Quiet eye facilitates sensorimotor preprograming and online control of precision aiming in golf putting

An occlusion protocol was used to elucidate the respective roles of preprograming and online control during the quiet eye period of golf putting. Twenty-one novice golfers completed golf putts to 6-ft and 11-ft targets under full vision or with vision occluded on initiation of the backswing. Radial error (RE) was higher, and quiet eye was longer, when putting to the 11-ft versus 6-ft target, and in the occluded versus full vision condition. Quiet eye durations, as well as preprograming, online and dwell durations, were longer in low-RE compared to high-RE trials. The preprograming component of quiet eye was significantly longer in the occluded vision condition, whereas the online and dwell components were significantly longer in the full vision condition. These findings demonstrate an increase in preprograming when vision is occluded. However, this was not sufficient to overcome the need for online visual control during the quiet eye period. These findings suggest the quiet eye period is composed of preprograming and online control elements; however, online visual control of action is critical to performance.     

Normative pluralism: Islam, religion and law in the twenty-first century

Four new books on Islam and law provide the occasion for reflection on legal and religious pluralism. Bringing together a more nuanced and complex understanding of religion — one not determined by Enlightenment ideologies of separation — and of law — one also freed of Enlightenment notions of positivism and secularism — provide opportunities for ways to re-think the cultures of normative pluralism.     

The role of the self in mindblindness in autism

Since its inception the 'mindblindness' theory of autism has greatly furthered our understanding of the core social-communication impairments in autism spectrum conditions (ASC). However, one of the more subtle issues within the theory that needs to be elaborated is the role of the 'self'. In this article, we expand on mindblindness in ASC by addressing topics related to the self and its central role in the social world and then review recent research in ASC that has yielded important insights by contrasting processes relating to both self and other. We suggest that new discoveries lie ahead in understanding how self and other are interrelated and/or distinct, and how understanding atypical self-referential and social-cognitive mechanisms may lead to novel ideas as to how to facilitate social-communicative abilities in ASC.     

Involvement of the insular cortex in retention of conditioned taste aversion is not time dependent

In fear-associated learning paradigms, hippocampal lesions induce memory deficits of recent but not remote memories, while amygdala lesions produce retention deficits irrespective of the age of the memory. In conditioned taste aversion (CTA), non-hippocampal mediated learning paradigm, the insular vortex (IC) has shown to have a crucial role in consolidation and storage of CTA memory. Due to the functional and anatomical similarities to the hippocampus, a time dependent role of the IC in CTA retention cannot be ruled out. To test whether the IC shows a time dependent role in CTA memory retention, male Wistar rats were CTA trained on saccharin 0.1% (LiCl 0.15M, 2% b/w, 40 min after drinking) and lesioned with ibotenic acid (200-300 nL, 5mg/mL) unilaterally into the IC 1 week or bilaterally 1 or 6 weeks after CTA. CTA memory was completely disrupted in both bilateral lesion groups but unaffected in the unilateral lesioned group. The resulting preference was comparable to that of the bilaterally IC lesioned animals exposed to the taste for the first time, proving that in these animals a complete amnesic state was achieved. Bilaterally IC lesioned rats showed normal discrimination between preferred (sucrose 5%) and non-preferred (quinone) tastes. Our data indicates that the involvement of the IC in CTA is not time dependent and that CTA memories are stored in each hemisphere separately.     

Traditional versus modern values and interpersonal factors predicting stress response syndromes in a Swiss elderly population

Stress response syndromes like adjustment disorders or complicated grief are assumed to be shaped by social-cultural factors in addition to biological and psychological factors. In previous research, value orientations and interpersonal factors were found to jointly predict those syndromes (Maercker, A., Mohiyeddini, C., Müller, M., Xie, W., Hui Yang, Z., Wang, J., & Müller, J. ( 2009 ). Traditional versus modern values, self-perceived interpersonal factors, and posttraumatic stress in Chinese and German crime victims. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 82(Pt 2), 219-232.). In addition to the previous finding, the current study using Swiss elderly (65-97 years) aimed to replicate patterns of predictors leading to stress responses in people with recent bereavement or severe life events. Traditional (conformity, tradition and benevolence) and modern values (stimulation, hedonism and achievement) and two self-perceived interpersonal mediator processes (disclosure intentions and social acknowledgement as a victim) were assessed. The current study confirms the previous model in parts, that is, the indirect path from social acknowledgment to stress response syndrome is mediated by disclosure intentions. Traditional values and not modern values explained substantial variance for disclosure intentions and are therefore indirectly linked to worse mental health outcomes whereas the direct association appears somewhat controversial in light of previous findings.     

