Psychological Skills Do Not Always Help Performance: The Moderating Role of Narcissism

Psychological skills are typically viewed as beneficial to performance in competition. Conversely, narcissists appear to thrive in competitive environments so should not need psychological skills to the same degree as less narcissistic individuals. To investigate this moderating hypothesis high-standard ice-skaters completed measures of narcissism, psychological skills, and anxiety before performing their competition routine during training. A week later, participants performed the same routine in competition. Performance was operationalized as the difference between competition and training scores. Moderated regression analyses revealed that narcissism moderated the relationship between psychological skills and performance. Psychological skill effectiveness depends on an individual's degree of narcissism.     

An Empirical Note on Attaining a Spatial Target after Distorting the Initial Conditions of Movement via Muscle Vibration

Can one’s limb be accurately positioned to a spatial location without a veridical estimate of the initial conditions of movement? The experiment reported here examined this question by distorting perception of a limb’s starting position via muscle vibration. Subjects executed rapid flexion movements under no-vibration, contralateral arm vibration, and ipsilateral arm vibration conditions. Vibration was applied to the biceps for 10 sec prior to the start of a reproduction movement. The results showed that vibration on the ipsilateral arm caused a significant increase in reproduction error, relative to the no-vibration and contralateral-vibration conditions. This finding provides additional evidence that accurate knowledge about the initial conditions of movement is a necessary component in positioning a limb.     

False recognition following study of semantically related lists presented in jumbled word form

Three experiments explored a jumbled word effect in false recognition. Lists of theme-related items were presented in word or nonword form. Results indicated that critical lures semantically related to studied items were falsely recognised regardless of whether they were presented as words or nonwords. High false recognition rates to either SLEEP or SELEP following study of an appropriate theme list of items in nonword form should only occur if nonwords are recoded at study. With study conditions conducive to recoding, jumbled words induced false recognitions based on semantic associations among their respective base words. Disrupting a recoding process by creating "difficult" letter rearrangements for jumbled words (Experiment 2) appeared to eliminate the false recognition effect. In Experiment 3, presentation durations ranged from 110 ms to 880 ms. Although there was little evidence of a semantic false recognition effect at the fastest presentation rate, the brief durations appeared to be effective in eliminating the effect when items were studied in nonword form. These results appear to be consistent with an encoding activation/retrieval monitoring model.     

Caregiver-conducted experimental functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior

The purpose of the current study was to replicate the use of parents as therapists for experimental functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior with multiple participants while measuring procedural integrity. Clear functions were identified, and high percentages of procedural integrity were obtained.     

Attentional focus moderates habituation–language relationships: slow habituation may be a good thing

An interesting paradox in the developmental literature has emerged in which fast‐habituating babies tend to be temperamentally difficult and fast language learners, even though temperamentally difficult babies tend to be slow language learners. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine whether the paradoxical relationships among habituation, temperamental difficulty, and language acquisition could be mediated partly or wholly by infant attentional focus, because the latter also tends to correlate with temperamental difficulty and vocabulary size. Forty mother–infant dyads were followed from child age 5–20‐months. Results replicated those of Tamis‐LeMonda and Bornstein (Child Develop 1989, 60, 738–751): measures of visual habituation at 5 months were related to 13‐month vocabulary. However, relationships between 5‐month habituation and 20‐month vocabulary were moderated by temperamental attentional focus. For children low in attentional focus, 5‐month habituation was related negatively to 20‐month productive vocabulary; whereas for children high in attentional focus, early habituation was positively related to later vocabulary. Results are consistent with a model of habituation in which volitional attentional focus overrides basic attentional mechanisms that occur during habituation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Functional analysis and treatment of low‐rate problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities

Extensive research has validated the standard functional analysis as a useful technology for identifying the function of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. The assessment of low‐rate problem behavior is one area that has yet to receive a significant amount of research. Some problem behaviors may occur at rates too low to be observed during a standard functional analysis, despite the fact that they may be highly destructive behaviors. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of initiating functional analysis sessions contingent on the occurrence of bursts of problem behavior for producing interpretable functional analysis results. While a standard functional analysis did not produce definitive results with respect to behavioral function, the ‘low‐rate’ functional analysis produced interpretable results for all three participants. Two of the three participants were available for the evaluation of treatments based on their functional analysis results. Function‐based treatments suppressed rates of problem behavior for both participants. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Functional analysis and treatment of low rate problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities

Extensive research has validated the standard functional analysis as a useful technology for identifying the function of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. The assessment of low rate problem behavior is one area that has yet to receive a significant amount of research. Some problem behaviors may occur at rates too low to be observed during a standard functional analysis, despite the fact that they may be highly destructive behaviors. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of initiating functional analysis sessions contingent on the occurrence of bursts of problem behavior for producing interpretable functional analysis results. While a standard functional analysis did not produce definitive results with respect to behavioral function, the ‘low rate’ functional analysis produced interpretable results for all three participants. Two of the three participants were available for the evaluation of treatments based on their functional analysis results. Function‐based treatments suppressed rates of problem behavior for both participants. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using stimulus variation to increase reinforcer efficacy of low preference stimuli

Recent research findings suggest that low preference stimuli can be effective reinforcers. This study compared responding to high preference and low preference stimuli under continuous reinforcement. Results demonstrated that responding was greater when a high preference stimulus was presented. Other research findings suggest that stimulus variation increases the potency of reinforcers perceived to be of high preference. This study extended this line of research by evaluating whether stimulus variation would increase the potency of low preference stimuli. Results demonstrated that when three low preference stimuli were presented in a varied fashion, responding corresponded with the levels obtained when a high preference stimulus was presented. Furthermore, a varied reinforcer presentation of low preference stimuli was found to increase and maintain high percentages of correct responding and on‐task behavior to levels equal to those obtained with a high preference stimulus during a discrete trial preparation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.