Commitment, enjoyment and motivation in young soccer competitive players

Building upon Deci's and Ryan (1985) Self-determination theory as well as the sportive behavioral correlates of the model of Commitment (Scanlan et al., 1976), this study tries to establish the relationship between motivation and commitment in youth sport. For this purpose 454 young competitive soccer players answered the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) during the regular season. The SMS measures the three dimensions of the Motivational continuum (the Amotivation, the Extrinsic Motivation and the Intrinsic Motivation). The SCQ measures the Sportive Commitment and its composing factors such as the Enjoyment, the Alternatives to the sport, and the Social Pressure. Our findings provided a clear pattern of the influence of motivation in sport enjoyment and commitment, outlining the positive contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enjoyment and commitment. Amotivation, contributes positively to alternatives to sport and negatively to enjoyment and commitment, It should be noted that extrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to enjoyment whereas intrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to commitment.     

Self‐focused cognitive emotion regulation style as associated with widespread diminished EEG fractal dimension

The cognitive regulation of emotions is important for human adaptation. Self‐focused emotion regulation (ER) strategies have been linked to the development and persistence of anxiety and depression. A vast array of research has provided valuable knowledge about the neural correlates of the use of specific self‐focused ER strategies; however, the resting neural correlates of cognitive ER styles, which reflect an individual's disposition to engage in different forms of ER in order to manage distress, are largely unknown. In this study, associations between theoretically negative ER style (self‐focused or not) and the complexity (fractal dimension, FD) of the resting EEG at frontal, central, parietal, and occipital regions were investigated in 58 healthy volunteers. The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was used as the self‐report measure of ER style. Results showed that a diminished FD over the scalp significantly correlated with self‐focused ER style scores, even after controlling for negative affect, which has been also considered to influence the use of ER strategies. The lower the EEG FD, the higher were the self‐focused ER style scores. Correlational analyses of specific self‐focused ER strategies showed that self‐blaming and rumination were negatively associated with diminished FD of the EEG, but catastrophizing and blaming others were not. No significant correlations were found for ER strategies more focused on situation or others. Results are discussed within the self‐organized criticality theory of brain dynamics: The diminished FD of the EEG may reflect a disposition to engage in self‐focused ER strategies as people prone to ruminate and self‐blame show a less complex resting EEG activity, which may make it more difficult for them to exit their negative emotional state.     

A case of prosopagnosia with some preserved covert remembrance of familiar faces

This paper presents the detailed analysis of a case of prosopagnosia in a 54-year-old male farmer following bioccipital vascular disease. In-depth clinical investigations confirmed the diagnosis of prosopagnosia and revealed the absence of any associated defect, except for a slight aspecific disturbance of the short-term memory. Further study of this case indicated that the trouble was not concerned with the class of complex visual stimuli, was not even concerned with facial expressions or unknown faces, was not a perceptual defect, but was related mainly to the operation of individualization. The memory hypothesis was thus retained and supported. Moreover, exploration of the difficulty indicated that the deficiency was limited to defective access to conscious information concerning faces and information associated with these faces (name, context, etc.), effectively stored in memory.     

Inferentialism,degrees of commitment,and ampliative reasoning

Our purpose in this paper is to contribute to a practice-based characterization of scientific inference. We want to explore whether Brandom’s pragmatist–inferentialist framework can suitably accommodate several types of ampliative inference common in scientific reasoning and explanation (probabilistic reasoning, abduction and idealisation). First, we argue that Brandom’s view of induction in terms of merely permissive inferences is inadequate; in order to overcome the shortcoming of Brandom’s proposal, we put forward an alternative conception of inductive, probabilistic reasoning by appeal to the notion of degrees of commitment. Moreover, we examine the sorts of inferential commitments operative in other types of ampliative inferences, such as abduction or reasoning involving idealizations and assumptions. We suggest that agents engaging in these forms of reasoning often undertake restricted inferential commitments, whose scope and reach are more limited that in the case of the commitments associated with full beliefs.

     

Inhibition Efficiency in Highly Proficient Bilinguals and Simultaneous Interpreters: Evidence from Language Switching and Stroop Tasks

The present behavioral study aimed to examine the impact of language control expertise on two domain-general control processes, i.e. active inhibition of competing representations and overcoming of inhibition. We compared how Simultaneous Interpreters (SI) and Highly Proficient Bilinguals—two groups assumed to differ in language control capacity—performed executive tasks involving specific inhibition processes. In Experiment 1 (language decision task), both active and overcoming of inhibition processes are involved, while in Experiment 2 (bilingual Stroop task) only interference suppression is supposed to be required. The results of Experiment 1 showed a language switching effect only for the highly proficient bilinguals, potentially because overcoming of inhibition requires more cognitive resources than in SI. Nevertheless, both groups performed similarly on the Stroop task in Experiment 2, which suggests that active inhibition may work similarly in both groups. These contrasting results suggest that overcoming of inhibition may be harder to master than active inhibition. Taken together, these data indicate that some executive control processes may be less sensitive to the degree of expertise in bilingual language control than others. Our findings lend support to psycholinguistic models of bilingualism postulating a higher-order mechanism regulating language activation.     

Conspicuous consumption in a recession: Toning it down or turning it up?

The 2008 recession reportedly led to the demise of conspicuous consumption with wealthy consumers abandoning luxury goods that prominently display their brands for more subdued designs. Utilizing data collected before and in the midst of the recession from designer handbag manufacturers, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, we find products introduced during the recession actually display the brand far more prominently than those products withdrawn. Data from Hermès and luxury ads in Vogue magazine also indicate manufacturers did not tone things down. Our results suggest conspicuous consumption endures in recessions; consumers who do not exit the luxury goods market are still interested in logo‐laden products.     

Différence dans la qualité de logement: Immigrants et non-immigrants à Montréal Toronto et Vancouver

The immigrant population in Canada has risen substantially during the last decades. This increase has produced some tension and raised questions about the institutional arrangements of the host society. In response to these tensions and questions, the government of Canada adopted a policy of multiculturalism in 1971 and promoted the constitutionalization of human rights through the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This response was successful in terms of the evolution of the liberal democracy in Canada, the management of diversity and the building of an inclusive identity. However, it remains to be evaluated in relation to the struggle against discrimination and inequalities. While the reponse has already been evaluated in regard to employment, no evaluation has been undertaken regarding housing. This article tackles this issue through the decomposition of differences in the quality of housing for immigrants and non-immigrants in three metropolitan areas. The quality of housing is measured by the number of rooms per capita and is studied in relation to several variables to estimate the difference between populations. The results show a convergence in the situation in the three metropolitan areas and clearly reveal a difference in the quality of housing for immigrants and non-immigrants.     

Association between bullying victimization and physical fitness among children and adolescents

Background/ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between being bullied and the physical fitness components, and to determine whether a healthy physical fitness level is related with lower victimization in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity compared to unfit overweight/obese peers. Method:The present cross-sectional study included a total of 7,714 youths (9-17 years), categorized as normal-weight or overweight/obese and fit or unfit according to sex-specific handgrip strength and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) cut-points. Bullying (physical, verbal, social exclusion, sexual harassment, and cyberbullying) was assessed through the Standard Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey questions. Results:Boys and girls that were categorized as fit (healthy level of CRF) showed lower traditional bullying compared to unfit counterparts. Also, a healthy level of CRF could be a protective factor of traditional bullying among overweight/obese youths compared to unfit overweight/obese peers. Conclusions:CRF is related with lower risk for experiencing traditional bullying in Latino youths with and without obesity, thus emphasizing the role of fitness even among youth with excess of adiposity.