Team cognition in experienced command-and-control teams

Team cognition in experienced command-and-control teams is examined in an UAV (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle) simulation. Five 3-person teams with experience working together in a command-and-control setting were compared to 10 inexperienced teams. Each team participated in five 40-min missions of a simulation in which interdependent team members control a UAV to take reconnaissance photos. Experienced teams exceeded performance of inexperienced teams, suggesting transfer of previous command-and-control experience. Compared to inexperienced teams, experienced teams had fewer errors on process-related training knowledge, superior team process ratings, and communications containing fewer coordination-related utterances. These findings support the view that team cognition emerges through the interactions of team members, that interactions distinguish high-performing teams from average teams, and that these interactions transfer across different tasks.     

Comparing derived and acquired acceleration profiles: 3-D optical electronic data analyses

Advances in technology in the last century have provided the opportunity to observe human behavior in one, two, and three dimensions with higher recording frequencies and greater spatial accuracy. Consequently, detailed analyses of individual trials and composite measures of multiple movement trajectories are possible. However, 3-D data have often been analyzed by performing independent analyses of the limb trajectory along each axis. Essentially, analyses of individual axes are often inappropriate as movement in each axis can contribute to the overall trajectory. Employing such methods can compound error throughout the analysis process. The purpose of this study was to determine appropriate post hoc and real-time 3-D optoelectronic data reduction procedures for manual aiming movements. Rapid goal-directed movements were recorded using an Optotrak and triaxial accelerometer. Data were separately subjected to second order Butterworth filters employing low-cut frequencies of 6-24 Hz in 2 Hz increments. Subsequently, acceleration profiles were derived by double differentiating the individual position profiles and then calculating the resultant acceleration profile. In addition, acceleration profiles were also calculated by finding the resultant position and the total distance traveled each frame prior to double differentiation. Root mean square error between the derived and acquired profiles was employed as our main dependent measure. Trajectories reduced with the total distance procedure produced the lowest root mean square error. The results are important for experimenters analyzing 3-D data post hoc and those implementing real-time manipulations.     

The contribution of short-term memory for serial order to early reading acquisition: evidence from a longitudinal study

Early reading acquisition skills have been linked to verbal short-term memory (STM) capacity. However, the nature of this relationship remains controversial because verbal STM, like reading acquisition, depends on the complexity of underlying phonological processing skills. This longitudinal study addressed the relation between STM and reading decoding acquisition by distinguishing between STM for item information and STM for order information based on recent studies showing that STM for item information, but not STM for order information, recruits underlying phonological representations. If there is a specific link between STM and reading decoding acquisition, STM for order information should be an independent predictor of reading decoding acquisition. Tasks maximizing STM for serial order or item information, measures of phonological abilities, and reading tests were administered to children followed from kindergarten through first grade. We observed that order STM capacity, but not item STM capacity, predicted independent variance in reading decoding abilities 1 year later. These results highlight the specific role of STM for order in reading decoding acquisition and argue for a causal role of order STM capacity in reading acquisition. Mechanisms relating STM for order information and reading acquisition are discussed.     

When My Object Becomes Me: The Mere Ownership of an Object Elevates Domain‐Specific Self‐Efficacy

Past research on the mere ownership effect has shown that when people own an object, they perceive the owned objects more favorably than the comparable non‐owned objects. The present research extends this idea, showing that when people own an object functional to the self, they perceive an increase in their self‐efficacy. Three studies were conducted to demonstrate this new form of the mere ownership effect. In Study 1, participants reported an increase in their knowledge level by the mere ownership of reading materials (a reading package in Study 1a, and lecture notes in Study 1b). In Study 2, participants reported an increase in their resilience to sleepiness by merely owning a piece of chocolate that purportedly had a sleepiness‐combating function. In Study 3, participants who merely owned a flower essence that is claimed to boost creativity reported having higher creativity efficacy. The findings provided insights on how associations with objects alter one's self‐perception.     