Cognition-based and affect-based trust as mediators of leader behavior influences on team performance

We develop a model in which cognitive and affective trust in the leader mediate the relationship between leader behavior and team psychological states that, in turn, drive team performance. The model is tested on a sample of 191 financial services teams in Hong Kong and the U.S. Servant leadership influenced team performance through affect-based trust and team psychological safety. Transformational leadership influenced team performance indirectly through cognition-based trust. Cognition-based trust directly influenced team potency and indirectly (through affect-based trust) influenced team psychological safety. The effects of leader behavior on team performance were fully mediated through the trust in leader variables and the team psychological states. Servant leadership explained an additional 10% of the variance in team performance beyond the effect of transformational leadership. We discuss implications of these results for research on the relationship between leader behavior and team performance, and for efforts to enhance leader development by combining knowledge from different leadership theories.     

The generalized polymorphous concept account of graded structure in abstract categories

Abstract categories present with graded structure. The extent to which feature commonality between exemplars and category provides a satisfying account of this graded structure varies from one abstract category to the other (Hampton, 1981). We investigate whether the incorporation of features that exemplars share with external categories yields an improved account of abstract categories' graded structures. In doing so, we follow the suggestion that abstract categories are relational in nature (Goldstone, 1996; Wiemer-Hastings & Xu, 2005). The generalized polymorphous concept model, which incorporates both types of features, is found to improve the account of typicality and category membership in three of seven studied abstract categories. These three categories are found to be the most abstract, suggesting that it is appropriate to think of abstract categories as varying along a continuum of abstractness/interrelatedness rather than as a distinct type of category altogether.     

Comparison between REBT and Visual/Kinaesthetic Dissociation in the Treatment of Panic Disorder: An Empirical Study

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of two brief treatment methods for panic disorder: Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and Visual/Kinaesthetic Dissociation (VKD), neither of which have been the object of scientific enquiry. The study is a two-way between-groups pre-test/post-test experimental design with baseline and follow-up measures. An innovative four-session treatment protocol was developed for each treatment method. Eighteen participants in North-East Surrey, England, who responded to media advertisements for cognitive-behavioural treatment for panic disorder and who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia were randomly assigned to either REBT or VKD. Pre-test/post-test changes in panic were measured using the ACQ, PASQ, and HADS scales and a global panic rating measure. At post-test there was a statistically significant improvement on all measures for both groups, which was maintained at one-month follow-up. Taking into consideration limitations such as the small sample size and a short follow-up period, implications of this study and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Logic, beliefs, and instruction: a test of the default interventionist account of belief bias

According to dual-process accounts of thinking, belief-based responses on reasoning tasks are generated as default but can be intervened upon in favor of logical responding, given sufficient time, effort, or cognitive resource. In this article, we present the results of 5 experiments in which participants were instructed to evaluate the conclusions of logical arguments on the basis of either their logical validity or their believability. Contrary to the predictions arising from these accounts, the logical status of the presented conclusion had a greater impact on judgments concerning its believability than did the believability of the conclusion on judgments about whether it followed logically. This finding was observed when instructional set was presented as a between-participants factor (Experiment 1), when instruction was indicated prior to problem presentation by a cue (Experiment 2), and when the cue appeared simultaneously with conclusion presentation (Experiments 3 and 4). The finding also extended to a range of simple and more complex argument forms (Experiment 5). In these latter experiments, belief-based judgments took significantly longer than those made under logical instructions. We discuss the implications of these findings for default interventionist accounts of belief bias.