoing the first 12 months of therapy: Predictive models

The aim of this study consists in the measurement of psychological health and adaptation in mothers of children during the first 12 months of treatment for leukaemia and in the identification of possible early predictors. Ninety-four mothers were followed longitudinally at one week (T1), one month (T2), six months (T3) and 12 months (T4) post-diagnosis. The instruments used were: PTSD symptom checklist, BSI-18, Problem Scale, Ladder of life and an in-depth interview (EFI-C). Couple connectedness, family routine reorganisation, parental communication around the child's illness and trust in the medical care significantly increased from T1 to T4. Two models are proposed concerning possible predictors of mothers’ PTSS at T2 and at T3. Clinical suggestions are proposed on the basis of our empirical findings in order to plan informative, clinical and practical interventions for mothers of children under treatment for leukaemia.     

Coping with asymmetry: How infants and adults walk with one elongated leg

The stability of a system affects how it will handle a perturbation: The system may compensate for the perturbation or not. This study examined how 14-month-old infants—notoriously unstable walkers—and adults cope with a perturbation to walking. We attached a platform to one of participants’ shoes, forcing them to walk with one elongated leg. At first, the platform shoe caused both age groups to slow down and limp, and caused infants to misstep and fall. But after a few trials, infants altered their gait to compensate for the platform shoe whereas adults did not; infants recovered symmetrical gait whereas adults continued to limp. Apparently, adult walking was stable enough to cope with the perturbation, but infants risked falling if they did not compensate. Compensation depends on the interplay of multiple factors: The availability of a compensatory response, the cost of compensation, and the stability of the system being perturbed.     

Testing Children’s Mentalizing in Middle Childhood: Adopting the Child and Adolescent Reflective Functioning Scale with Clinical and Community Children

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Beginning with Ensink’s seminal study (2015), the field entered a new era in which we were able to measure mentalizing in school-aged children. The goal...     

Gratitude for Categories of Needs Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Happiness Studies - This naturalistic observation study investigated the influence of broad societal events such as the COVID-19 pandemic on public expressions of gratitude....