Self-Healing Aspects of EMDR: The Therapeutic Change Process and Perspectives of Integrated Psychotherapies

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (Shapiro 1989a, 1989b, 1995) is an innovative, comprehensive approach to psychotherapy. While EMDR's use of eye movements has attracted a great deal of attention, the efficacy of the EMDR method can be explained parsimoniously in terms of many different types of therapy. Lang's (1985) information processing networks provide a way to understand the Accelerated Information Processing model proposed by Shapiro to explain EMDR. A representative EMDR session is presented to illustrate the integrative components of EMDR's procedural elements and the range of clinical effects. Therapeutic changes seen as a result of self-healing using EMDR are discussed from the perspectives of other psychotherapeutic approaches in order to understand the contribution of EMDR to the psychotherapy integration movement.     

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the Intraparietal Sulcus Does Not Influence Working Memory Performance

Mixed results of the impact of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on working memory have been reported. Contrarily to previous studies who focused mainly on stimulating the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, we modulated the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) area which is considered to support attentional control aspects of working memory. Using a within-participant experimental design, participants completed three different conditions: anodal stimulation of the IPS, cathodal stimulation of the IPS, and sham stimulation of the IPS. Both visual and verbal working memory tasks were administered. In the visual task, participants had to memorize a random set of colored figures. In the verbal task, participants had to memorize a string of letters. Working memory load was manipulated in both tasks (six figures/letters vs. two figures/letters). No significant differences in accuracy or reaction time between the anodal, cathodal and sham conditions were found. Bayesian analysis supported evidence for an absence of effect. The results of the present study add to the growing body of contradictory evidence regarding the modulatory effects of single session tDCS on working memory performance.     

Buddy Christ and Jesus Action Figure

Two diminutive, mass produced statues of Christ, Buddy Christ and Jesus Action Figure seem intended as postmodern anti-Christs to offend Christian sensibilities and mock the image of Christ. I suggest, however, that the statuettes have an excess of meaning that is remaindered as a residual respect for Christ as a spiritual guide, whose enduring political leadership subverts religious hypocrisy. An atheistic/Marxist defence of Christology provides my theoretical base to explore the statuettes, the cult of the Sacred Heart provides an historical example of subversive piety and an editor of the Gay Times' supplies an urgent challenge to reclaim the Christ of Faith as a spiritual and cultural inheritance from the religious right.     

Comparison of kinematic and kinetic methods for computing the vertical motion of the body center of mass during walking

The vertical excursion of the body center of mass (BCOM) was calculated using three different techniques commonly used by motion analysis laboratories. The sacral marker method involved estimating vertical BCOM motion by tracking the position of a reflective marker that was placed on the sacrum of subjects as they walked. The body segmental analysis technique determined the vertical motion of the BCOM from a weighted average of the vertical positions of the centers of mass of individual body segments for each frame of kinematic data acquired during the data trial. Anthropomorphic data from standard tables were used to determine the mass fractions and the locations of the centers of mass of each body segment. The third technique involved calculating BCOM vertical motion through double integration of force platform data. Data was acquired from 10 able-bodied, adult research subjects--5 males and 5 females--walking at speeds of 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 m/s. A repeated measures ANOVA indicated that at the slowest walking speed the vertical excursions calculated by all three techniques were similar, but at faster speeds the sacral marker significantly (p < 0.001) overestimated the vertical excursion of the BCOM compared with the other two methods. The body segmental analysis and force platform techniques were in agreement at all walking speeds. Discrepancies between the sacral marker method and the other two techniques were explained using a simple model; the reciprocal configuration of the legs during double support phase significantly raises the position of the BCOM within the trunk at longer step lengths, corresponding to faster walking speeds. The sacral marker method may provide a reasonable approximation of vertical BCOM motion at slow and freely selected speeds of able-bodied walking. However, the body segmental analysis or force platform techniques will probably yield better estimates at faster walking speeds or in persons with gait pathologies.     

Cross-national differences in the assessment of psychopathy: do they reflect variations in raters' perceptions of symptoms?

Cross-national differences in the prevalence of psychopathy have been reported. This study examined whether rater effects could account for these differences. Psychopathy was assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991). Videotapes of 6 Scottish prisoners and 6 Canadian prisoners were rated by 10 Scottish and 10 Canadian raters. No significant main or interaction effects involving the nationality of raters were detected at the level of full scores or factor scores. Using a generalizability theory approach, it was demonstrated that the interrater reliability of total scores was good, that is, the proportion of variance in test scores attributable to raters was small. The interrater reliability of factor scores was lower, typically falling in the fair range. Overall, the results suggest that the reported cross-national differences are more likely to be in the expression of the disorder rather than in the eye of the beholder.