Control of a Virtual Avatar Influences Postural Activity and Motion Sickness

The influence of vehicular control on motion sickness has implications for theories of motion sickness etiology. We asked whether motion sickness susceptibility might also be related to the control of non-vehicular locomotion. Participants were exposed to a console video game that featured ambulatory locomotion of a virtual avatar. In a yoked control design, individuals either played the game (players) or watched another participant's recorded game play (viewers). Viewers were more likely than players to report motion sickness. During exposure to the video game players moved more than viewers, and the movement of players was more predictable or self-similar than the movement of viewers. Coupling of movement within player-viewer pairs was greater for pairs in which the viewer later reported motion sickness than for pairs in which both participants stated that they were not motion sick. The results reveal that motion sickness incidence can be influenced by the control of stimulus motion, in general, and is not limited to control of vehicular motion. We discuss implications of these findings for theories of motion sickness etiology.     

Dialectical thinking and health behaviors: The effects of theory of planned behavior

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate whether the theory of planned behavior (TPB) mediated the relationship between dialectical thinking and health behaviors. A sample of 285 undergraduates was tested with a dialectical thinking styles scale, health promoting lifestyle profiles, and TPB questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Results indicated that all the three dimensions of thinking styles (belief in the connection, acceptance of change, and acceptance of contradiction) exerted significant effects on TPB constructs. Specifically, the connection and the change dimensions had positive effects on health behaviors mediated by TPB, whereas the contradiction dimension had a negative effect. Model 2 showed a satisfactory fit, demonstrating the influential pathways between dialectical thinking and health behaviors. Implications in issues of health promotion and future research are discussed.     

How Speech Modifies Visual Attention

Auditory distractions can have serious consequences in critical situations such as driving. Mobile phones, radios, media players, and information devices that interpret and produce speech are increasingly common in vehicles, but the threats to visual attention are not yet fully understood. In three experiments, we found that most speech tasks had relatively small adverse effects on the detection of a briefly presented target among distractors across a 60° subarea of the visual field. Although there was a little impact on detectability, moderately difficult speech tasks slowed responding relative to silence. Our most demanding condition—generating and speaking a word beginning with the last letter of another word—had the greatest effects on accuracy and latency, with responding slowed by about 900 ms. An impairment of this magnitude presents a significant threat to safe driving and calls into question the belief that hands‐free voice‐controlled devices are the answer to the problem of driver distraction. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Negotiating safer sex: A detailed analysis of attitude functions,anticipated emotions,relationship status and gender

Objective : Because interpersonal discussion about condom use can encourage subsequent condom use, this project aims to examine the psychological antecedents of intentions to discuss or request the use of condoms with a sexual partner.

Method : The data were collected from 849 heterosexual college students in the USA through an online survey. The survey contained several measures related to attitude functions (i.e. motivations), efficacy, norms and intentions to discuss condom use with a sexual partner.

Results : Participants’ attitude functions weakly predicted intentions to discuss condom use. Communication efficacy was a more important predictor of intentions for females (vs. males) and for those in other relationships or not in a relationship (vs. long-term monogamous relationships). Anticipated negative emotions were a stronger predictor of intentions for those in long-term monogamous relationships (vs. other relationships or not in a relationship).

Implications : Future research needs to consider more detailed attitude functions and anticipated emotions. Furthermore, background variables (e.g. gender and relationship status) can be moderators in addition to being distal predictors.     

The cognitive advantage for one’s own name is not simply familiarity: An eye-tracking study

Eye-tracking technique and visual search task were employed to examine the cognitive advantage for one’s own name and the possible effect of familiarity on this advantage. The results showed that fewer saccades and an earlier start time of first fixations on the target were associated with trials in which participants were asked to search for their own name, as compared to search for personally familiar or famous names. In addition, the results also demonstrated faster response times and higher accuracy in the former kind of trials. Taken together, these findings provide important evidence that one’s own name has the potential to capture attention and that familiarity cannot account for this advantage.     

I can’t stop looking at them: Interactive effects of body mass index and weight dissatisfaction on attention towards body shape photographs

Although attentional biases toward body-related information contribute to the etiology and maintenance of body dissatisfaction (BD) and eating disorders (EDs), attentional disengagement in women with BD and EDs is not clear. The present study investigated the association between weight dissatisfaction and attentional disengagement from body-related pictures and the possible moderating effect of body mass index (BMI) on this relation. Two hundred and four undergraduate women engaged in an experiment using a pictorial spatial cueing paradigm including fat/thin bodies and neutral household photos. Partial correlations and simple slopes regression analyses were conducted with attentional disengagement index scores of each category of cues. Findings suggested that independent of BMI, weight dissatisfaction was directly associated with attentional disengagement from both fat and thin pictures. In addition, among women with low and medium BMIs, the more they were dissatisfied with their bodyweight, the more difficulty they had disengaging their attention from fat body pictures.     

Adolescent mental health in Japan and Russia: The role of body image,bullying victimisation and school environment

This study examined associations between self-reported mental health problems, body image, bullying victimisation and school safety in large adolescent samples in Japan and Russia, considering the effects of gender, culture and their interactions. In both Japan and Russia, girls reported a greater number of mental health problems, less bullying victimisation and much higher body dissatisfaction than boys did. Japanese adolescents rated themselves higher on total difficulties, reported less body dissatisfaction and bullying victimisation, and rated their school safety lower than that of Russian youths. Cross-cultural differences in total difficulties and body image were qualified by gender. Body dissatisfaction, bullying victimisation and school safety all independently contributed to adolescent mental health problems. The protective effect of school safety on total difficulties was larger for girls than for boys; the strength of the association between bullying victimisation and adolescent mental health problems differed across genders and cultures. The findings indicate a need for a cross-cultural approach and provide a strong basis for targeted interventions that seek to improve adolescent mental health.     

汉字形码和音码的整体性对部件识别的影响

本实验从分析汉字整体知觉的具体表现形式入手,通过三个实验探讨字的整体知觉对部件知觉的影响。实验一以分解方式为变量,考查字形整体知觉对部件识别的影响,发现识别不同结构的字的部件之活动受知觉分解路线(如顺读或逆读)的影响。作者认为这种分解方式效应很可能跟部位有关。实验二证实了这一分析,并进而认为部位效应又跟部位与字形整体知觉的紧密程度有关。实验三以语音码为变量,发现成字部件的字音与整体字语音一致者(形声字),其分解知觉成绩比不一致者(非形声字)有明显的优势。这意味着,整体字音知觉的单一性对部件知觉的作用。最后,本研究还考查了部件识别法的有效性,并认为在研究知觉的整体与部分关系问题时,该法不失为一种新的实验范型。     

影响视觉复合刺激中整体和局部性质加工的几种因素

文章研究了视知觉组织,空间位置不确定性和视野位置等因素对复合刺激中整体和局部性质加工的影响。实验发现,（１）当复合刺激呈现在白背景上时,反应时和干扰作用都表明复复合刺激中大图的加工优于小图,刺激位置的不确定削弱大图对小图的干扰作用;而当复合刺激呈现在由“＋”组成的背影或时,小图的加工优于大图,刺激位置的不确定延长分辩小图的ＲＴ;（２）与周国刺激相比,分辨视野中央的复合刺激的ＲＴ较短,这种影响对分辨